Quite a few of you have expressed an interest in Doug so I thought I’d give you the latest.  I saw him on my way to meet a friend so I turned around and gave him the coffee I hadn’t yet had, as well as literally forcing him to take a couple dollars.

I had time to talk to him quite a bit about what is going on,and found out among other things that he had a sister and brother in law in the area, now divorced.  Apparently he and his sister never really got along, but he says he was pretty close to his brother in law.  I got a name that seeeeeeemmmmmmmmmmsssss like it might match that of an area contractor of all things.  May be a ccoincidence but Doug also tells me he did construction for years so I’m thinking this is the right guy.  I’ve left him a voice mail and shot him a quick email to see A) ifI have the right guy and B) if he’s willing and able to help Doug. 

Sadly, I lost the bid on the gov’t surplus stuff I was hoping to score but in the meantime Doug tells me that his most urgent need is for socks and pants, of which he has one each.  I also asked what had become of the cart he used to push around heaped with all his possessions, including the sleeping bag and coat I had given him earlier.  He tells me that there is one cop in particular who seems very “mean” and apparently ran him in for vagrancy or something and so he lost what few things he had. 

Right now I’m so tight myself I can’t do much but hopefully in the very near term I can do some shopping… I’m planning on the socks and pants, as well as a new sleeping bag and some toiletries maybe?  I’m thinking that somekind of backpack would be a good idea so he isn’t pushing a cart around, but we’ll see…