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- Subscribe - Contact Us - Rate Card - Place an Ad Archives Revels Classifieds Real Estate Menu Guide Wedding Weather Subscribe Contact Us May 15, 2006 Tom Lowe outside the Jade Dragon . He hopes his time on the street is only temporary. Matt Apple | For the Tidings Down & Out in Ashland By Erin Halcomb Tidings Correspondent It’s a drizzly spring day in Ashland. A champagne Saturn splashes past the Jade Dragon restaurant where Tom Lowe stands with his cardboard sign. The woman driver looks away. “I used to be one of those people,” Lowe says, “someone that looked the other way.” His eyes follow the Saturn as it moves through the Shop ’N’ Kart lot. “It’s ironic.” Back then, Lowe worked in construction and never gave a dime to beggars, blaming them for poor choices. Now that he’s jobless and homeless, he believes most people who give to him have known poverty in the past. “I’ve learned there’s a lot more under the surface than appears,” Lowe says, keeping a cigarette hidden behind his sign. He doesn’t fault the poor for their problems anymore. A teenage couple cuts around the east corner of the restaurant. A boy with greasy black hair leads the way. The girl with him is taller, with long bare legs like a shorebird. “Excuse me,” the boy begins, his oversized jeans cuffed in dirt. “We need a dollar to catch the bus to Medford.” His dark eyes look calmly into Lowe’s. “Can you help us out?” The girl fidgets. Lowe digs into his left pocket and casually hands money to the boy as if he’s his son, though he doesn’t have one. “Thanks,” say the teens. They disappear back around the building. Sharing is common among the down-and-out. Lowe, 55, has restrictions on what he can eat, but doesn’t dare reject an offering. Instead, he finds a hungry peer who’ll take it. “ Almost like a real existence ” The twiggy teen girl is back. “Here’s the change — we got some more,” she says, and races off to the bus. Lowe slides the change back in his pocket. Last fall, when he stood by the Shell station near Medford’s south freeway exit, he collected about $50 each day — a lot of money for him. He’d spend $31.55 to sleep at the Capri motel and the rest going out at night to bars, where he’d feed the jukebox. “It was almost like a real existence,” he says. But he came to see it as a rut. These days Lowe returns to Medford 10 days a month to stay at the Gospel Mission. Otherwise, he prefers Ashland, where he has had some luck finding odd jobs. He still sees his time on the street, which began about 10 months ago, as temporary. Every town has people who worry that beggars are bad for business. Rumor among street folk in Ashland warns that Safeway and Albertson’s employees will report panhandlers to police, who’ll cite them for trespassing. The offense carries a stiff fine. Here, the co-owner of the Jade Dragon restaurant is generous to the poor. He takes a break from his hot kitchen and opens the back gate. “You hungry?” he asks Lowe. He offers pork fried rice and sweet-and-sour chicken. Handing over the warm food cartons, he brings his hand to his heart to help him explain why he cares. “It gives me power,” he says. He stays a moment, scanning the bustling lot. “Tell me if you’re hungry,” he says, nodding his head. Then he bows back in through the gate. Most look away Lowe rests on the blue milk crate to eat. “I feel like sitting makes me look lazy,” he says bending stiff as wood, hand on knee. “But, I think to some, it makes me look more pitiful.” He has nerve damage in his legs from a late diagnosis of diabetes. When business picks up at Bi-Mart and Shop ’N’ Kart, about 3 p.m., Lowe stands at attention. A ball cap shades his eyes as he watches the cars coming and going, people shopping and talking. He recognizes some. The man who drives three different cars always frowns. Today, he drives a mini-van. A button-down man in a Ford Expedition buzzes past. Most people do. A blue Volvo wagon passes, then a red Mercury and a white Subaru. Kids with curious faces peer from car windows. Some adults stare, but most look away. “Not everyone can give,” Lowe says as a BMW rolls by, “but to some people, I’m not even part of their existence.” He adds, “I want a normal life again. I want a job, a truck, a room to rent, cable TV.” Some people brake, handing goods from their open car windows. A blond woman hands sesame wafers and Balance bars from a red Explorer. A man with a Washington tag gives a $10 bill and stern directions: “Get something to eat.” A good day Lowe puts two apples in his pack and another five dollars in his pocket. A tie-dyed boy strolls by. He flashes a peace sign and says, “May the Creator bless you.” Lowe nods. A woman in a long skirt approaches on foot. He recognizes and greets her. “I just finished my shopping,” she says, apologizing for not seeing him sooner. “But, I’ll go back in and get something you’d like.” Last time, she stopped to offer before shopping, and brought Lowe the orange juice and fruit he requested. “I’m doing all right today,” he replies. “Thank you.” She crosses over to ask David Cody, another parking-lot regular who is standing nearby. Last time, he asked for almond butter, and she brought him some. But he doesn’t want to bother her today. At 7 p.m. Lowe folds his sign in half, slips it under his arm and slings the loaded pack onto his shoulders. He has stood against the brick wall since mid-day. With a pack full of food and $55 in his pocket, he’s had a very good day. This was a Friday — the day when people have the most to give. The money will help Lowe get through next Monday and Tuesday, when he most likely will receive just a few dollars. He stops to buy a crisp, new pair of jeans he’s been wanting from Bi-Mart, $12.88 on sale. From here, he’ll walk to Lumpy’s Saloon to watch a baseball game on TV. Later, he’ll spend the night in an abandoned car. Cody stays on. The parking lot still bustles and it’s still light. One night, he stayed until 11:30, determined to make $1. Finally a man in a Jaguar noticed that he had been there for hours. He handed Cody a $20 bill. Cody thanked him, and biked in the moonlight to his tent in the hills. This series will continue on Monday, May 22. 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