How serious is the homeless problem here?

(EDITOR'S NOTE: This is the second of a 2-part series.)

By SCOTT BAUGHMAN

Ledger Staff Writer

Jason Waters has seen the local homeless population firsthand.

Along with former partner Ken Taylor, the Gaffney Police Department officer made an effort to reach out to them on his old beat in uptown Gaffney.

"We brought them sleeping bags last year," Waters said from his new post as a resource officer at Gaffney High School. "We just tried to help them keep warm, and we took them to the Pilot station so they could have some place to get a shower. Then Arby's fed them a couple of times."

As the Upstate Homeless Coalition readies to present a report titled "The Blueprint to End Homelessness in South Carolina" at a conference hosted by Harbor of Hope on March 2, some officials, like Waters, wonder if the problem needs all the attention.

"At the time I was working on those streets, in 2003 and some of 2004, there were only a handful of homeless down there," Waters said. "The two guys we really tried to help were James Bell and Kenneth Tabor. I know the Tabor brothers are still living down there, but Mr. Bell had a stroke and is now living in a nursing home."

But Waters admits that sometimes he has been called by business owners in the area to handle some incidents involving persons who live on the streets.

"We would get calls sometimes about them loitering or just hanging around on benches in front of the shops downtown," he said. "Sometimes they panhandle and try to get some money to go and buy some alcohol. Now, not all of them are limited to the downtown area. I knew of this one guy who was on the streets and he would leave at night and go hide out in the woods somewhere. Last I heard of him he was staying in the woods behind the old Gaffney house on Floyd Baker Boulevard."

Merchants in the newly formed Uptown Business Association (UBA) are trying to take a compassionate view of the homeless.

"I wouldn't necessarily say there's a problem with homeless people," said Gayle White, owner of Pieces from the Past antique shop on Limestone Street. "But there are some folks who just walk the streets during the day because they have nothing else to do. I feel the public needs to be educated not to give these people money, because you're really not helping anybody. Some have come in here to ask me for money and told me that they're hungry. So, I've offered to pay for their lunch at Harold's restaurant and told him to call me with the bill, but they usually turn me down. Really, that's not what they want the money for."

White said the UBA is considering addressing the issue at an upcoming meeting.

"We're going to talk about it soon and determine if it is a problem, how we are going to react to it. I know many other cities in the Upstate have a much bigger problem than we do."

Waters agreed.

"In my opinion, I don't think it is a large enough problem in Gaffney to warrant all that attention. Last I knew, there were only like five or six down there."