By BRIAN PORTER | Rocky Mountain Voice
A new measure could be added to Fort Morgan’s criminal code in response to a homeless man who may nearly have been killed as a result of living inside a dumpster on trash pickup day.
“Fortunately, the guy was able to get out and jumped out of the truck and ran off the hood,” Police Chief Loren Sharp said. “He literally would have been crushed, had he not gotten out of there.”
Sharp is asking members of City Council to consider a trespassing ordinance which would include the interior of a dumpster, making it illegal to be within the confines of a dumpster.
“We don’t have any [trespassing law] that talks about dumpsters and receptacles,” he said.
The concern and frustration of residents toward homeless in Fort Morgan has grown throughout the summer, with business owners reporting drug use adjacent the city park, some parents saying homeless occupy the park gazebo and deter use of the park, businesses locking their doors on Main Street during operational hours to keep homeless out of their businesses, and even homeless being found in residential properties.
Sharp has indicated Fort Morgan has 250 homeless, amounting to 2% of the town’s population.
“There’s some concern with people ‘dumpster diving’ for lack of a better term,” Sharp said. “[This is] people getting into dumpsters. It creates a lot of fear for people who go out to their dumpster and see [vagrants] standing next to their dumpster.”
The contents of dumpsters are rifled through and often tossed out on the ground, he says.
“The most concerning of all … was an individual in a dumpster when the trash truck came and picked up the dumpster,” Sharp said.
One female business owner of small stature has noted being startled with homeless at her dumpster.
“Someone could get seriously injured,” Sharp said.
It remains unclear when an ordinance might come to City Council. Mayor Kevin ‘Doc’ Lindell suggested a discussion among City Council members at the next meeting. He noted city leaders may want to consider a camping ban and the trespassing ordinance.
“I think it is time to move toward a solution for the things we can fix,” Lindell said.