Document text
3 of 3 Premium Clicks used this month SUBSCRIBE Print + Online Subscriber Activation | Register x Forgot Password | Need an Account? e-edition | subscribe | newsletter | deals Classifieds Jobs Autos Real Estate NEWS NOW Our View: Cheers to jobs, fish; jeers to canceled insurance ... From the council: Medford-Alba sister city bond is a special one ... Emergency Services ... Our View: Cheers to jobs, fish; jeers to canceled insurance ... From the council: Medford-Alba sister city bond is a special one ... Emergency Services ... Who is Downtown Dan? MEDFORD — Lurching forward with a tilted gait, Dan Doty walks down Medford's Fir Street in a hurry to get nowhere. By MARK FREEMAN MailTribune.com By MARK FREEMAN Posted Apr. 22, 2007 @ 12:01 am Updated Sep 22, 2015 at 9:23 AM By MARK FREEMAN Posted Apr. 22, 2007 @ 12:01 am Updated Sep 22, 2015 at 9:23 AM » RELATED CONTENT NOW YOU KNOW --> Our Valley 2007, the Mail Tribune's annual supplement inserted in today's paper, reveals the who, what, when, where, why and how of our community, things you might always have wondered but didn'... » Read more X NOW YOU KNOW Our Valley 2007, the Mail Tribune's annual supplement inserted in today's paper, reveals the who, what, when, where, why and how of our community, things you might always have wondered but didn't know whom to ask. To see an audio slide show featuring images from the section, click here. • An interview with 'Downtown Dan' » Social News p bs:newslist StartDate="20121121" EndDate="p bs:datecalc Months="3"" DateSort="1" UseObjects="1" ObjectClass="81" Taxonomywords="2325,665" ExactTaxonomyMatch="1" Image="1" Count="4" --> MEDFORD — Lurching forward with a tilted gait, Dan Doty walks down Medford's Fir Street in a hurry to get nowhere. With a few freshly bummed bills in his pocket, the 47-year-old trudges through the morning mist to the Purple Parrot, where he'll blow his wad on Oregon Lottery Scratch-its. From there it's off to Dairy Queen to gum his way through two hot dogs before he foots it to White City for a doctor's appointment, then back to Medford to inquire about his monthly disability check. In between, he cruises downtown, stopping to talk with any of dozens of people who regularly cross his 15-mile walking path every day. "There's Barbara," Doty says to the meter maid. "There's Dan," she replies. Everyone seems to know Medford's most recognizable pedestrian, the grizzled, red-faced man who has walked the streets and engagingly panhandled residents here for the past 25 years. And Doty in turn seems to know everyone, where the people work, even when they go to the coffee shop on Thursdays. From community leaders to soda jerks, Doty knows all and approaches all. Most happily accept his bug-eyed hello, even those he hits up for spare change or a cigarette. "I have a lot of friends, and a lot of acquaintances," Doty says. "Some of them I don't even know." That's just a part of Dan Doty's daily dichotomy. While he knows the names of acquaintances, he can't remember his own birth date. He can summarize this week's news in excruciating detail, but he can't recall where he went to school. Doty remembers the day he quit outpatient help at the Jackson County Mental Health Department and struck out completely on his own 15 years ago as "one of the best things I've ever done for myself." But he cannot remember that he didn't graduate from Medford Senior High in 1964, that he never was in the military or that he doesn't have three kids. A lifetime of mental illness and a brain injury have left Doty a walking contradiction. But this combination of fact and fiction somehow has become accepted and even protected by everyone from clothing merchant to beat cop as part of the fabric of downtown Medford. "Dan's a survivor," says Tim George, Medford's deputy police chief. "He's a fixture of the community, living on the edge but keeping it all together. He'll hit up the mayor for change like he would a homeless guy. "And man, that guy can really walk," George says. Most of Doty's daily walking itinerary, though, is phantom. He remembers Department of Veterans Affairs and doctor appointments that don't exist. "And sometimes I have appointments that I forget," he says. Some know him as "Downtown Dan." To others, he's "Walking Dan." Or "Crazy Dan." But no one here really knows Dan Doty. Sandra Toney was 16 years old and already married a year when she painfully bore Daniel Paul Doty on June 6, 1959, in a Coos Bay hospital. The doctor had to pull him out, and she recalls a dent on his head, perhaps from a tool used during the delivery. Three days later at home, Doty began drinking enough formula for three babies, she says. "He always had a totally insatiable appetite," says Toney, now living in Oklahoma and co-owner of an upholstery shop. "He was always like that, and he grew so big so fast." And he was so different. Before he was 5 years old, Doty could read portions of the Reader's Digest out loud, Toney says. "I always thought he was so brilliant," she says. But there was also something wrong. His impulsive behavior and compulsive eating were alarming, she says. When he started kindergarten, Doty would sneak into the coatroom and eat all his classmates' lunches, she says. On his third day of kindergarten, Doty ate all his school supplies and started gnawing on his desk when the school called home, Toney says. "We kept having problems, and they would always get worse," Toney says. "No one could do anything for him. Eventually, they told us, 'childhood schizophrenia.' " At age 6, while riding his bike on a Coos Bay driveway, Doty was run over by a pickup truck. Among his many injuries was severe head trauma that led to a lengthy hospital stay, says sister Sheri Mitchell, from Okay, Okla. Over time, Doty seemed to recover from the accident, Toney says, but the behavioral problems escalated. Outpatient mental health treatments didn't seem to take hold. He had bouts of aggression toward his four younger siblings and other kids in the neighborhood. "That's the nature of his disease," Mitchell says. "He could be like that and the next minute he could be the nicest guy. But he was getting progressively worse." Toney says she all but gave up when Doty was 9. Then divorced and living in Lane County, she shipped Doty to live with his father in Southern California. While there, his father had him committed for his first inpatient mental health treatment. Doty was released and he returned to his family, then living in Junction City. But his behavior became even worse, family members say. By age 11, he was smoking. At 13, he was 230 pounds and often violent. In 1972, he built a fire under his brother Lonnie's crib. Later, he went out for a bike ride and came back in a police car, angrily slamming the cruiser's door on one officer's hand. "We all loved him," Mitchell says. "But that was the last straw." Toney signed commitment papers on Oct. 19, 1972. Doty ended up in the Oregon State Hospital for Adolescents in Salem, remaining locked down until Aug. 26, 1976, after almost four years of inpatient treatment. "Back in the early '70s, it was considered fairly long, but not unusual," says Jerry Williams, civil commitment coordinator for the Addiction and Mental Health Division of the state Department of Human Services. Doty was in and out of the state hospital and halfway houses until he was released Nov. 2, 1982, when hospitals began to focus more on outpatient services than inpatient services, records show. "Long-term inpatient treatment is truly reserved only for the people who really have a need for it," Williams says. Marching up Biddle Road toward Dairy Queen, Doty says he knows he was hospitalized, but not when or for how long. "I was glad it happened, actually," he says. "I thought it could help, and it did." He offers no details of his treatment. By MARK FREEMAN MailTribune.com By MARK FREEMAN Posted Apr. 22, 2007 @ 12:01 am Updated Sep 22, 2015 at 9:23 AM » Comment or view comments /* $( document ).ready(function() { // Jquery mobile is trying to style the button and leaving a blank gry button on top of a white button $("#viafouracoms .vf-comment-controls li.vf-right").html(' Submit '); });*/ » STAY INFORMED Email NewsLetter Sign Up Today Sign up for our newsletter and have the top headlines from your community delivered right to your inbox. calendar Connect with MailTribune.com Facebook Twitter RSS Back to top Reader Services Reader Services Home Subscriptions Subscriber controls Contact us Submissions Photos Events Letters to the editor Corrections Announcements Obituaries Story ideas Since you asked Alerts Email Alerts RSS Feeds Text Alerts Advertise Media Kit Home Products and services Ad rates Advertising contacts Propel Marketing Mail Tribune Daily Tidings The Nickel Shop Our Valley Blogs Mobile Site Stay Informed Email newsletter Sign Up Today Sign up for our newsletter and have the top headlines from your community delivered right to your inbox. Your privacy is important, read our privacy policy. © Copyright 2015 Local Media Group, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Privacy Policy | Terms of Service | Local Media Group Publications Original content available for non-commercial use under a Creative Commons license, except where noted. MailTribune.com | P.O. Box 1108, Medford, OR 97501