Alex writes in…

Met up with some friends at Eddie’s last night. I left a little past 11, walked across the Square to go home and was stunned to find an encampent of homeless people who had made their beds for the night, right there on the Square, just beside the ‘steaming’ children’s statue.

There were seeral adults, two of whom were stretched out on the benches, covered in blankets, catching their z’s. As I glanced to the right, I saw a stroller. Oh lawd.

I called the police non-emergency number and the dispatcher seemed to be confused about what I told her. When I told her that the folks were camped out by the children’s statue on the square, she paused and then asked if I had an address for that. I got a bit flustered and said, “Well, it’s where Sycamore dead-ends…..you know, The Square!”

She kept trying to put it together and I kept wondering how much more clear I could be than “the square”. But, true to form, Decatur PD arrived in about 10 minutes, asked a lot of questions and moved them along.

I’m not even sure what to say about this.  Things must be getting pretty bad out there if people haven taken to sleeping in well-lit, well-patroled areas.