KHOU: Beware street scammers
KHOU-11's Jeff McShan reports on the scam artists who beg on Houston's busy streets:
On my way to work, I often pass by a veteran named James, who’s always in his wheelchair on North Shepherd.
A friend of mine said at the end of the day, James wheels himself a few blocks away, climbs out of his chair and walks.
Apparently one driver learned the hard way.
“He said, ‘I know you can walk,’” James recalled. “I said, ‘what does that mean?’ – ‘well, some people think you are misrepresenting yourself.’
“Well, I can’t stand up for five to six hours out there,” James said.
James says the Veterans Administration pays for his rent, and he is in good health.
“I am not sick,” he said. “Everything on there is true.”
All he needs, he said, is just some extra cash.
A few miles away on West Dallas, 11 News cameras followed a seemingly blind man named Nathan trying to cross a busy street.
Nathan is well known around here, but not by everybody. He walks out in front of cars, hoping they’ll stop and help him. When they do, he asks for money.
Once he gets to the other side though, he walks back the other way. And he gets frustrated when nobody stops.
“It’s not very common that you would have a blind person running around aimlessly,” Dave, a motorist who would only give his first name, said. He said after he stopped, he became suspicious and decided to talk to a deputy who ended up giving Nathan a lecture.
The police around here know Nathan too.
Nathan quickly moved on.
Houston Mayor Bill White says we should not give hand outs to people begging on our streets, and that abstaining from it will force them to get the real help they need from professionals at places, such as the Star of Hope.
But people like Nathan and James apparently don’t need a place to stay or mental health care.
They’re smart: They know about human nature.
I don't know that I'd call a (seemingly) blind man playing in traffic smart.
Regardless, neither these scammers nor "independent" Chronicle contractors should be in the middle of busy streets doing what they do.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 03/26/08 10:19 PM | Print |
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