Yesterday, I got a call about a homeless man in Greensboro who was sleeping in a barn. There was no room at the shelters for him. And the owner of the barn wanted him gone. I had no answers for the caller. I prayed for God to make a way … > read more
Jim Schlosser somehow fashions a heartwarming, aw-shucks tale from the life of Jack Fuquay, a homeless alcoholic who slept on a park bench in downtown Greensboro in the 70′s, and died alone in a public toilet. I guess we’re all supposed to feel good about Fuquay’s homelessness, alcoholism, tragic life, … > read more
From the News & Record A 44-year-old man leaving the Bessemer Curb Market was beaten and robbed by two men Saturday, police said. About 5:25 p.m., Anthony Brooks was leaving the store at 925 E. Bessemer Ave. when two men approached him, according to Greensboro police. The men then attacked … > read more
Brian Clarey visited the Freeman Mill homeless camps and wrote a powerful story for the 10/07/2009 edition of YES! Weekly. Read “Street Level” online here. Some quotes, with my notes: “The tobacco has kept me from killing a couple a people,” [Cotton] says, “including myself.” When we visit the camps, … > read more
The News & Record and WFMY report that the owner of the University Mart in Greensboro has been charged with food stamp fraud. He’s accused of making purchases at local grocery stores with food stamps that weren’t assigned to him. The University Mart is on Warren Street, near the intersection … > read more
 The opening of Greensboro’s new homeless day center, tentatively scheduled for this fall, has been pushed back to allow board members to raise additional funds. In March, the Strasser family donated the Southern Plate & Window Glass Co. building at East Washington St. and Murrow Blvd., but the building … > read more
Did you read News & Record editorial page editor Allen Johnson’s Sunday, October 4, 2009 column? Read it online: My conflicted views about panhandlers. Allen writes in response to the heavily restrictive changes to the city’s panhandling ordinance, which have made it illegal to panhandle almost everywhere downtown, and have … > read more
Be sure to read Lorraine Ahearn’s News & Record article, “Benches highlight a bigger problem”, which begins like this: “The location of artistic benches, which were removed from the Downtown Greenway on Friday after neighbors complained, looked good on paper but ignored some basic urban topography. Just a stone’s throw … > read more
From greensboropeerpressure” “The people who rule what happens in Downtown Greensboro have removed the little greenway through the parking lot on South Elm and McGee streets downtown because they claim that nobody used it. People used to use it to eat bag lunches and watch passers-by and enjoy the breeze … > read more
[video link] From Mark Horvath at InvisiblePeople.tv: “Brutal and senseless.” This is how Cotton describes homelessness. It might just be the most succinct and heart-breakingly accurate explanation I’ve heard in a long time. Cotton is homeless and disabled. She lives in a tent in Greensboro, NC. If that’s not bad … > read more