The City of Naples has always been particular about its image. Anything ugly's taboo. Back then, this included humans--unless they had money. Vagrants had to go. So, we had to develop systems to rid Paradise In The Elephant's Graveyard of this blight.
The Vagrant law was still on the books. If you had no money and could show no visible means of support you were a bum. And, you got the rush. Since the city didn't want to keep bums in jail and feed them, we'd get them on the road to elsewhere as soon as possible. This usually involved sneaking over the Lee Co line and dumping them, or hauling them out US 41 past Everglades City.
Sometimes, when the bum population started to bloom, we'd sent them a message. Knowing they had a communications network, we'd deliver a reminder to stay away.
(Today, we find "The Homeless" with information packets on how to get to Collier County, where to go when they get here, what charities give free pots and pans, where to get free meals, where to flop, an entire vacation program)
To send the message, we'd crank up the Hobo Express. It worked like this. Grab a couple of bums, call Dade County and ask if there was a car available for the Hobo Express. This was usually about 4 in the morning, when calls were slow. That established, we'd drive to the Dade line, transfer our cargo to their car. That car'd take them to Broward County, then into another up to Palm Beach. By sunrise the cargo had been delivered to Ft Pierce, who didn't seem to notice the new citizens. Having been to Ft Pierce, I can understand why.
Cruel? Insensitive? Probably. But we never had burglaries or thefts perpetrated by the "homeless". And, they didn't mug innocent citizens. Didn't murder each other in our city. Most important, we never did it to anyone that was, legitimately, down on their luck and trying to pull themselves out of a hole. It's real easy to tell the difference.
The Vagrant law was still on the books. If you had no money and could show no visible means of support you were a bum. And, you got the rush. Since the city didn't want to keep bums in jail and feed them, we'd get them on the road to elsewhere as soon as possible. This usually involved sneaking over the Lee Co line and dumping them, or hauling them out US 41 past Everglades City.
Sometimes, when the bum population started to bloom, we'd sent them a message. Knowing they had a communications network, we'd deliver a reminder to stay away.
(Today, we find "The Homeless" with information packets on how to get to Collier County, where to go when they get here, what charities give free pots and pans, where to get free meals, where to flop, an entire vacation program)
To send the message, we'd crank up the Hobo Express. It worked like this. Grab a couple of bums, call Dade County and ask if there was a car available for the Hobo Express. This was usually about 4 in the morning, when calls were slow. That established, we'd drive to the Dade line, transfer our cargo to their car. That car'd take them to Broward County, then into another up to Palm Beach. By sunrise the cargo had been delivered to Ft Pierce, who didn't seem to notice the new citizens. Having been to Ft Pierce, I can understand why.
Cruel? Insensitive? Probably. But we never had burglaries or thefts perpetrated by the "homeless". And, they didn't mug innocent citizens. Didn't murder each other in our city. Most important, we never did it to anyone that was, legitimately, down on their luck and trying to pull themselves out of a hole. It's real easy to tell the difference.
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