Bernice Pogue: It’s getting worse out here

Presenter: Bernice Pogue visits with Jana and Julie on KEPW’s Legalize Survival for the first time since January 2023, when they were interrupted by Springfield Police Officer Joseph Burke.

Officer Joseph Burke: What I’m advising you of is prohibited camping.

Bernice Pogue: Okay. I’m not trying to camp—

Officer Joseph Burke: Did you want to listen? Because you told me that you’re recording me and you’d obviously like to hear what I have to say, I think. (Okay. Okay.) Camping in the city of Springfield is prohibited everywhere. (Okay.) On the street, in a driveway, anywhere…

So Bernice, I’m telling you, move this thing. I’m going to have a community service officer come out and tag it. If it’s not moved, then they will tow it. I don’t want to tow it. I’m not trying to add hardship to life. I’d like you to get your stuff in.

[00:00:44] Bernice Pogue: I move it, but it goes with me. And then when I come back, it comes with me. Ok. When I leave it go. So I, I mean, I don’t—

[00:00:52] Officer Joseph Burke: There are places in Eugene and in the county that both seem not to care about people who camp on their property. Here in the city of Springfield, we do care. The citizens of Springfield care. That’s why they call us. We’re here to serve them and you, not just you, not just your needs, but also their needs.

[00:01:09] So, Bernice, I’d like to help you. I don’t have a solution where you can park it, but I do observe when I drive to Eugene, that nobody seems to care at all about all this stuff happening in Eugene.

[00:01:21] Bernice Pogue: What?

[00:01:21] Officer Joseph Burke: That is something that I see there. I don’t see, I don’t, I see campers lining the streets in Eugene. We don’t have that here. And there’s a reason you don’t see that.

[00:01:30] Bernice Pogue: I see camping right down there.

[00:01:31] Officer Joseph Burke: On occasion you do see them.

[00:01:34] Bernice Pogue: I see them at the river. I see them in front yards. I see them everywhere in Springfield.

[00:01:38] Officer Joseph Burke: We get called about people camping, which you are doing, then we attend to that matter. That is what we do.

[00:01:46] Presenter: That’s part of an exchange broadcast live on Legalize Survival in January 2023. Bernice returned for a visit in October 2024. Here’s Jana Thrift.

[00:01:57] Jana Thrift: Hi, I’m Jana, and you’re listening to KEPW-LP 97.3 FM in Eugene and simulcasting at kepw.org. This is Legalize Survival, and I am here today with my wonderful co-host, Julie. Thank you so much for being here with me, Julie.

[00:02:16] Julie Lambert: Happy to be here, Jana.

[00:02:18] Jana Thrift: We are live tonight for the first time in a very long time and I am pleased to say that I’m here with Julie but also a guest Bernice. Thank you for coming on to Legalize Survival again. Thank you.

[00:02:36] Bernice Pogue: Thank you for letting me.

[00:02:38] Jana Thrift: Yeah, I’m so appreciative for your willingness to come back with us and we had quite the interview the last time.

[00:02:48] Bernice Pogue: Didn’t we?

[00:02:52] Jana Thrift: So anybody that knows or has listened to Legalize Survival, a lot of people who listened to it regularly knew that this crazy thing went on while we were on the air live where the police showed up at the door of your trailer while we were live on the air in the show. I mean it was crazy and it was a perfect example of exactly the experience—I mean, I felt like we were giving people listening to Legalize Survival a first-hand experience of what that feels like to be trying to survive, living in an RV and the police knock on the door and everything is, you know, it’s like your whole life is in danger of being jerked out from underneath you.

[00:03:42] That’s what it felt like for me when I was listening to the experience. And I know it did get some attention, like some different people listened to that show, including, I believe Sam Broadway sent it to some city councilors and people. And we ended up having it discussed in the Register-Guard.

[00:04:06] And some of what he said was crazy. That was part of why it got as much attention as it did I think, because when he said, ‘Go to Eugene because Eugene wants you people,’ yeah, crazy what he said. It was that energy. Yeah, yeah, the right quote, but that was kind of what he said and here we were giving like an actual example of that. So I feel like, is there any more, do you think, Julie, backstory we should give about all that?

[00:04:43] Julie Lambert: Well, I think Bernice can pretty much speak for herself. She’s just been struggling. She bought an RV and a truck so that her family would never be homeless. And boy, did that backfire, because she’s not welcome in Springfield and she’s not welcome in Eugene.

[00:05:03] Presenter: Police also knocked on her door in Eugene, while parked on Hilyard near Nightingale.

[00:05:09] Bernice Pogue: When I got to Eugene, it was actually, it was really peaceful. I was surprised. I was like, what, you know, why didn’t I do this sooner? The reason I didn’t was ’cause my kids do go to school in Springfield and gas just moving around is hard enough very yet taken to and from school. So, and I still try and be close to the school.

[00:05:28] Where I parked in Eugene, so it’s like right on the outskirts. So, but it was nice, relaxing. I ended up going further into Eugene over by was what 35th and Hilyard so I could be closer to the Family First Place. Maybe I’ll move up on the list or get the help that, you know, I’m like 37th on the waiting list. So there’s 37 families before me waiting for just a shelter, you know.

[00:05:56] I was parked down by the Dari Mart there next to the Conestoga huts. And it was my second day there. No, my third day there, it was like the third. I got a knock at the door and they’re like, you know, okay, I’ve got a complaint from the neighbor. I’m like, ‘Okay,’ so we moved that day.

[00:06:16] I’m not going to say anything, but I just had a really easy time until my name got into the system, and then it became, it seemed like a problem.

[00:06:27] Everywhere I go, I just keep getting tagged, just tagged everywhere. I don’t think, you know, people want to be mean or anything. People are nice and they will let you stay, you know, often we clean up after ourselves when we leave and we’ll clean up whatever mess we can prior to that. So we do have people that will let us park there kind of regularly, but not like just stay the whole time.

[00:06:49] So I’m trying to find like this three good places to bounce to, you know, and so I’m not anywhere, you know, for too long, but the problem is, is it’s getting worse out here. It’s getting worse. There’s more and more people and everyone’s trying to find a place to be.

[00:07:08] So I think businesses and people just kind of feel like, ‘Well, you know, we let one person stay, then it brings more.’ Or, ‘It’s going to be like the ones we don’t want,’ you know, or just because one doesn’t behave, but you know, it’s like kind of like, yeah, one bad apple is ruining for everyone. Or just the fact there’s just way too many people.

[00:07:29] And probably going to be more, considering the rent’s going to be going up soon. So it’s something I wish our city council would think about because I mean, this, this can’t last so much longer. It’s hard out here.

[00:07:40] It just doesn’t make sense to me how you have all this empty land. No one can be anywhere. We have parking lots. They’re parking lots, but nobody can be in them. I mean: Do you know what feels like as a human to sit there and look around and just be told you can’t be anywhere, but you’re seeing all this all this property with nothing on it, no one on it, but you can’t be there either…

[00:08:02] I never thought I’d actually end up homeless. The first time it happened, I was like, ‘What?’ Because I was thought there’s all these safety measures that really, you have to really not want help. You know what I mean? There’s just no way you’ll truly be on the streets.

[00:08:15] And then there I was sitting in a Walmart parking lot watching people leave the store and I remember just sitting there and just thinking they’re getting in their cars and they have somewhere to go. I don’t have anywhere to go. Yeah, I just never thought I could ever be there that could actually ever really happen

[00:08:33] Presenter: The full interview on KEPW closes with a news brief from Julie Lambert.

[00:08:37] Julie Lambert: This information comes our way by a Friend of the Station, Ken Neubeck, and it’s an article on Invisible (People) TV and it’s entitled ‘The Growing Crisis: 100,000 seniors are homeless in America each night.’ And I can summarize it by saying that over 100,000 seniors in the United States are homeless each night due to inadequate safety nets and housing solutions.

[00:09:06] Aging makes homelessness more challenging as seniors face difficulties such as cognitive decline, frailty, and limited mobility, which worsen their quality of life. Seniors represent at least 20% of the homeless population. We don’t hear about them very much. And they are more likely to live on the streets rather than in shelters, putting them at a higher risk of illness, violence, and premature death.

[00:09:34] Many older adults will fall into homelessness after living near poverty for years, with life-altering events such as the loss of a spouse or illness that can tip them into homelessness. They often rely on emergency rooms due to limited access to specialized medical care, which further strains the health care system. Some proposed solutions emphasize treating housing as a human right, (hurray) and ensuring stronger protections for seniors.

[00:10:04] Presenter: Legalize Survival airs at 7 p.m. Wednesdays. For the most recent programs, visit KEPW.org.