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Comments:
Eric - 2004-08-10 19:35:36 I didn't know that...that's some pretty grim information.* * * * * * * * * * * * Eric - 2004-08-10 20:11:23 Actually, I wouldn't call it grim at all. Having spoken to a lot of these people, most do this out of choice. It's not my preferred way of life, but some swear by it.* * * * * * * * * * * * Laura - 2004-08-10 20:27:14 It's true that a segment of the homeless population is homeless by choice, and they don't want shelter. Well-meaning policies that seek to gain shelter for every member of the homeless population are to a certain extent misguided for that reason.* * * * * * * * * * * * lynne - 2004-08-10 22:10:43 Back in the day when I used to work with the mentally ill here in Ypsilanti, one of the people I worked with jumped off that bridge at Forest Street. Actually, now that I think about it, I think he might have hung himself. At any rate, there are a lot of mentally ill people living in town. Probably more than in many places because it is cheaper here but they still have access to whatever limited services are left. And one of the very unfortunate things about mental illness is that suicide is quite common. Anyhow, your account reminded me of that guy and all the emotions that go along with suicides. It reminds me why I got out of that business. * * * * * * * * * * * * Laura - 2004-08-10 23:57:12 Not having had that experience, I can't imagine how hard that must be. But I value the perspective contributed; thanks lynne. * * * * * * * * * * * * ypsidweller - 2004-08-11 08:35:08 It's very deep there where the rr tracks go over the river. I stopped my kayak there sunday in a log jam to fish. It would be a bad place to fall in. Fast and deep with weeds and rocks. Did anyone see the helicopter that hovered around for an hour?* * * * * * * * * * * * Mark Maynard - 2004-08-11 08:46:36 Might this person not have been hit by a train? That too happens on occasion... Either way, it's terribly sad.* * * * * * * * * * * * Laura - 2004-08-11 09:04:57 It is indeed...the people who stopped to see what was going on were a somber group. I was worrying about the men on the bridge--there is a train that comes through at about the time they were on the bridge, so I was hoping they knew that. * * * * * * * * * * * * Laura - 2004-08-11 09:06:37 (by the way, Ypsidweller, it sounds so fun to go kayaking & stop to fish--I think that's really cool.) I didn't see but sure heard the helicopter buzzing around for at least an hour--I guessed it was one of the Detroit TV stations.* * * * * * * * * * * * lynne - 2004-08-11 10:55:27 Ugh, I wonder if the train people would necessarily notice if they ran someone over.* * * * * * * * * * * * Laura - 2004-08-11 10:58:36 I imagine they'd see him; they're particularly careful when they go through cities, blowing the whistle every intersection and all. But I doubt they'd be able to do anything in time...it must take at least half a mile to stop the inertia of a rolling train. * * * * * * * * * * * * tom - 2004-08-11 12:01:25 Train engineers definitely notice when they hit someone on the tracks. On the last Friday of July, I took the train from Ann Arbor to Chicago. It was 3.5 hours late, because someone intentionally stepped in front of it somewhere between the Detroit and Dearborn stations and was killed when the train hit him. The delay was due not only to the police reports that had to be made out, but also because Amtrak had to get a new engineer. The engineer operating the train when it hit the man was so shook up he could not continue.* * * * * * * * * * * * Laura - 2004-08-11 12:13:44 How sad and awful. I have wondered about the big open unfenced stretch of track in the Farmer's Market...it always seemed a tad unsafe considering the occasional crowds milling around and the unstoppability of trains.* * * * * * * * * * * * Tricia - 2004-08-11 12:38:13 Just saw this in the AA News: Fishermen find body in Huron River Ypsilanti Police say no foul play is suspected in the death of a 25-year-old man whose body was found floating just off the banks of the Huron River on Tuesday evening. Police this morning identified the victim as Ryan Kenneth Hurst of Ypsilanti. His body was pulled from the Huron River near Forest Avenue after two people fishing spotted it floating in the water and called 911 at 6:45 p.m., police said. Investigators said they do not suspect foul play in Hurst's death, although an investigation was continuing. A quantity of material suspected as illegal drugs was found near the body, police said. The Washtenaw County Medical Examiner's Office will conduct an autopsy. Anyone with information is asked to call the Detective's Bureau at (734) 483-5849. * * * * * * * * * * * * Laura - 2004-08-11 12:50:07 Thanks Tricia. He appears to be an Ypsilantian; listed in the phone book is a Ryan K. Hurst at 309 N. Washington.* * * * * * * * * * * * raymond - 2004-08-11 13:37:45 Hobo City was located in the woods down there north of Forest for a while. Don't know if it's active lately. Handy location for taking cans and bottles to the Keg for redemption. Some evidence this spring that the party had moved up river and up hill to the edge of the cemetery. When I lurk under bridges and desolate areas I hope I don't find corpses. So far I've not been bothered by the living beings I've encountered in those places. The detritus of the desperate litters the landscape in fetid stinking piles in the dark nooks.* * * * * * * * * * * * Laura - 2004-08-11 13:45:02 (welcome back, raymond!) thanks for the info...I had no idea people were living in those woods.* * * * * * * * * * * * ypsidweller - 2004-08-11 14:05:59 Don't shop at the Keg. They are racist scumbags. I have called the NAACP on them and the MLCC (Michigan Liquor Control Commission.) If you are black or look homeless, they are beyond rude. They throw you out. Happened to a very dear freind of mine. He needed money, gave him bottles, came back with the bottles, said they threw him out. Honest hard-working guy. They are super assholes.* * * * * * * * * * * * Laura - 2004-08-11 14:08:11 you would think they are required by law to take bottles--they're a form of cash in a way after all.* * * * * * * * * * * * raymond - 2004-08-11 14:18:24 No Keg shopping for me. Used to be a regular. Previous owners and staff were excellent. Would rather stay sober for a week than ever go in there again. Got a pic I like out of the place a few years ago. A print was hanging in the State St Espresso Royal recently. May be there still, dunno. Good to be back, thanks. Trip was a riot. Still tired.* * * * * * * * * * * * yd - 2004-08-11 14:22:28 Read the bottle law. I don't have time today to copy you. But after he was thrown out I copied it. They must take them wether they sold them or not, or wether it is the original purchaser. I gave a copy to the NAACP on Mich Ave. They said they were going to do a test on the store as they have had complaints against them before. If you look like a bum or have crummy clothing, they say you didn't buy them there and throw you out. I haven't been there in 8 months since the episode. My freind did go back recently and said they were overly nice to him. I think reporting them had an effect. But I still think they are dickheads. When my freind returned with the bottles I gave him, I was so pissed off, I took them back and they returned them. I asked why they didn't take them from him, they said he didn't buy them there. Which doesn't matter. I guess if your black they can flaunt the law.* * * * * * * * * * * * Laura - 2004-08-11 14:22:47 I'll have to check it out next time I'm on campus. Regarding what ypsidweller said @ the Keg, I remember that just a week or so ago, I was biking home on Forest when a gentleman with bottles stopped me about 100 yards north of Huron (and the Keg). He asked me where there was a party store on campus and I gave him directions to those party stores near EMU. I didn't think anything about it at the time, but now it seems to fit in with ypsidweller's comment.* * * * * * * * * * * * yd - 2004-08-11 14:25:07 Fuckheads* * * * * * * * * * * * Laura - 2004-08-11 14:30:05 oops, simultaneous commenting--I meant I'll have to check out raymond's picture when next on U-M's campus, sorry for ambiguity. Skipping the Keg from now on.* * * * * * * * * * * * yd - 2004-08-11 14:33:53 I go to the gas station to get beer now on Huron and Leforge, Or the place across the street from Tom's. Anywhere but there. I figure a six pack every two days times almost a year. They will be losing almost a thousand a year from me. Spread the word. Hurt em where it counts their greedy racist pocketbooks.* * * * * * * * * * * * Dave D - 2004-08-11 16:02:16 I hope this isn't foul play of any kind because there's been some bad mojo the past few years at Riverside Park and along the river- a lot of violence and a murder or two if I recall. That's one of the few places in Ypsi I won't go after sundown, and it's pretty close to where I live. * * * * * * * * * * * * Laura - 2004-08-11 16:06:59 I remember seeing a body being examined in the park just under the west side of the Cross St. bridge one early morning last spring. And one day I was biking over the bridge the other way, going home, when a guy just "appeared" out of the bushes on the south side of the river while I was slowly biking onto the sidewalk. He asked for a light and I gave him one, but got bad vibes. He asked if I wanted to go for a walk down into the park but I said no thank you (yikes) & continued on.* * * * * * * * * * * * yd - 2004-08-11 16:11:27 I saw a mink down there saturday. Little sucker gave me a good look, standing on a log for at least 5 minutes.* * * * * * * * * * * * Laura - 2004-08-11 16:12:49 Wow, cool. That must have been in the wilder part near Forest, since Riverside Park isn't much of a habitat.* * * * * * * * * * * * lynne - 2004-08-11 16:16:27 I sometimes walk through Riverside Park after dark with my dogs. But maybe having the dogs makes it more safe *shrug* Maybe I am just stupid. I've only had one incident in the 7 years I have been doing that and that was just a guy who got to close to me and who was really intoxicated and/or psychotic. I am kind of shocked to hear that stuff about The Keg. I hardly ever go in there but they have always treated me nicely. I guess it just goes to show you how differently people can get treated even in the same town. * * * * * * * * * * * * yd - 2004-08-11 16:24:49 The mink or matren was on the west side of the river about halfway between cross and River St. My buddy was with me so I wasn't dreaming. It jumped on a little dock too. Maybe they feed it. As for The Smeg: Dress up in rags, don't shower for a couple days, pack your cans in a plastic bag, have several different kinds, and limp in. See what happens.* * * * * * * * * * * * yd - 2004-08-11 16:34:04 It made me sick that a good freind of mine for over 12 years, an Ypsidweller himself, can be treated the way he was. Martin Luther King said accepting racist behavior is just as bad as being a racist. I don't think people should get away with that in my hometown. Revolt against the Smegma* * * * * * * * * * * * g.m. - 2004-08-11 16:42:52 i had no idea that the keg was so widely boycotted. i've been boycotting them for a few months, and now i have even more resolve. i bought an emergency gallon of milk there one night (the boyfriend HAD to have milk in his morning coffee) and the next morning discovered it was sour. it was well before the "sell by" date. when i called the keg to ask for a refund, the manager replied "you left it out all night." not the case. later, when i actually took the gallon of milk into the store, he again told me that i left it out all night. he gave me a refund, minus tax, and called my boyfriend a d***head. and they smoke in the store. isn't that illegal? so, how are they still in business if they're blatantly racist? what's a citizen to do? i mean really, what can i actually do about it today? i have a cellphone and i'm not afraid to use it.* * * * * * * * * * * * Laura - 2004-08-11 19:04:03 How ridiculous!--how would HE know if you left it out all night? Which nobody does, anyways--gimme a break. What customer service! Any business owner with a brain in his head would know you just don't quibble over stuff like that but use it as an opportunity to provide apologetic and extra service. Word gets around if you treat customers poorly...duh. The epithet he leveled at your boyfriend is really beyond belief. In my experience, the Courier prints pretty much all the letters it receives--there's a link on the left side of my blog under "Vent" that opens up the letter function for the Courier--just type it, send it, you're done. Maybe if they got a couple it would make a big impression. * * * * * * * * * * * * Laura - 2004-08-11 19:13:31 (followp to ypsidweller's previous post) that's right, there's an office right there on michigan ave., I'd forgotten. The thing they told you about their having received previous complaints is a glaring fact--maybe 1 in 100 people even bothers to make a complaint--not telling you what to do, of course, but that would be a really strong point if you wrote even a short letter. (I can't really write one myself as I have no direct negative experience with them, aside from avoiding it just 'cause it always seems kind of grimy).* * * * * * * * * * * * yd - 2004-08-11 21:05:52 When I went in and asked why they wouldn't take my freinds cans he said "Go ahead, Do something about it." I tried to think outside the box, he said "Call the police, see if they care." And I realized he was right, the police don't care. After researching the MLCC website, I saw he has prvious violations, had been fined. I wrote them, they have a complaint link, and the people at the NAACP were very nice. They thanked me.* * * * * * * * * * * * yd - 2004-08-11 21:33:10 http://www.michigan.gov/documents/jandet_84334_7.pdf reportunder21.com this is for any store that sells alclhol violations. If you see them treat someone like shit write a complaint. The top link is a violation from earlier this year. DOn't spend money there* * * * * * * * * * * * raymond - 2004-08-12 09:12:20 We do miss Mr and Mrs V--B--- at the Keg. They hired nice college kids to work in the store. Everyone was friendly. The VBs lived just down the street. There still would be found the odd corpse around town, though.* * * * * * * * * * * * Laura - 2004-08-12 18:28:15 yd: very useful, thank you for the info. I have the feeling that the Keg rakes in enough college student $ to not really care about ticking off some customers...at any rate.* * * * * * * * * * * * Zach - 2004-08-13 09:35:25 Hello, This link was passed along to me, and I appreciate all the great info. I lived in the same house as Ryan, the man that passed away this past Tuesday. He lived in the apt. downstairs, and I live upstairs. It has been very hard for me to accept that he is gone. He was a wonderful person, who was full of life. I too hope that nobody contributed to his death, but am not sure exactly the events that led him to the river that day and to his eventual drowning. Ryan was very accepting of the people of riverside park, the homeless in Ypsi, and people in general. He chose to look at the good in people, and in life. I am not sure what made him go into the water thay day, but it hurst to know that someone so wonderful will never have the chance to hug his family again or spread any mroe love to people that he will come in contact with- at least not in this world. I have lived in Ypsi for several years and know the good and bad sides (which exist everywhere). I will be moving from here soon, and hope that we will do our part to improve the communities in which we live and the people lives' who we live with and around. Thanks for caring about your community!* * * * * * * * * * * * Laura - 2004-08-13 10:01:54 Thank you very much for helping us know this gentleman a bit better, Zach. He sounds like a wonderful, loving person without whom Ypsilanti is poorer. I am very sorry for the loss of your housemate.* * * * * * * * * * * * add your comment: |