Sandra Main of Pittsburg spoke to the city commission about the homeless issue, specifically her interactions with them at her businesses. Main, a licensed master’s level psychologist and owner of Possibility Junction, said she sees a new face every week. “I see them in my parking lot every day and night,” Main said. “I see a drug deal at least once a week.” Last week, Main said, she encountered a homeless child living in a car parked in her parking lot with his father. Main said she notified police, but nothing was done about helping the child. The car was removed. “That’s not OK,” Main said. Main treats children at Possibility Junction, saying that many cannot go to the parks to play. Main said she has offered to treat the homeless through Wesley House or Crawford County Mental Health, if they can obtain the grants to do so. “I do not want them to go without being treated,” Main said. “I want them to grow. But they can’t grow if we just give them things. They can’t. We’re only making the problem worse.” Main expressed frustration at what seems to her to be a lack of enforcement by police and the courts. “We are not arresting them. If we do, the courts aren’t prosecuting, and they are back out on the streets,” she said. As part owner of The Pitt, Main said she has nightly video of naked homeless people in the parking lot, taking a bath in a puddle, and even trying to break into the apartment above the bar. “It’s ridiculous,” she said. Main even alluded to homeless orgies at Schlanger Park every night, an allegation she later admitted to police she had no direct knowledge of but was told to her second-hand. The Pittsburg Police Department said it is “investigating this incident in an effort to take proactive enforcement measures” and has flown a drone over the area, but did not see any such activity. City Manager Daron Hall responded to Main’s concerns, saying that if you see an orgy going on, call the police. “In regards to treating the homeless and mental health, we are not directly involved in that as a city,” Hall said. “But there are a lot of agencies in the city that deal with substance abuse and mental illness.” Hall added that this is a problem across the country, not just Pittsburg, but as a micropolitan area, people are drawn here because of the services provided within the city. If there is a problem with a homeless person, call the police, Hall recommended. They can be arrested or least removed from the scene, but that’s about all police can do. As for legal consequences, that is a matter for the courts to decide.
Source: Morning Sun
