Sporting a black cowboy hat, Gene Sargent steps up to the microphone at Dave's Restaurant in Milton, Pierce County, launching into an old Sons of the Pioneers tune. It conjures up his memories of when he was married the first time, had a wife with long brown hair; was a new father and had a job in Modesto, Calif. — before everything slowly came apart like the seeds of a tumbleweed.
Sargent, 65, who most people know simply as "Sarge," has spent the past four years living in the cab of a pickup in South King County, pulling behind him a camp trailer packed with his life's possessions.
With a Social Security income of less than $700 a month, he can't afford an apartment; RV spaces are difficult to find and even state-park camping spots run $150 a week. So he drifts, parking along side streets in Federal Way, in department-store parking lots and rest areas until police tell him, and many others like him, to move along.
view link
posted by seattle99
April 20, 2009 – Seattle Times
His private miseries living year after year on $680 a month in Social Security, constantly moving his truck and camp trailer to new locations to avoid being ticketed or towed, became public when The Seattle Times wrote this month about him and other older homeless people.
Ideas to help Sargent, 65, seemed to hit many people at once. People came to Dave's Restaurant with games, puzzles and other items. Someone offered a place for him to park his truck and trailer.
Seattle Times readers wrote in to help, from those offering jobs to an 89-year-old reader who sent five $20 bills, asking Sargent to keep one and give the rest to other homeless people.
view link
Write in Guestbook