By CRISTINA JANNEY
Hays Post
During spring and summer, you may see a common sight at 45th and Vine — people holding up signs asking for money.
Some claim to be having car trouble or being hungry. One recent visitor to Hays claimed to have a spaceship in need of repair.
The transient population in Hays can be diverse, and many are in need.
However, as much as local residents may feel the tug on their heart string, stopping and opening your wallet may not be for the best.
Local law enforcement said transient traffic through Hays has been an issue for years and is often linked to its proximity to Interstate 70.
Hays Police Chief Don Scheibler urged residents to contact the police department if they have concern about a person who may be homeless or in need of other assistance.
If you wish to have law enforcement check the welfare of a transient person, you can call the police department’s 24/7 non-emergency number 785- 625-1011.
The HPD works with non-profit First Call for Help to aid transients. First Call assists with fuel, bus tickets, food, a hotel or other shelter.
First Call has trained volunteers who work with transients to determine their needs and help them access resources. Members of the HPD will do standbys if necessary.
Linda Mills, director of First Call for Help, said a donation to First Call for Help can be an alternative to a direct donation to a transient.
“I don’t discourage people from helping if that is what they want to do,” she said. “If it is something they feel empathy toward that person standing out there in the heat but don’t want to stop and give them money, supporting First Call for Help is also an excellent way to help those folks if you don’t feel comfortable doing it on their own.”
If you wish to donate or volunteer, call 623-2800 or visit the organization’s website at www.firstcallEllis County.com.
There are several reasons handing money over to transient may not be the best first option. Some transients have mental health problems and may act adversely to being approached by strangers.
Sgt. Sheriff’s Sgt. Tim Deines said about 60 percent of the transients the sheriff’s department deals with have some type of mental health issue.
Others could have criminal records or be under the influence of drugs or alcohol, according to law enforcement officials.
Still others may not be truthful about their needs.
HPD Lt. Brandon Wright said some transients panhandle for a living.
“We have had officers approach individuals about assistance and been told they don’t want help with a hotel because they are making good money and they can pay for their own hotel. They want us to go away and leave them alone,” he said.
Hitchhiking is illegal on the interstate. Hitchhikers can be along the on ramps to the Interstate. It is not illegal to hitchhike or panhandle in the city of Hays as long as the individual is not in the roadway or obstructing traffic.
The Ellis County Sheriff’s Office will do transports of transient individuals in need when possible.
There are no shelters between Salina and Denver. Western counties have set up a relay system to transport needy individuals across the western portion of the state.
Ellis County Sheriff Sgt. Garrett Brening said if Russell County will transport an individual to the Ellis County border and an Ellis County deputy is available, Ellis County will transport the individual to the Trego County border.
The Sheriff’s Department is doing about 100 of these transports per year.
Both the sheriff’s department and police department said they often see an annual migration of the transient population. Individuals tend to go west and north in the summer and east and south in the winter.
The sheriff’s department has started to track those that it assists and will not give transport to people who repeatedly seek to use the department’s services.
“Some people use us as a taxi service,” Brening said. “They come through here in the spring and the fall. We won’t do transports for them.”
Deines said the department tries to determine who really is in need.
Brening said about 90 percent of the department’s transports are people trying to go west to Denver. Brining and Scheibler both suggested traffic west may be linked to the legalization of marijuana for recreational use in Colorado.
Brening said one man he recently transported said he was going to Denver from Texas because Veterans Affairs in Texas would not give him his prescription medication if he had marijuana in his system.
If law enforcement finds an individual in possession of marijuana or other illegal drugs, they are arrested and transported to jail.
If law enforcement makes contact with a transient, they will attend to determine their identification. Not all transients carry ID, so this can be challenging. The HPD or Sheriff’s Department then runs a check for warrants.
“If you have a question, call us and we can check it out,” Brening said. “There are a lot of people who are down on their luck and need help, but you never know.”
“It is hard to know who is who,” he said.
Deines said on the check of one individual, he found the person was under surveillance by the Secret Service. It was determined he had not broken any laws, and he was allowed to go on his way.
The number of calls the HPD recorded for transient aid had been on a steady increase since 2012, when the HPD received 231.
The number of calls peaked in 2015, the year after Colorado implemented Colorado Amendment 64, legalizing recreational marijuana. That year the PD received 332 calls for transient aid.
That number dropped to 296 in 2016. The PD has responded to 129 calls for transient aid so far this year.
The HPD sometimes receives more than one report about a person.
Mills said often people her organization deals with just have difficult circumstances. Mills noted only about 5 to 10 percent of individuals who make it to First Call have legal issues. Those offenders that First Call does encounter usually have warrants for minor offenses, such as driving on a suspended license.
It could be a person who was traveling across country with a friend. They get in a fight with their friend, and they just leave them in Hays, she said.
She said she has also worked with individuals who have been working for a contract company that is temporarily in town. The company finishes its job, closes up shop and lays off all its staff. The worker has no way to get home.
Scheibler said he thought the system Hays and Ellis County has in place serves the needs of the transient population in the area. He said he did not think Hays needs a homeless shelter.
He argued more transients would stop in Hays if they knew there was a shelter here.
However, Mills noted there is a difference between the transient population who is traveling through Ellis County and local homeless. She had a different view on a shelter.
Providing hotel rooms for transient and homeless individuals and families is expensive and is a very temporary solution.
Those who have ties to Hays — family, jobs, children in school — can struggle to find permanent housing after an unexpected loss of housing.
First Call for Help is seeing challenges assisting those who do need temporary shelter. First Call served 268 individuals last year, 117 of those needed shelter. First Call had been housing people in the Budget hotel and the Ambassador. Both of those are now closed.
The remaining hotels are more expensive, which has meant an increased costs for hotel vouchers. The organization is paying almost twice what it was for hotel stays.
“Hays in my opinion needs a shelter,” Mills said. “Maintaining people for one night in a motel room is expensive.”
Some local homeless try to maintain temporary shelter in a motel by paying on a weekly basis, but the cost makes it very difficult for an individual or family to save enough for a deposit for a rental.
Sending homeless individuals to Salina or Garden City can take an individual or family away from a job, family members, school and other supports.
Mills tried to encourage the people of Hays to not judge transients based on their lifestyle or appearance.
“We as middle class don’t understand why people would choose to live that way. It is a different lifestyle — one that we may not agree with. A lot of people are travelers. They don’t stay in one place, and they don’t earn a regular living.
“We work hard to be non-judgmental. A lot of the people have substance abuse problems and other types of issues — a lot have mental health issues that go untreated. There may be funding issues for them accessing care. We work with everyone to find what we can do to help.”