Vigil honors Fairbanks homeless who died of exposure
Originally published Saturday, September 20, 2008 at 12:09 a.m.
Updated Saturday, September 20, 2008 at 10:12 p.m.
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FAIRBANKS — Seven people who died from exposure were honored in a vigil beside the Chena River on Friday night.
Those seven people, who were cradled and given a name at birth by a mother, were nearly invisible to most residents when they froze to death last winter.
Some died in parked cars, others in stairwells and bushes just outside of major downtown buildings.
Seven illuminated candles were placed in the river to honor Richard Pitka, Julie Tritt, Carleen Mae Peter, Susie Rose Simmonds, Cheryl Folger, Jeff Thurmond and Aaron Smoke.
More than 50 people quietly trickled into the parking lot behind the Immaculate Conception Catholic Church as bagpipes played “Amazing Grace.”
Members of St. Matthew’s Episcopal Church, Fairbanks First Presbyterian Church and Immaculate Conception Catholic Church were present, as well as a few people who were there to give testimony about being homeless.
A woman came up to honor Arnold John, a man who drowned in the river just in front of the Episcopal Church this winter.
“I have a lot more of my family still living on the street, but I want to thank you for doing this,” she told the audience.
Cindy Fields, a coordinator of the vigil, said a few words about the seven individuals she knew and loved from the Soup Kitchen that she operates 52 weeks a year.
“These last few years, I’ve had a very hard time closing the doors at 2 p.m. because I know that many of the people we serve have to go out in the cold,” she told the audience.
Jeff Stringer and Veronica Marshall got to know Fields at the Soup Kitchen when they were homeless.
Stringer and Marshall have been sober for several weeks, and now they are engaged to be married and are living in Fox together.
“We are living proof that your life can be turned around,” Stringer said.
Stringer and Marshall expressed their gratitude to Fields and the vigil attendees for their help.
Edna Syfko was there to honor her aunt who was found dead in a local slough last winter.
“I was an alcoholic, and I know what it’s like to be out there,” she said. Syfko left her home in Barrow and lived on the streets in Fairbanks. Syfko now lives in a cabin, is sober and is going back to school.
“I struggle with it everyday, but I know I can overcome this,” she said. “It’s very difficult for me to pray for some kind of answer when I’m just too chicken to do anything about it.”
As the illuminated candles flickered in the chilly arctic wind that served as a reminder that winter is near, Fields remarked that the seven candles served as a wake-up call to the community.
“These candles are calling us to do something that we’re afraid to do,” she said. “I can forgive, but I can’t forget. This is a humanitarian need not a cultural issue.”
Members of the Ecumenical Faith-Based Mission for the Homeless of Fairbanks will meet today from 1-4 p.m. at the Chena River Convention Center to discuss a damp shelter during winter months. The meeting is open to the public.
Community Discussion
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The lady's name was Julie Tritt, not Julie Tripp.
And thanks "voicefortepeople" for putting your politically motivated comment on this story. Your voice doesn't represent me.
Ok, I know this isnt the right place to say this but can an administrator please block voiceforthepeople from posting ever again? Im looking at his/her profile and its full of useless spam. Feel free to delete this post.
Wonderful! Someone finally puts a link on here that is Useful and Some of the “Water Carriers’ For the Useless-One “Obama” calls it SPAM !
So you dont care about these homeless people dieing on the streets? All you care about is ignorant political tactics? You sir are pathetic.
I understand the homeless. I understand how some of the homeless ended up getting here. I understand there are alot of resources in the Fairbanks area. I understand alchoholism is a disease. I understand alot of taxpayer dollars have been spent on intoxicated individuals passed out on the sidewalks and peeing in the streets. I have been here over 50 years and understand whats going on. But in the same light I also understand if this is not delt with firmly, it will get worse. CHARITY STARTS AT HOME. Deal with the chronic individuals firmly. We need to set a bar of tollerance and then incarcerate an individual for a couple years and council and educate. If when released, the individual repeats incarcerate again. Look at your kids, this is where charity starts. Spend time with them, help keep them out of gangs, drugs, and alchohol. Help them build a work ethic and a sence of pride. I'm tired of irresponsible adults being babysat. It needs to be kicked up a notch. Not with three squares and a cot from some foundation. Three squares and a cot from "FCC".
When did the bumbs become the homeless? Sitting under bridges and riding trains is as old as this country, only now the name has changed. Drunks are always looking for someone else to take care of them. We have a very good rescue mission here, but you have to follow the rules, something some people just dont wont to do. Its their choice, if they die it is not my falt.
Some people die young, some people die old, but in the end we will all die. It is a waste when people choose to shorten their life span. Alcoholism is a managable disease, a person must choose how they deal with it and some people choose to die from it. The knowledge that each of us will die, is the burden humans carry. Use your time wisely.
To those who lost loved ones, I am sorry for your loss. Thank you to those who organized this memorial; you are a blessing to society. I pray that a solution for the homeless may be found so that we don't have any more senseless deaths this winter. God be with you all.
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Nice Pavel. What if you had a family member listed in this article? Would you still be saying the same thing in the public comments?
My best friends uncle was one of the seven listed, and Im glad there was a small vigil for him and the other 6. It is a sad thing to realize that it could have been prevented. Maybe not, I do not know his story or how he ended up on the street. All in all, its a very sad situation, mixed with a very harsh winter environment. Those two mixed together dont usually give good results.
Thank you to the organizers who put this Vigil one; we pray for the families left behind.
If I left a family member on the street it would be because they chose to not get sober/clean and try to get better. It is probably why your friends uncle was on the street. The DNM has published a few stories of homeless people who died from exposure, each time the family interviewed to tell the world what great people they were, how they loved life and being free. And oh yeah, they also thought meth was better then sliced bread and vodka was positively the best breakfast beverage ever invented.
The families left them behind, at some point you have to live your own life and stop enabling an addict. And that is how they end up on the street, blind drunk at -40 and passing out in the bushes.
There are resources availible to these people and they knew it. They just chose to keep drinking/using drugs. There is no sympathy from me for people who willingly destroy their lives. There shouldn't have been a vigil for the suicidal seven. Have a celebration for the homeless people who got clean, got off the street and are trying to make it. Help those people keep going, help them to make it all the way back. Those are the people I want to read about, not seven dumb drunks who killed themselves.
To clarify why I feel the way I do, I've watched it happen. I saw two high school friends become addicted to meth back in 1994 and saw the total devastation of their families as they tried to deal with it. Eventually there was nothing more they could do, my friends chose their addiction over all the help and support (including stints in rehab and jail) from their families. In the end, they had to walk away and let their children go.
I last saw one of them in 1995, at age 17, strung out on meth down on Alvarado Street in Monterey, CA offering me sex for twenty bucks outside Plumes Coffee House. I got emailed her obituary in 1997.
Well said Pavel.
This Vigil garbage, a good media kick off for a not so worth while community service.
Making life more compfy for these "bumbs", "derilicts", "victims of society", "chronic inebriats", "residence disadvantaged" will ultimatly cost the taxpayers more valuable resources that are already streatching the taxpayers pocketbooks to their limits. Interestingly enough, the recipients pay no taxes, pay no hospital bills.
How do you get blood out a turnip?
Pavel should hope he/she never stumbles, never errs, never needs human compassion. If karma exists, Pavel seems to have several lifetimes ahead of him/her as a beetle or mosquito. My family extends our sympathies to the friends and families of the many who have died homeless on the streets. As a community, we should unite in our compassion, not in our ignorance about how addiction works, nor in misguided hatred towards those who suffer from addiction.
Alcoholism isn't something you choose, its something that takes hold of you. Addiction is not as simple as choosing not to drink. Not for an Alcoholic.
True nobody can help them until they choose to seek help, but its still not as simple as "its their fault". It is an illness. Addiction is as much physiological as it is choice
Let's have a vigil for the guy who is in jail because he ran over a drunk passed out and dying in the middle of the street last winter. He is more of a victim than these seven. (I know, he had been drinking himself, but he was guilty of DUI, not homicide. He would probably have run over her if he was stone cold sober.) I am all for helping those who want help and are willing to help themselves, but we all make choices and have to live(or die)with the consequences.
This issue isn't nearly as black and white as some people are trying to make it out to be. As Isonova pointed out, Alcoholism is an addiction, it's not something that people can just stop for a night so they can stay at the Mission. Many people who are alcoholics also have concurrent psychiatric problems and begun drinking as a way to self-medicate. Psych meds can be VERY expensive, and monetary/medical assistance isn't available to everyone.
You know that the rescue Mission charges 10 dallors a night.It's not free.And saying that it is there won't help.
If or when they open the Damp shalter I hope they offer some kind of treatment for those poor souls.
To those who lost family or friends.I'm very sorry for your loss.
Many of the commenters seem to provide a good reason for their comments. I was always taught that people have a good reason as a front BUT the real reason is hidden. Our goal should be to attempt to figure out their REAL REASON
In my opinion, many of theese comments are racist and show a demeaning attitude and lack of respect for Alaska natives.
Akbychoice, if one follows your logic you should not be justifing the drivers behavior. He did the crime, let him do the time. In the mean time maybe you should ask yourself why you are so angry over people you do not even know. Let the dead rest in peace.
Sadly, you are d----- if you do and d----- if you don't. One minute some of you folks are screaming for someone to do something, and when some step forward to offer solutions, all you have is negative things to say. I too want to thank those that not only held the vigil, but are also holding a summit today to talk solutions.
Seems easy for some you to be so judgemental. Walk a mile in there shoes (no, not literally). May open your eyes!
Again lets also offer treatment or at least AAA meetings.it might not work but some times all it take is the thought of some one caring.
The people who want to create the Damp Shelter are projecting, THEY would not want to sleep out in the snow/40 below.
These addicts/homeless choose to be this way. I say choose specifically because over the years, my family has employed some of these men that you see on the corners begging for a hand out. I know that they are capable of working and maintaining a place to stay but the stress and responsibility is too great and they turn back to drinking/drug use. I know that choose may still seem strong but it a good word, yes being addicted to alcohol/drugs is a hard habit to break, but a lot of people are out there that have recovered and it may be a struggle everyday but they succeed.
But they do not want help, and any one who thinks they should give them help are crazy! There are places to go here in Fairbanks to get help, and they do not go or they have rules that they can not follow THEY need to want help.
If they are out on the corner begging for coins, then they DON'T want to get better, they want to get waisted. Don't give them money, you are enabling them.
One of the guys you see at the stores, used to work for me and I gave him a place to stay, and after he turned back to alcohol, I went to clean up where he stayed and found that a lot of our things were missing, he sold our stuff for liquor! We even sent him to see his parents in Idaho because he wanted to get away from the elements around him, he stole from her and made his way back up here.
If this Damp Shelter does come about, it will become a problem for the church.
The addicts can not appreciate anything that they get, not even the coins you toss at them, they say under their breath, That's it?
We need to stop enabling them
"Alcoholism isn't something you choose, its something that takes hold of you. Addiction is not as simple as choosing not to drink. Not for an Alcoholic."
They choose to not get help. I don't think anyone wakes up and chooses to go get hooked on meth or alcohol or heroin or anything else.
freedarfur--if you read my comment closely I did say he was guilty of DUI, and that is what he should be punished for. And I have no idea where you get that I am angry about any of this. I just stated my opinion. As a matter of fact, I do know the family of one of the seven in the story. You should stop trying to interpret hidden meaning in peoples posts. You are not very good at it.
Squarebanksmom you want to leave them out on the streets to die.That really nice of you.Okay so you tried and failed to help one person.Did you encuorge him to seek treatment?Did you ever find out what triggered his relapse?
The idea here is to at least insure that they don't die on the street.If you see someone in a ditch and drive by at 40 below and they die you can go to jail for it.What's so diffrent about the homeless.Not all of them are CI's.
Two years ago there was a man who wandered around town he had no where to go and had been released by the mental health hospital.I don't know what happened to him but I do know that he never hurt anyone and was always helpful.He'd hold the door open at gas stations for those who had there hands full.
There is not one place in town that's open to those who really are in danger of dieing from the cold.The Rescue Mission charges ten dallors a night for adults and seven for for kids.If there are other things out there I don't know about them.
This attude of they don't matter needs to go.To let even one person die of cold is wrong.
I agree 100% with both pavel and hairbrain. These people choose to be addicted to alcohol, meth or whatever. I myself am an alcoholic, which is why I made a decision NOT to get drunk anymore. I used my brain, it was easy. I personally am very sick and tired of hearing about homelessness and how the church wants to help out. BS!! The church wants handouts from you and I to continue running their shelter making it easier for lowlife lazy a-holes to live the lifestyle they have. It never provides any REAL motivation for these bums to move on with their lives.
All those folks coming to FBX lately with their little cardboard "god bless" signs make me want to puke! And most people giving them money are church-goers who just want to feel better about THEMSELVES. "Oh, I feel so much better cuz I just gave someone cigarette and booze money." STOP IT!! Being homeless in FBX is about the dumbest thing I've ever considered - move to Florida where you won't freeze! OR...take control of your OWN life, stand on your own two feet.
The older guy and his girlfriend begging by Fred Meyer west smoke tobacco constantly. And a couple days ago, I saw her eating an ice cream cone in one hand, and a cig in the other, headed into Freddie's to get some booze. All at about 2 pm in the afternoon. They live behind the Sunrise bagel, back in those trees. WHY!?!?
As long as these church organizations continue to make it easier for people to be so incredibly worthless, it'll never go away.
Do you suppose some of these people chose to be raped as children? Do you suppose they chose to loose a loved one tragically at a critical time in there life. Do you suppose that chose those that were suppose to love and care for them instead violated them in some way (mental, physical, verbal). Do you know what triggers addictions? Some of you think it is all about choosing to pick up a bottle or not. There are often underlying factors that you too would find life difficult to live. Should they get help, of course. It just isn't easy to deal with the crap that got you there in the first place. I have loved ones in different stages of addiction. They try, and fail and try again. And God bless them for continuing to try. What keeps them trying to get better is the knowledge that there are those that care about them. Those of you who choose to judge instead of understand are no help!
"To let even one person die of cold is wrong."
But if they choose to kill themselves with alcohol and cold weather....
To leave a person down on his luck in the cold is wrong, we need to help those people. This article isn't talking about those people.
The article is talking about seven people who chose to kill themselves with alcohol/drugs and cold weather.
well said Charvanmar.
"They try, and fail and try again. And God bless them for continuing to try."
And you would have full support in the community (or at least from me) to keep on helping them try.
What are you supposed to do when they stop trying? What are you supposed to do when you offer them help and they refuse it?
This article doesn't talk about people who were still trying, it talks about people who stopped trying.
Any one who die's of cold this winter on the streets is some one who was/is loved by some one you want to tell then next of kin?
it's not right to let even the CI's die in a snow bank.Talk about being cold hearted.
I know, if all the church-goers would just pray more, then I bet God could solve everything. WAKE UP! That sort of mentality will get you nowhere. God bless, God bless, God bless.
You know what, charvanmar - of course I know what triggers addictions, but to throw in terms like "rape"! As children? As a God freak, you've no doubt heard about all the child abuse cases from WITHIN the church?
All the priests who have "raped" children? You appall me! EVERYONE has tough times and issues in life, yet only a small percentage of our society goes on to ruin their lives completely? You don't know what you're even talking about. Using words like "rape" means you don't understand the true situation.
EVERYONE loses(which you misspelled BTW) a loved one, that is always a critical time in one's life. Yet, again, only a small percentage go on to ruin their lives.
When an organization exists to support and manage this problem of "addiction leading to homelessness", it only exacerbates it. And God, as we all know, always needs more money to do the good Lord's work.
To the nay-sayer bloggers:
This vigil was a heart felt private event which took no public funds, and offered homage to people who suffered their private hells, and died miserably with little public acknowledgement of their time on Earth. What could be wrong with that small recognition?
It takes a lot of damned gall for some of these posters to offer nothing but cruel and rude comments on the sad passing of other human beings.
Perhaps they find it cathartic, though it is hard to imagine how. They reveal holes in their own humanity which we can only hope will one day be filled by a moment of truth larger than their own, small, self-involved, and apparently very abundant lives.
FreeDarfur: “Alcoholism is a managable disease, a person must choose how they deal with it and some people choose to die from it.”
Pavel: “7 homeless people chose to commit suicide via drinking/cold and we hold a vigil? … They just chose to keep drinking/using drugs. … the suicidal seven … seven dumb drunks who killed themselves.
wife228: “I"m sorry but this was the life they chose”
You all speak from total ignorance. You have no concept of what it is like to be caught in the grip of an addiction. True, people choose to take the first drink. But there comes a point for some where it is no longer a choice, but a compulsion that they cannot control. They do not get help because they cannot get free of the alcohol long enough to be able to even think. They do not choose to live this lifestyle. Every one of them WANTS to be free. I have been told by someone who lived that life for many years that they live in fear of dying from alcohol. They know that their drinking is killing them, and yet they cannot stop. It’s easy to say “They refuse to get help” when you have never walked in their shoes.
MrGreen, are you actually implying that children who are "raped" are somehow not innocent victims??! You are disgusting!!! Are you implying that somehow these children were to blame???
I happen to know for a fact that at least one of the individuals mentioned was raped repeatedly as a young child. Is it any wonder that person turned to alcohol to escape the pain and the horrible memories?
alaskaflower - You claim that people exist who cannot understand addiction, yet I find that EVERYONE has an addiction. It's how you let that addiction control you that separates those of us who WANT to remain alive from those few who do not. In other words, if someone really wants to die, they will find a way, no matter what "excuse" anyone tries to use, addiction or otherwise. And just because you believe in Jesus doesn't mean that humans don't perish, we happen to do it everyday in fact. Some of us just choose to do it in a final "hey, look at me" sort of way. It's actually quite selfish, but whatever. It's just too bad you religious-types have to fall for it.
"MrGreen, are you actually implying that children who are "raped" are somehow not innocent victims??! You are disgusting!!! Are you implying that somehow these children were to blame???"
-alaskaflower
WHAT!?!?!? I implied nothing of the sort! Read it again. I never said they were not victims, nor did I express views of their blame. Attacks do you nothing. Rape is an illegal and horrible crime. But you will not use it to defend your case. MANY people are raped, but most deal with it responsibly without inflicting major damage to themselves. Anecdotal only, the vast majority of these homeless folks are simply picking up the crumbs of our incredibly wealthy society, and they've figured out how to use the churches to do it.
alaskaflower says - "You all speak from total ignorance. You have no concept of what it is like to be caught in the grip of an addiction. True, people choose to take the first drink. But there comes a point for some where it is no longer a choice, but a compulsion that they cannot control."
Yea, I guess no one in this country drinks at all....wait, no , that's right, it's the NUMBER ONE drug used in this country(if not the world). So I guess everyone should be out there homeless then, since so many folks are caught in that "grip of addiction". Or how about addiction to shopping with credit cards? Can that be an excuse too then? And people addicted to cigarettes? How about those addicted to God? Can that spiral out of control?
You are the ignorant one.
Sure would have been nice to know this was going to happen as we adopted a little girl from one of these ladies. We knew how/when she passed away and would have loved to remember her and the special gift of life she gave us!
Ak Phil-- Thank you. After reading a few of these "know-it-all"smart a.. remarks it was good to hear a kind word.
And to the rest of you---
"There but for the grace of God, go I".
Thank you, charvanmar, for saying things that need to be said.
It is the sad truth that many who suffer from addictions are seeking escape from the emotional pain and degradation of childhood experiences that no child should ever have to endure. Even sadder, most of these horrible experiences were inflicted upon them by loving family members who, in the grip of alcohol, did unimaginable things to their children and other relatives. It is sadder yet that those children grew up to seek escape in the same substances, having learned no other way to cope.
It is sad that these folks died.
It is a shame they were not placed under guardianship by those weeping. As for those who sold them the intoxicant(s) they need a good flogging and their liquor license permanently revoked.
Those selling alcohol know the buyer is an addict and for few bucks profit they sell it anyway.
Funny thing, when this happens the cops never seem to find out who sold it!!!
I bet a murder 1 charge would sober the seller right up! :)
Again, using the excuse of alcohol addiction and rape to explain the homeless problem. Have any of you ever been to a major city that actually has a problem with this? Rape is NOT one of the major factors.
And alcohol addiction is only inflamed because these people get tax-free money from those who feel guilty about their own wealth(again, usually the very religious).
I have first hand knowledge of this issue - I lived in a major urban area in the midwest. Guess what? Getting to know some of these so-called "homeless street people", you come to find out that they do quite well for themselves. I met a few who were traveling the trains while I was in high school in fact. These three "bums" had more cash on them then I had ever seen at the time. They bought my friends and I steak and beer and we showed them where the lake was to bathe in. Yea, they had problems alright.
So by claiming that the problem is due to a FEW sad stories is very far off. But by pulling on the heartstrings, the church groups get more funding. Sorry, but it's true.
Please Mr. Green-
enlighten us poor folk as to where this "church" is that gets money to give to the "bums" you speak of?
Might it be the one YOU don't go to?
PLEASE do not presume to second guess any thing you have no REAL idea about.
As far as I know ( and it may be a bit more than you in this regard) no God fearing, Jesus Christ following and proclaiming "Church" CAN get money/funding for specifics from any governmental agency.
At least from the tax-paying government people who DO give a care about these "bums", let them donate. What's it to you? Go back to being a stick in the mud and leave those of us that DO care alone.
You really aren't doing much to change our minds or even giving food for thought when you rant about this issue.
Close your eyes, close ears, snap your purse strings shut and go on with your life.
The world will continue to turn and life WILL go on with out you.
God bless you-
Peace
Baaa
"It takes a lot of damned gall for some of these posters to offer nothing but cruel and rude comments on the sad passing of other human beings."
It wasn't a sad passing, it was passed out drunk in the snow. It was seven human beings who quit trying and embraced the drugs and alcohol. That is NOT a sad passing.
Listen it happens due to many reasons why. it just happens,
please make appology to Julia Tritt FAMILY If you wish to honor her death, since you brought a lot of bad memories to the family and probably got them upset, by misspelling her name, HONORING IS TO RESPECT FAMILY ESPECIALLY THE NAME, THANK YOU
by the way she did not TRIPP,
Its a nice gesture to honor those and remind us or for those of you wish to think twice before drinking to pass out in the cold
I'm sorry, Mr Green, but this is NOT a major city, nor is it the midwest. This is ALASKA, and, like it or not, we have a very REAL problem with child abuse and neglect that is destroying the lives of many innocent children, most of whom, if they follow the generational pattern, will end up turning to alcohol and drugs for escape. Why do you think there are teenagers killing themselves at an alarming rate in Alaska? Seven times the national average!
The stark, ugly truth is that alcohol can turn people into unthinking zombies who use their children's bodies to put out their cigarettes, who use their children and other young relatives as handy sex objects, and who sometimes think it's cute to get a five-year-old to drag on a cigarette or to drink alcohol.
I know people who started drinking alcohol as very young children because there was nothing else in the house to eat or drink. Add to that the proven fact that some ethnic groups have a proven genetic proclivity to addiction, and what chance does that child have, growing up in a place where everyone drinks?
We have a VERY SERIOUS problem in Alaska that is unique. The SOLUTION to this problem is not the subjet of this article. But the RESULTS of this problem are horribly addicted people who have turned to alcohol to escape the "private hell" that they were forced to live, and are now over their heads in an addiction from which they cannot escape.
Help is available. And there are those who do eventually seek help, and find freedom from their addictions. In the meantime, these are human beings who have been victimized all their lives. If a warm place to sleep on a cold winter night will keep them alive, then they just might find their way to freedom and go on to live a productive and happy life.
My uncle Richard Pitka died last year. We were at the vigil last night to raise awareness and to honor him. I wish that the people who post these comments realize that they are talking about a man who did have a family and a home. We did love him. He had problems. Who doesn't? Stop judging and start helping. I am really glad that none of you have problems and can quickly pass judgement on others based on little to no information. And Pavel, it was a sad passing. It still is. These comments made me even sadder.
Aaron Smoke was not a homeless person. He was a 13 year old boy who died from exposure. He was found in a snowbank, not properly dressed for the cold. There was to have been an autopsy and investigation. Does anyone know the outcome of this?
Judy Geraghty, although not homeless, froze to death in December outside the home of a friend.
Suzy Rose was actually Susie Rosie Simmonds, also known as Susie Rose Low.
Carline Peters, mentioned in the article, was actually Carleen Mae Peter.
Dorcas Okpik-Sphung died last fall of accidental drowning.
Yes alaskaflower
and Cheryl Folger was intoxicated waiting for a friend to show up when she fell asleep due to the alcohol in her system and froze to death.
Does it make a hill of beans what their REAL names were?
Accidental drowning,underdressed, alcohol,.The point is --- THEY, not you not me, not some schmuck who shall remain nameless, THEY felt homeless.
To all of you who are as mad at the world as they are,take your high horse and put him back in the stable, turn on Star Trek and let the rest of us mourn for those we lost!!
The neatest thing about America (love it or not) is that no one HAS to see, read, hear, or feel anything they don't truly want to.
Live in your pretend world where you have all the answers and can pass judgements till Kingdom come.
But let us mourn in peace.
Peace
Mr. Green’s an idiot. There is a big difference between an alcoholic and a hard or problem drinker. I’m an alcoholic and for the last 6yrs of my drinking I didn’t like drinking, being drunk, or detoxing. And I was dieing and homeless. And it is by the grace of God…not a “decision’’ I made that I’m sober today and for many years now. Today I make a decision not to drink, but at the time I had no choice.
How ever I do agree that the “damp shelter” is a bad idea. I believe that the funds used for this would be better used to help the homeless pay for a “dry” stay at the Mission. The only time I tried (and I tried a lot) to quit was the desire to stay alive. I had a sponsor that told me that if you can’t help them up help them down. It’s sad that many of us have to die…but we will die. But by creating a damp shelter you would be enabling them, thus depriving them of an opportunity to get real help. And in the end killing more of us. It’s not just the cold. I know… I’ve seen it in the paper…died of natural causes, struck by a truck, drowned, suicide. All a result of alcholism. The problem is the lack of understanding of the illness by the people that think they are helping.
To their families and friends, yes, it probably does make a difference that their names be stated correctly, as evidenced already by several postings from family members. Most of these people did not even have an obituary to mark their passing, and so I mention their correct names.
I am not passing judgment on them. I am trying to recognize them as valuable human beings, loved by family and friends, but victims of adictions that cost them their lives.
Not all of those mentioned were homeless. But they all died away from their homes and alone.
I mourned for each of them when I read or heard of their passing. Each one was a senseless loss. One, in particular, was a dear friend.
It is never wrong to honor a loved one that has passed. I have volunteered at a couple soup kitchens, and gone too mass at the church in the article. The only problem I ever had with soup kitchens, is there have been a couple times, where it didnt look like some of them needed a meal, I mean, some were wearing three hundred dollar jackets (you dont find those at the transfer site) And smoking, seen the price of cigarettes lately? If you can afford those you can afford a loaf a bread and some lunch meat, save the food for the people who need it. Condolences to the families of the deceased.
I find it ironic the terminology "honor" was used and not "remembered". How can you honor someone who accomplished nothing and was a burden? The term remember would be more applicable. "At the vigil we went to remember the lives of the homeless individuals that died in the cold." I believe more appropriate would be: "At the vigil we honored the lives of our fallen American Soldiers."
How can you honor someone that deficated between parked cars on 3rd Avenue during the middle of the day? Or honor someone that stumbles up to you in months old dirty cloths reaking of everything including booze? How can you honor someone that stumbles up to you soliciting money and curse you when you don't turn over funds? How can you honor someone that lays sprawled out on the sidewalk in the middle of town in broad daylight?
More appropriate would be to have a vigil out in the bushes behind the Bently Mall with no press coverage.
Julie Tritt's and Carleen Mae Peter's names have been corrected in the story.
I think people can "honor" pretty much anyone they want, especially if it is a loved one. Semantics, schmenantics.
hairbrain.....your comments are disgusting and repulsive!
How do you know that the individuals honored "accomplished nothing" in their lives?! You don't have a clue! You do not know how long it has been since each of these persons descended into despair. You have no idea of any of the good things a person might have done....for their family or for their community. Just because a person is an alcoholic, or a drug user, or whatever their current problems are does not mean that person has always been that way!
Honor is a perfectly appropriate term, hairbrain. It is used around the world and, unlike most folks in the U.S., is a widespread term. A good example is Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead), celebrated in Mexico and by Mexican Americans. Yes, they are HONORING their dead.....ALL of their dead, and I for one admire them for doing so! So unlike most Americans who bury their dead and rarely, if ever, visit the grave sites. In Athabaskan villages throughout interior Alaska, the community turns out in force on Memorial Day to honor no only their deceased veterans, but all those interred, and to spruce up the cemetery. Visit any cemetery in a town or city in the rest of the U.S. and you will most likely see very few folks paying their respects.
You are a vulgar person, hairbrain, devoid of human decency, it appears. Sounds like you will die a very lonely person.
I wonder where most of these "homeless" people came from? Did the people from where they came from honor them by helping them or usher them from the community for being a burden?
A lot of them come from here in the interior, believe it or not, some of them, are property owners. God only knows why they chose to live their lives they way they did, like people straight out of a Jack Kerouac novel, it certainly doesnt appeal to me....
hairbrain - There is a very fine line between enabling a alcoholic and supporting them. It's hard for families to walk that line, especially if they've never dealt with a family member struggling with addiction before.
I wonder how many of the homeless have family that don't know where they are? Or have no family left? Or lost touch with their families long before they ended up where they are now?
I do have to say this to you hairbrain, at least your spelling has improved from your earlier posts. Makes it much easier to pretend to take you seriously.
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Pavel, have you bothered to read any of the comments?
Posted by alaskaflower at 1654
"Aaron Smoke was not a homeless person. He was a 13 year old boy who died from exposure. He was found in a snowbank, not properly dressed for the cold. There was to have been an autopsy and investigation. Does anyone know the outcome of this?
Judy Geraghty, although not homeless, froze to death in December outside the home of a friend."
More than one person honored at the vigil was not homeless.
Also, just because something is natural selection, doesn't mean it isn't sad for someone. If you're not going to respect the dead, at least show some respect for their families and friends who are still alive.
I think I made my point.
I'm dismayed by some of the responses to this article. So many people posting with sactimonious and self-righteous judgment against people suffering from alcoholism or other addictions display a lack of empathy and compassion. People without empathy, compassion and conscience are, by definition, sociopathic. Sociopaths are often referred to as "damaged or empty souls"; incapable of love, guilt, or remorse.
Medical research has made significant progress in determining the biological causes of addiction. Medical research has made much less progress in determining the cause of sociopathy. People with both afflictions deserve compassion.
None of us are qualified to judge the worth of a life and every human being deserves to be honored for what they were able to contribute in their lifetime. And make no mistake, even the most chronic "2-street drunk" has something positive to contribute if anyone takes the time to listen and learn.
Has anyone considered the fact that the native corporations have elected not to get involved in this issue? I do not want to make this a race issue however if you refer back to the article the majority of these people are of native heritage. They did not help out when the CSP van was in need, they built a multi million dollar cultural center.
Well my suggestion is if the cultural center is not open for 24 hours a day, it could be the so called damp shelter at night.
Come on ask your own people for help!
I read this article with interest and admiration for the people who staged this vigil to call attention to a serious problem. I then made the mistake of reading on and seeing the angry and hurtful comments posted by some very mean-spirited readers. There is a huge difference between enabling an addiction and offering a warm blanket on a cold night. The lack of shelter and warmth will not put an end to addiction unless it puts and end to the addict. But offering shelter and warmth gives someone suffering from addiction the knowledge that people still care. It also gives them the opportunity to actually wake up in the morning. "Where there is life, there is hope."
I knew Cheryl Folger for most of her life. She was a bright and funny little girl with energy and a contagious laugh. She grew up to be an intelligent and quirky adult. She experienced huge loss, pain, and grief in her life and alcohol added to that. But she never gave up; she continued to fight...and sometimes she came close to winning. We will never know if she would have eventually prevailed because she died one night out in the cold. She had children, family, and friends who all loved her. Her death was a tragedy and a vigil to honor her memory may prevent other such tragedies.
A warm meal and a warm place to sleep are not luxuries unless you have neither. "A society is judged by how it treats its weakest members"
Interesting there are certain details most are very unwilling to recognize and or talk about. Thanks much akdawg. Those that know me understand my disdane for discrimination. But this is not a discrimination issue.
Thank you for noting that I will not make this a race issue, however that facts are there for anyone that will open there eye's and look at the statistics.
Ask FMH, ask FPD, ask the people on the streets they will tell you that they are native, Why won't the big native corps. help???? Could we not make one of the run down abandon buildings here in town a shelter funded partly by a native corp? I said partly at least help out some.
For those of you who missed at least part of the point, the passing of ANYONE, intoxicated or not, on some levels is not so bad for the departed. After all, as some believe, they have gone on to their "reward" (a concept I frankly find wanting). This is not to minimize their deaths, and certainly not the manner of the death. But their suffering is over.
But, as important to us left behind, their passing leaves families and friends with unfinished business, a sense of guilt (though for the most part there is nothing they have done) and a need for closure.
It has been said that memorial services are for the living. I am appalled at the insensitivity of some of these posters.
It is not the responsibility of Native corporations to support social issues. Health and social service issues are handled by Tanana Chiefs and Fairbanks Native Association. Both of these agencies contribute money and services to the issue, including offering treatment facilities for both teens and adults.
And, dawg, you might want to check your facts regarding the community service patrol van.
WOW! Some of the posters on this board are perfectly insensitive! It is ALWAYS a sad day for someone when an individual passes, no matter how they passed. We were all born, and all that are born will pass. The people that die are not who we hold funerals, memorials and vigils for. It is the people that are living- and many of you have been truly insensitive to those people.
I would very much like to do something about the “inebriate problem” in our city. The “inebriate problem” is not that impersonal though- it is a problem that people are facing- not just an inconvenience that the city faces. Nice of the News Miner to post this article, wonder what the secondary motives were…
Sending prayers up on smoke for those who have lost family and friends to this horrid monster of a disease called addiction. And to those of you, who know people who are addicted…continue to be there, continue to pray, and do your best not enable your loved ones to continue living in a destructive manner. You have the support of many in this community- I do not believe this posting board is a very good representation of the community, or the support that exists here.
AlaskaPhil, you must have wrote yours while I was composing mine- I think you are correct (obviously).
Let's act like humans for a while in here, and not rabid animals....
The weather is turning colder and this kind of problem is going to happen again. Talking about it here isn't going to solve anything. You want to fix the problem? pick up a "homeless person" and take them to your house. Spend the next 12-24 hours with them as they vommit, urinate and deficate themselves. And when you don't give them what they want, (ciggs, booze, food) endure their foul mouths as they spew profanities at you. Go through all that and get them sober so they can enter the rescue mission, detox or some other treatment program and see what you do when you see them 3-4 hours later drunker than the first time. That is the ugly reality.
The larger reality is 99% of posters on here will NEVER actually deal with a "CI". You want to continue talking and not do anything fine. At least get out and VOTE! Elections are comning and there are many issues of great importance. Ther are also many choices in candidates. Choose wisley.
Lets look at it from a different view do these people want help,my mother used to manage a building down town and she would converse with alot of homeless that came through her building,quite a few were happy with there life living off the grid for one reason or another.I see alot on here where people are saying there is no compassion,as it was said earlier the families should be the first to help out and if a person refuses there help it shows there not really looking for any.
I have checked mine, if you hav