Titan, Public Library and the Homeless

One of our Boulder County K-9 corps, who had received multiple awards and decorations during his years of service, passed away from a brain tumor earlier this week.  I attended his funeral; his name was Titan, and he was deployed on 638 missions.  He was a fantastic dog.  So I found myself disturbed with the newspaper headline "Accomplished Boulder Deputy Dog Dies."  As soon as I read that, my mind immediately flipped to Deputy Dawg, the cartoon, by Ralph Bakshi:

This was Titan:

I know it's a silly thing to get upset over, but I feel this canine officer was a true hero.

We had four inches of snow fall Wednesday.  It fell and melted on the sidewalks and roads, before our temperature dipped to 14 degrees (F) this morning.  Because of the icing, my dog walks have been cancelled by the owners - none of us can stand on the skating rink the smoother areas have become.

   I have to admit that I also smiled (in derision) when I read that the City of Boulder will now (a) have a constant police presence at the Boulder Public Library, and that they will (b) have a much more visible presence on "the city campus" - meaning the park areas and open spaces  between the County Court House and Central Park along Boulder Creek, and along the Pearl Street Mall. The problem is the homeless.  People are constantly pan-handling in these almost conjoined areas. Pearl Street Mall is two blocks north of the parks and Creek Path.  People are bathing in the restroom sinks at the library, shaving and shampooing; they pass out from over imbibing alcohol or using drugs; they are extremely loud - I asked a young couple to "please, hold it down" in the computer room the other day, and had a drink and paper wads thrown at me.   

  I was taught that one was quiet in any library - but today, one hears music and assorted ring tones from cell phones; one hears people talking in normal to loud voices; in the computer area there are frequently many more than one person "using" a monitor, and they are all talking and joking.  What happened to quiet in a library?   Some of the folks who use the library -and, yes, it is free for all - it's an important resource for every person - reek of body odor, marijuana, alcohol, some very strong spices and some very strong perfumes.  Now, if I can smell these things, they are strong odors.  I have lost more than 70% of my smell due to various brain injuries, and I sometimes can't smell anything at all.  Some of these folks -  even the well-dressed, not homeless - pour on the patchouli to the point that I gag....  It's just amazing....

   As long as the City and County of Boulder continue to encourage people to stay in this area without an incentive to work and find housing, we'll have this problem with the homeless.  As I have stated before, I have no problem with the people who have had a downturn in fortune, and are trying to get ahead again, trying to get enough money for housing and transportation.  It's the people, both male and female, that I hear discussing which towns and counties, in different states, give "the best" free hand-outs that upset me.  These folks travel from town to town, depending on the time of year, getting free stuff from all over the country - without contributing to society in the least.  Some of them stay in Boulder year-round, and discuss better times, when they were given more freebies by the town and churches.  It's aggravating.  Especially since my husband and I went through a 6 month period of living out of our car - yes, I was a homeless person, myself.  We scraped and saved and started over again.  We did not just sit still and hold our hands out, asking for aid...

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