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--> Gary Donahue, an unemployed construction worker who has been living in his car for three months, watches a small television set in the back seat of his 1983 two-door Audi at one of 60 approved sites throughout Eugene. AP Streets of sympathy By Joseph B. Frazier Associated Press Writer EUGENE - An old van sits alone in a downtown parking lot near a trash bin and a portable toilet. The van doesn't run and it's in sore need of some TLC. But it's home sweet home to Kathy Obert, a 60-year-old homeless woman. Obert can't find anyone willing to hire her. "Would you want a hand like this pouring your coffee?" she asked, showing a shaky hand. She uses jugs of water in her broken-down van to wash herself because she can't afford to take a bus to a relief agency that has showers for the homeless. But at least Obert doesn't have to worry about a police officer coming along and chasing her away. Obert is one of scores of homeless people who live in old cars, vans or recreational vehicles on sites set aside for that purpose by the city of Eugene, which has a reputation for being one of the most liberal places in the country. A leafy university town just west of the Cascades, Eugene is apparently the only city in the country with such a program for homeless people with wheels, according to the National Coalition of the Homeless. Camping on the streets of the city of 137,000 is prohibited. But for the past three years, city officials have been making an exception for homeless people who live in vehicles. The city has supplied 15 sites where people living in vehicles can stay for up to 90 days, a limit that is flexible. About 60 more sites have been supplied by churches, businesses and nonprofit organizations. Each site is provided with a portable toilet and a trash bin and is limited to a maximum of three vehicles. The program is run by a Roman Catholic relief agency, St. Vincent de Paul. The agency coordinates with city officials to find places for homeless people to park the vehicles they are living in. "For every space in the parking program there are 10 applicants," said William Wise, who works at the street level for St. Vincent de Paul. On any given night about 1,800 people will try to get into one of the city's homeless shelters. Richie Weinman, the neighborhoods and affordable housing manager for the city of Eugene, said the real number "is two or three or four times that, nobody knows for sure." The number of homeless people living in cars is equally hard to calculate, Weinman said, but estimates it is many more than 100. Eugene's program aside, a 1998 survey by the National Coalition of the Homeless determined that Oregon does not have a good reputation for down-and-outers. "There are anti-camping ordinances that many cities have, anti-panhandling laws and drug-free zones," said Chuck Currie, the Portland representative of the Washington D.C.-based group. "Eugene has a reputation as an open and progressive community and it would be hard to replicate something like that without the political dynamic they have." Even though current Eugene regulations stipulate that homeless people who live in cars and vans have to park their vehicles on designated sites, those who don't do so are only told to move on if there are complaints from neighbors. "The police are compassionate about this," Wise said. "They don't want to write a ticket or take a homeless person to jail or tow their homes, but they can't ignore the complaints of the other citizens, either." A van owned by Lori Harward, 60-ish, is parked illegally with two other home/vehicles on an isolated street in west Eugene's industrial area. A bed is tucked in crosswise in the back. There is a card table. Strands of costume jewelry hang from a hook. "I'd rather be in my van than have to adapt to other people, or to my kids, God forbid," she said. So far, she has not been ordered by police to move on. Eugene officials chose their current approach to the homeless car dwellers because strict enforcement of the no-camping ban was failing. "It was a cat-and-mouse game," with the car dwellers just moving on to some other location, Weinman said. There are few complaints against the legal car-dwellers because they are scattered around in groups of one to three, instead of being bunched together in large groups, said Weinman. But the homeless car dwellers must follow certain rules, including no drugs, no alcohol and no pets. Harward can't get onto one of the legal sites because she refuses to part with her large brown dog. "I'd nut (go crazy) without her," she said. Email your... 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