He Once Blogged Here; Now He's Homeless & Wanted

 

November 10th - 246th Anniversary of U.S. Marine Corps

Over the years, we've had many bloggers come and go. Some we knew personally, others were just a name, if even that. Many we've lost track of, and "Dale" was one of them.

Dale first began sending us private messages about various problems, usually involving drugs. At one time, this young man had been an addict, but had sobered up, married, and started a family. Life was good for him.

Dale then asked if he could write for us. We were happy to have him on our team, and he chose the pen name "Jasper Black." Most of his blogs involved the drug scene and problems related to it. All were well written and interesting.

Then we didn't hear from Dale for a while, at least until we saw his arrest in news reports. He had committed an act of domestic violence after relapsing. Then he made the local news in a huge way with an even bigger assault case. Dale was off the rails.

He finally contacted us. He had lost his wife, family, home, and job. Was there some way in which we could help make these reports go away? Was there some way we could help him get it all back? We offered to assist in what few ways we could, but no one but God could have restored Dale's life. It was up to him now to make a better one.

Then we began to see arrest reports in which Dale was accused of theft. We tried to contact him, but he didn't reply to our messages. Our only information concerning our former blogger came from arrest reports. The last was in July.

Then the FPD broke up a homeless camp in East Florence. Was Dale one of transients forced to look for a new refuge? That we don't know, but we do know that at that time people began to see him in North Florence breaking into apartment complexes and scouring through garbage and roadside trash. It wasn't a pretty sight. 

We understand that the police are looking for Dale. We have no idea what the next report of him will bring. Would one of Chief Ron Tyler's highly touted "case managers" help Dale? He's not mentally ill, per se. He's educated. He knows what it takes to make a good life. He simply won't do it.

Unfortunately, Dale is the poster boy representing many of the Florence homeless.