Students at the University of Tampa are fairly familiar with the issue of homelessness.
Security failed to respond to any questions concerning incidents of homeless people from the vicinity entering campus, but according to weekly campus reports, there have been several cases of homeless persons trespassing onto UT property lately.
The homeless occasionally wander around Plant Park at night, but many can be seen on a daily basis near campus.
On Monday nights, some members of Extreme Elite take meals across the street to the steps of the First Baptist Church, where some of Tampa’s huddled masses gather to rest for the night.
Freshman Frederique De Rooy is one of the students that takes them meals. “We’ll take the meals and just spend time talking to them and listening to their stories,” said De Rooy.
Freshman Tim Courtney said, “While I have only seen a few people on the steps of the church across from campus, I have seen quite a few more [homeless people] on Dale Mabry.”
Whether or not one encounters derelict wanderers near campus, it is impossible to drive down Kennedy or Dale Mabry without seeing them on the corners of streets and the medians holding signs asking for spare change.
Sophomore Roger Andrés Trujillo said, “There’s a lot of them there [. . .] asking for money or selling water on the intersection between Dale Mabry and Kennedy.”
In a recent issue of the St. Petersburg Times, panhandling in the Bay Area was brought into question. A proposed ordinance would land panhandlers a 60-day jail sentence and up to $500 in fines.
The ban on panhandling was rejected after numerous people, especially vendors who sell newspapers to commuters, argued that their livelihood would be destroyed.
If the ban had passed, it would have certainly affected the panhandlers in Tampa, but what about those who stand on the street corners with intentions other than collecting money?
“There is one that sticks out in my mind because he is always carrying a ventriloquist doll, like the comedian Jeff Dunham; and he holds this large sign on his back,” said Courtney.
That man goes by Poor Penny Carson and can be found on different medians on Dale Mabry. At first glance, he appears to be just another beggar asking for money, but he makes it clear that what he is seeking is, rather, a listening ear.
He carries a homemade ventriloquist dummy by the name of “Sweet-Pea Johnson” and a sign on his back telling a condensed version of his mission.
Carson, who claimed to have once been an entertainer in L.A., said that he gave up his profession in 1976 to spread “the Lord’s word of the coming of the end of the world.” Carson said that one night, “I opened my mouth and I said ‘Lord, if I deliver the word you give me through the mouth of that dummy, man might take heed.’”
That is exactly what he has been doing for almost 35 years. He stands on medians across the country telling drivers of the coming of the Rapture and “the words of the Holy Ghost that come upon my mind” through the mouth of Sweet-Pea Johnson.
Carson said he has spoken in every state except for Hawaii and Alaska and has travelled around the country three times. He has been in Tampa for about a month.
When told about the attempts to remove panhandlers from the streets of Tampa, Carson seemed outraged at the notion that he was doing his work for money. He stated, “If I wanted to make money, I’d steal it.” He paused for a moment before concluding, “I’d still be an entertainer.”
According to the Florida Code of Ordinances, the actual definition of panhandling is “to beg for money in the streets.” It goes on to say, “Panhandling does not include passively standing or sitting with a sign or other indication that one is seeking donations, without addressing any solicitation to any specific person other than in response to an inquiry by that person.”
Since Carson does not beg for money, if the ordinance to end panhandling had been enacted, he could have continued preaching unaffected.
Channing Hailey can be reached at channing.hailey@spartans.ut.edu.