Two local business owners spoke to the Roswell City Council on Thursday evening about a possible increase — or higher visibility — of homeless people downtown with serious mental or behavioral health disorders.
Chuck Dwyer and Gina Dwyer spoke separately. The Roswell couple co-owns the Invasion Station, which is located at 600 N. Main St.
On the previous weekend, the store was full of tourists when a mother with three small children exclaimed, “Oh my God, there’s a naked lady outside!” said Chuck Dwyer, who also retired from his locksmith and security business on the same block downtown.
Downtown business owners, managers and their employees have been advised not to confront them. However, the employee went to the front door of the business and saw the woman, who was indeed nude and was asked to leave.
“She squatted down on the ground and started urinating in front of him,” said Chuck Dwyer. Then the woman “reached down and grabbed a handful of it and threw it on him.”
They called the police and the woman was taken for treatment, most likely to Sunrise Mental Health Center, but they’re out for three days and often return to the area where they had been previously. In the past three or four years, the Dwyers have had 20 homeless people arrested for similar behaviors.
But, “they’re right back out here,” Chuck Dwyer said. “They’re there, defecating on my property every morning. I have a routine. I show up, I walk around the building with a shovel and a little rake… It’s gotten out of hand.”
He also emphasized that he’s concerned that Harvest Ministries, a food bank that provides referrals for those in need to obtain assistance, is located on the opposite side of Main from the Invasion Station, and continues to attract people in that state of mind, “like magnets.”
Gina Dwyer operated an insurance business around the corner from the Invasion Station, on West 6th Street. She told the councilors about when a homeless man exposed himself in front of her by pulling down his pants.
And at their store on Main, for example, “a deranged man came in looking for another man while I was alone in the store. He comes in with an axe handle, threatening to kill this man. I mean, I’m like sitting there, just like freaking out…” Gina Dwyer reported. “The list can go on and on.”
To defend herself from additional and ongoing potential dangers, she said she carries pepper spray and stays aware of her surroundings. If she sees a homeless person lying in a parking lot, she will drive to another location to park the car. She instead goes somewhere else to park where it’s safe.
“It’s not just our block. It’s all of downtown Roswell, and it affects our entire city,” she said. “The issue needs to be resolved. A lot of the homeless people have mental issues. They’re putting our lives in danger. Their presence and behavior, I believe, intimidates both the locals and the tourists.”
She, too, said moving the food bank might be among a list of solutions to improve the downtown business area.
“After they eat, they take naps and do whatever they’re going to do. We have nothing against the homeless and my heart goes out to them,” said Dwyer. “Relocation of the food bank, I think, would be a start to the resolution.”
City officials often wait to respond to statements made during the public comments period of their meetings, but there were various statements and explanations by city officials.
Roswell Police Chief Lance Bateman was asked to provide his thoughts about the situation.
”I think they’re getting violent,” Bateman said. “I think just even in the last two weeks, we arrested a homeless man for criminal sexual penetration and aggravated battery, I believe, on another homeless lady.”
The police department had planned to increase patrolling of downtown, but staffing remains an issue. Bateman said that he and Deputy Chief Albert Aldana walked around downtown Main Street a couple of times after there had been complaints by citizens.
“You know, we’re not hitting it at the right time or something but, yeah, we are seeing a homeless problem,” Bateman also told the councilors. And now, “it’s starting to reach out to the outer areas of the community where before it was a little focused on Main Street — North Main and South Main.”
Bateman also said it’s a much more widespread problem both geographically and in communities. Panhandling, camping in tents within urban and similar issues are being worked out in court. For example, last summer the Supreme Court ruled in City of Grants Pass v. Johnson that municipalities are allowed to fine and arrest people for sleeping in public spaces, regardless of the availability of shelters.
Along with the food bank are other forms of support. For a couple of hours Monday through Thursday mornings, the organization also serves breakfast and allows people to use the on-site showers and laundry, according to its website. Harvest Ministries is closed Friday through Sundays. Attempts to reach them for comment were unsuccessful.
“On a positive note, the Life House is building a mobile response team that would actually help situations like this,” said Councilor Cristina Arnold, who also sits on the city’s Public Safety Committee and the Jail Diversion Subcommittee of the Chaves County Behavioral Health Council.
It’s anticipated that Chaves County will open a request for proposals for using its share of opioid settlement funding. She also asked to meet with the Dwyers and others in the community to learn more about the situation and “see what we can do to work together with the police department and different agencies to start coming up with solutions.”
