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FRED NICHOLS reflects on his many years as a homeless
man while keeping warm in the basement of Saint David's
Parish Hall. The photograph is by B. Allison Hanlon.
Homeless man gets
burned; life goes on
By ELIZABETH WELLS
and B. ALLISON HANLON
Have you ever been driving in
Shelton and seen a clean man with
a cardboard sign that says: "Win-
dow washer, any work, any help
thanks"? The objects he has with
him are the tools of his trade, his
window-washing equipment.
That's Fred Nichols, a home-
less person who has been living in
the Shelton area. He's "flying the
sign," in homeless jargon. He does
this when he really needs money.
Nichols has a limp these days
from a 6xl0-inch burn on his right
thigh. Prior to his injury he spoke
about his litb.
That was another cold night
in Shelton, so cold that the emer-
gency shelter in the basement
of Saint David's Parish tlall was
open. Steve Saunders, a fbrmer
Jobless r0000.te
high '
er he:l:e
Unemph)yment in Mason Coun-
ty climbed to 7.7 percent in Janu-
ary, according to state labor econo-
mists.
That's more than a full point
higher than jobless rates of 6.1
percent in December and 6.3 per-
cent in January of last year. These
tigures are from the latest Labor
Market Analysis of the Washing-
ton State Department of Employ-
ment Security.
State economists report that
23,000 Mason County residents
had jobs in a labor tbrce of 24,910,
leaving 1,910 unemployed. Those
numbers are estimates rounded
to the nearest zero. The statewide
unemployment rate was 5.9 per-
cent, also higher than December
and January of last year.
Of those counties that border
Mason, the lowest rates of unem-
ployment were in Thurston and
Kitsap with 5.4 percent. The job-
less rates were 9 percent in Grays
Harbor, 5.9 percent in Jefferson
and 5.$ percent in Pierce.
homeless man who now supervises
the shelter, called one of the men
to meet us: "Fred! Come on over
here. I have someone I want you
to meet."
Fred Nichols is a well groomed,
clean, amiable man who looks
younger than his age, 62. He's
been homeless in Shelton tbr the
last four years and gets by doing
odd jobs, especially washing win-
dows. Mr. Nichols lives in a tent
by the railroad tracks a couple
miles from town. He has set up
tarps to keep off the rain and cre-
ate an area tbr cooking. His tent
was given to him by a tourist who
didn't want to take it home.
BY USING a fl'iend's address,
Mr. Nichols is able to get mail and
food stamps. Several local Shelton
and Olympia businesses use his
window-washing services, such
as Olsen's, Nifty Thrity, and Lew
Rents. For two dollars, Nichols can
take the bus to and from Olympia
to ply his window-washing trade.
For free, he can travel anywhere
by bus in Mason County. He gets
his window-washing jobs by walk-
ing into a business and ottbring to
wash the windows.
Nichols says he has a hard time
getting a regular job because of his
age. "Take my word tbr it. If you're
62 they don't want you." He says
the worst part about his situation
is "I like work but I can't always
find it." As for the washing of win-
dows, he says: "You have to under-
stand that this isn't something you
do every day or every week. When
you do them, they don't have you
do them again for like two months.
I do a thorough job, I scrape the
windows and when I leave they
look really good, and then they
don't get dirty that quick, so I need
a lot of clients." He'll clean win-
dows and wash just the outside for
$3o.
Food tbr the homeless is plen-
tithl in Shelton. The Community
Kitchen is open on weekdays and
on weekends volunteers and Saint
David's volunteers lay out a nice
dinner spread. "They ted like a
Please turn to page 28.)
Pizza & Salad
FREE Bread
555 & Brownies
Add Some Sides
Honday Madness
S Tire & Repair
202 South First Street, Shelton • 426.9762
Double:
Amazin' Greens
Page 26 - Shelton-Mason County Journal - Thursday, March 8, 2007
Lawmakers consider changes
in programs for the homclcss
Washington lawmakers are
considering a couple of" bills which
address the issue of homelessness
in the state.
House Bill 1921 would create a
transitional housing program to
assist homeless people, and House
Bill 1115 would make some chang-
es to the 2005 Homeless Housing
Assistance Act. Both measures are
now before the House Appropria-
tions Committee.
State Representative Kathy
Haigh, D-Shelton, is a sponsor of
the latter bill, which concerns a
$10 surcharge on documents is-
sued by the office of Mason County
Auditor Karen Herr and dedicates
the money to the goal of reducing
homelessness in the county and
the state.
The proposed legislation chang-
es the name of the Homeless Hous-
ing Assistance Act to the Ending
Homelessness Act and adds more
planning, reporting and evalua-
tion requirements. If enacted, it
would authorize the Washington
State Department of Community,
Trade and Economic Development
to spend its share of the surcharge
to fund grants to end homeless-
ness and "to provide housing and
shelter to homeless people and to
financially support homeless shel-
ters and other homeless housing
programs."
THAT'S ACCORDING to a re-
port on the bill by Robyn Dupuis,
a legislative staffer employed by
the House Committee on Housing,
which held a hearing on the bill.
She summarized some of the tes-
timony in favor of the bill as fol-
lows:
"The current homeless pro-
gram has been effective in raising
awareness of the homeless issue.
It is important to nmintain the
momentum gained so far."
Mason is one of 37 counties par-
ticipating in the Homeless Hous-
ing and Assistance Program, with
revenues that generated about
$240,000 to improving the housing
picture in 2006.
The 2005 act set a goal of reduc-
ing homelessness in the county and
the state by 50 percent by July 1,
2015. A step in this direction is to
determine just how many people
are homeless, and so last year was
the first year Mason County took a
census of the homeless people liv-
ing here. That eflbrt counted 515
homeless persons representing
202 households. By interviewing a
number of people without homeS,
the census-takers determined that
the three most common causes for
homelessness were domestic vio-
lence or family break-up, employ"
ment loss and medical problemS.
PATTI SELLS organized the
conduct of a second census in
January of this year and will be
assembling the data in her new
capacity as coordinator of home"
less programs in Mason CountY.
This is an extension of her work
at Saint David of Wales EpisC0"
pal Church, where she is a dea"
con and has been instrumental in
establishing the parish hall as an
emergency shelter for the home"
less on those nights when the te"
perature drops towards and belo
freezing.
Sells and others hosted a lunch
tbr the homeless at Saint David'!
on January 22, this in an effort
to get more people counted andt0
learn about how they came to be
without homes. A group of people
in Belfair hosted a lunch there too
(Please turn to page 27.)
Monday-Friday 9 a.m.-4 p.m.
(25 + Years Experience)
General Dentistry
full service practice
Restorative care (Crowns, Bridges, Fillings)
Extractions * Full & Partial Dentures
Repairs • Relines
Most Insurances Accepted
S. Peters, DPD C. Ngo, DDS
3 Iqedlum 1-Topping
Pizzas and an Order
of 10 Oven Baked
Brownie Squares
Buy Any
Bread Item &
Get The 2 "d Item
FREE!
New Cheesy GadS: Breed
Pizza Medium 1-Topping
Your Choice of Buffalo
Wings OR Domino's Pizza
Buffalo Chicken Kickers",
1 Bread Side & a 2-Liter
of Co€a-Cola ....
1 Hedium 2-1;opping
Pizza & an Amazin'
Greens* Salad
Valid 10:$Oarn-3pm & 9pro-CloSe
1 Hedium 2-Topping Pizza &
2 Cans of Coca-Cola*
Add Any 2" Hedium 1 X-Large 2-Topplng Pizza & 1 Large 2-Topping.
l-Topping Pizza Your Choe of Hot Or Pizza & a 2-Liter ot
BBQ Buffalo Wings
Buy an Amazin' Greens"
Salad & Get Your Choice of
Breadsticks, Cinna Stlx* or
Cheesy Bread
FREE!
2 Hedium 2-Topping
Pizzas
Cheesy Garlic Bread pizza &
Choice of Buffalo Wings OR
Domino's Pizza Buffalo Chicke
Kickers , Any Bread Item
a 2-Liter of Coca-Cola'
FRED NICHOLS reflects on his many years as a homeless
man while keeping warm in the basement of Saint David's
Parish Hall. The photograph is by B. Allison Hanlon.
Homeless man gets
burned; life goes on
By ELIZABETH WELLS
and B. ALLISON HANLON
Have you ever been driving in
Shelton and seen a clean man with
a cardboard sign that says: "Win-
dow washer, any work, any help
thanks"? The objects he has with
him are the tools of his trade, his
window-washing equipment.
That's Fred Nichols, a home-
less person who has been living in
the Shelton area. He's "flying the
sign," in homeless jargon. He does
this when he really needs money.
Nichols has a limp these days
from a 6xl0-inch burn on his right
thigh. Prior to his injury he spoke
about his litb.
That was another cold night
in Shelton, so cold that the emer-
gency shelter in the basement
of Saint David's Parish tlall was
open. Steve Saunders, a fbrmer
Jobless r0000.te
high '
er he:l:e
Unemph)yment in Mason Coun-
ty climbed to 7.7 percent in Janu-
ary, according to state labor econo-
mists.
That's more than a full point
higher than jobless rates of 6.1
percent in December and 6.3 per-
cent in January of last year. These
tigures are from the latest Labor
Market Analysis of the Washing-
ton State Department of Employ-
ment Security.
State economists report that
23,000 Mason County residents
had jobs in a labor tbrce of 24,910,
leaving 1,910 unemployed. Those
numbers are estimates rounded
to the nearest zero. The statewide
unemployment rate was 5.9 per-
cent, also higher than December
and January of last year.
Of those counties that border
Mason, the lowest rates of unem-
ployment were in Thurston and
Kitsap with 5.4 percent. The job-
less rates were 9 percent in Grays
Harbor, 5.9 percent in Jefferson
and 5.$ percent in Pierce.
homeless man who now supervises
the shelter, called one of the men
to meet us: "Fred! Come on over
here. I have someone I want you
to meet."
Fred Nichols is a well groomed,
clean, amiable man who looks
younger than his age, 62. He's
been homeless in Shelton tbr the
last four years and gets by doing
odd jobs, especially washing win-
dows. Mr. Nichols lives in a tent
by the railroad tracks a couple
miles from town. He has set up
tarps to keep off the rain and cre-
ate an area tbr cooking. His tent
was given to him by a tourist who
didn't want to take it home.
BY USING a fl'iend's address,
Mr. Nichols is able to get mail and
food stamps. Several local Shelton
and Olympia businesses use his
window-washing services, such
as Olsen's, Nifty Thrity, and Lew
Rents. For two dollars, Nichols can
take the bus to and from Olympia
to ply his window-washing trade.
For free, he can travel anywhere
by bus in Mason County. He gets
his window-washing jobs by walk-
ing into a business and ottbring to
wash the windows.
Nichols says he has a hard time
getting a regular job because of his
age. "Take my word tbr it. If you're
62 they don't want you." He says
the worst part about his situation
is "I like work but I can't always
find it." As for the washing of win-
dows, he says: "You have to under-
stand that this isn't something you
do every day or every week. When
you do them, they don't have you
do them again for like two months.
I do a thorough job, I scrape the
windows and when I leave they
look really good, and then they
don't get dirty that quick, so I need
a lot of clients." He'll clean win-
dows and wash just the outside for
$3o.
Food tbr the homeless is plen-
tithl in Shelton. The Community
Kitchen is open on weekdays and
on weekends volunteers and Saint
David's volunteers lay out a nice
dinner spread. "They ted like a
Please turn to page 28.)
Pizza & Salad
FREE Bread
555 & Brownies
Add Some Sides
Honday Madness
S Tire & Repair
202 South First Street, Shelton • 426.9762
Double:
Amazin' Greens
Page 26 - Shelton-Mason County Journal - Thursday, March 8, 2007
Lawmakers consider changes
in programs for the homclcss
Washington lawmakers are
considering a couple of" bills which
address the issue of homelessness
in the state.
House Bill 1921 would create a
transitional housing program to
assist homeless people, and House
Bill 1115 would make some chang-
es to the 2005 Homeless Housing
Assistance Act. Both measures are
now before the House Appropria-
tions Committee.
State Representative Kathy
Haigh, D-Shelton, is a sponsor of
the latter bill, which concerns a
$10 surcharge on documents is-
sued by the office of Mason County
Auditor Karen Herr and dedicates
the money to the goal of reducing
homelessness in the county and
the state.
The proposed legislation chang-
es the name of the Homeless Hous-
ing Assistance Act to the Ending
Homelessness Act and adds more
planning, reporting and evalua-
tion requirements. If enacted, it
would authorize the Washington
State Department of Community,
Trade and Economic Development
to spend its share of the surcharge
to fund grants to end homeless-
ness and "to provide housing and
shelter to homeless people and to
financially support homeless shel-
ters and other homeless housing
programs."
THAT'S ACCORDING to a re-
port on the bill by Robyn Dupuis,
a legislative staffer employed by
the House Committee on Housing,
which held a hearing on the bill.
She summarized some of the tes-
timony in favor of the bill as fol-
lows:
"The current homeless pro-
gram has been effective in raising
awareness of the homeless issue.
It is important to nmintain the
momentum gained so far."
Mason is one of 37 counties par-
ticipating in the Homeless Hous-
ing and Assistance Program, with
revenues that generated about
$240,000 to improving the housing
picture in 2006.
The 2005 act set a goal of reduc-
ing homelessness in the county and
the state by 50 percent by July 1,
2015. A step in this direction is to
determine just how many people
are homeless, and so last year was
the first year Mason County took a
census of the homeless people liv-
ing here. That eflbrt counted 515
homeless persons representing
202 households. By interviewing a
number of people without homeS,
the census-takers determined that
the three most common causes for
homelessness were domestic vio-
lence or family break-up, employ"
ment loss and medical problemS.
PATTI SELLS organized the
conduct of a second census in
January of this year and will be
assembling the data in her new
capacity as coordinator of home"
less programs in Mason CountY.
This is an extension of her work
at Saint David of Wales EpisC0"
pal Church, where she is a dea"
con and has been instrumental in
establishing the parish hall as an
emergency shelter for the home"
less on those nights when the te"
perature drops towards and belo
freezing.
Sells and others hosted a lunch
tbr the homeless at Saint David'!
on January 22, this in an effort
to get more people counted andt0
learn about how they came to be
without homes. A group of people
in Belfair hosted a lunch there too
(Please turn to page 27.)
Monday-Friday 9 a.m.-4 p.m.
(25 + Years Experience)
General Dentistry
full service practice
Restorative care (Crowns, Bridges, Fillings)
Extractions * Full & Partial Dentures
Repairs • Relines
Most Insurances Accepted
S. Peters, DPD C. Ngo, DDS
3 Iqedlum 1-Topping
Pizzas and an Order
of 10 Oven Baked
Brownie Squares
Buy Any
Bread Item &
Get The 2 "d Item
FREE!
New Cheesy GadS: Breed
Pizza Medium 1-Topping
Your Choice of Buffalo
Wings OR Domino's Pizza
Buffalo Chicken Kickers",
1 Bread Side & a 2-Liter
of Co€a-Cola ....
1 Hedium 2-1;opping
Pizza & an Amazin'
Greens* Salad
Valid 10:$Oarn-3pm & 9pro-CloSe
1 Hedium 2-Topping Pizza &
2 Cans of Coca-Cola*
Add Any 2" Hedium 1 X-Large 2-Topplng Pizza & 1 Large 2-Topping.
l-Topping Pizza Your Choe of Hot Or Pizza & a 2-Liter ot
BBQ Buffalo Wings
Buy an Amazin' Greens"
Salad & Get Your Choice of
Breadsticks, Cinna Stlx* or
Cheesy Bread
FREE!
2 Hedium 2-Topping
Pizzas
Cheesy Garlic Bread pizza &
Choice of Buffalo Wings OR
Domino's Pizza Buffalo Chicke
Kickers , Any Bread Item
a 2-Liter of Coca-Cola'