“Its a tough situation and who thought we’d see it as readily as we do now in Parsons,” Bush said.
By: Lydia Crawley
The Parsons Advocate
Parsons resident Michael Whitely, Sr. addressed the City of Parsons Council June 18th with concerns over a recent influx of homeless individuals to the Parsons area. “I was kind of thrown for a loop about two months ago when we had an individual living down by the river who was homeless and having talked to some of the police officers, I found out that they really don’t have any way of dealing with that,” Whitely said.
Whitely said he had been a long time visitor of Parsons and a resident since 2019. “I’ve been coming into this town for over 50 years now and been living here since 2019,” Whitely said.
Whitely asked the Council if there was a plan in place to deal with the unhoused in the area. “I wonder what the council is going to do about getting the Sheriff the ability to a: deal with the homeless, b: help the homeless and c: protecting our young ladies and gentlemen who go to the park, go to the pools, etc,” Whitely said.
Parsons Mayor Bruce Kolsun said he had been in contact with Parsons Police Chief Keplinger on multiple occasions surrounding the issue. Keplinger said that legally, there is little the police can do.
Keplinger said that one individual has been trespassed from City facilities due to his behavior at the parks. “We are using every opportunity and avenue that we have,” Keplinger said. “I can say that one of the individuals who has been a chronic problem was trespassed from all City facilities. He has been trespassed from the parks, from the bathrooms, from the pavilions.”
While he hated to have to trespass anyone from the parks, Keplinger said that the behavior made the decision necessary. “I hate to take that step, I really do because they are public parks and they should be enjoyed by the public,” Keplinger said. “But, when your behavior affects other people’s enjoyment of the park, then that’s where we have to make decisions.”
According to Keplinger, two homeless individuals have left the Parsons area, but are not currently homed. “We are still currently working and I can report that, as of right now, at least two people who were unhomed, they are not homed, but they are no longer in Parsons,” Keplinger said.
Keplinger said that the local law enforcement is doing everything they can to assist. According to Keplinger, his office has taken food and water to some of the homeless, as well as offered rides and other assistance. “We are doing everything that we can,” Keplinger said. “We’ve offered help, we’ve offered rides. Its frustrating.”
Keplinger said it is frustrating that often times the help is refused. Keplinger said that a call came into 911 that an individual requested food and something to drink. The patrolman asked Keplinger what he should do, Keplinger said he told the patrolman to get a couple of bottles of water from the office and collect food from an individual that had called in to offer it to the homeless. When the patrolman get to the individual only to be told that he wanted coffee and pizza, according to Keplinger. According to Keplinger, the individual was advised that misuse of the 911 system was an arrestable offense and to only call 911 for actual emergencies. “So that’s the kind of thing we are dealing with,” Keplinger said. “Its just a little bit frustrating.”
Keplinger said that while delivering food and water to individuals is not a regular function of the police, it is the right thing to do as a person. “Its not a police function, but it is a human function,” Keplinger said. “I don’t want somebody in my town to be hungry or thirsty.”
According to Keplinger, there is no law against being homeless and a couple of the individuals in the Parsons area choose to live unhomed, with one individual choosing to live in a vehicle. “Its not against the law to be homeless,” Keplinger said.
Local business owner Jon Bush said that while it is an unfortunate situation, there is little that can be done if the person does not want the help. Bush said that several of these individuals had been offered housing in Thomas and refused the help. “The one lady, I approached her and she was totally fine with her situation and she wasn’t bothering anyone at the time,” Bush said. “What do we do with that? Because we have a way to home some of these people and they don’t want it. They’ve been offered homing up in Thomas and they can get them there, but they don’t want it. They would rather live in his truck.”
Bush said that the situation is a tough one, especially given that it is a relatively new issue for the area. “Its a tough situation and who thought we’d see it as readily as we do now in Parsons,” Bush said.
Kolsun said that Keplinger has been working diligently on the issue, but when help is refused, there is little that can be done to assist. “Chief has been really working on this,” Kolsun said. “And there are no resources to do anything with it when they refuse. That’s the issue.”
Whitely said he was concerned about what will happen to these individuals come winter and was concerned for their health and safety in the cold. “Winters around here can be pretty dog gone rough,” Whitely said. “And I don’t want to find another body frozen to death.”
