- Field Day |
- Buildings Alive |
- Visions |
- CLGBT |
- Green Community |
- Fun & Free S#!T |
- Crossword |
- CL Space |
Wednesday, October 24, 2007
The Hard Luck of Homelessness
Posted by Alex Pickett on Wed, Oct 24, 2007 at 7:45 PM
“Here we are on the fuzzy border between eccentricity and incompetence,†writes Dr. Douglas Uzzell after a psychiatric examination of David Castellano, the subject of my Urban Explorer column this week.
You might know Castellano as the rotund man on Tampa’s Sheldon Road surrounded by signs claiming he won the Pennsylvania Lottery. But spend a few minutes with the 55-year-old homeless veteran and you’ll find out his lottery story is just the beginning; he says the FBI and FCC are after him, too.
Turns out (not surprisingly), the Pennsylvania Lottery has nary a record about Castellano winning in 1981, nor do they have any record of the man Castellano claims stole his ticket.
But that doesn’t mean he hasn’t been dealt a tough hand. I obtained court records earlier this week (unfortunately not in time for deadline) that shed a little more light on Castellano’s tumultuous life.
Castellano, a Vietnam-era veteran, has been homeless for the last seven years. He used to sleep in a tent behind the K-Mart on West Waters Avenue. That’s when an employee of a nearby bank took notice of him and contacted Lutheran Services, who gained emergency temporary guardianship over Castellano in 2000. A preliminary psychiatric evaluation at Baylife Acute Care Clinic revealed signs of schizophrenia and psychosis.
For the next two months, Lutheran Services social workers worked to gain full guardianship of him. They closed some of Castellano’s bank accounts, took control of his large savings and attempted to place him in an assisted living facility for the mentally disabled. But Castellano resisted all the way, eventually walking out of the facility. He wanted to remain homeless in his tent off of Waters Avenue. The case went to court.
At a June 2000 hearing, a judge honored Castellano’s wishes to remain homeless and control his own affairs. The court cited a Florida statute that allows even “the most obviously mentally-ill person who is capable of surviving safely in freedom by himself†to live where he chooses.
Afterward, Lutheran Services billed Castellano over $4,000 for taking care of him, charging $60 an hour for phone calls and trips to the woods around Waters Avenue looking for him. But after Castellano protested the charges at his next hearing, the court ruled the amount was excessive and reduced the amount to $2,000. (Castellano is still angry about that.)
After the hearings, Castellano returned to Tampa’s streets, moving to the area around West Hillsborough Avenue where he remains today.
This whole story represents a particular problem facing homeless advocates: how do you help those who don’t want help?
“By his own admission, he has never been successful at making a living,†writes Dr. Uzzell in a 2000 psychiatric report prepared for Castellano. “On the other hand, I believe that he would probably deteriorate very rapidly if he were too severely restrained or managed. While he is presently the victim of his own poor judgment, emotional distress and lack of structure, he could easily become a man ‘killed by kindness.’
Comments (53)
Showing 1-50 of 53
Lutheran Services came into this man's life uninvited, and then wants to charge him $4000 for assistance he did not want? What a helpful organization. Furthermore (although the information is certainly a part of the story), isn't there some sort of confidentiality broken by your receipt of the psychiatric report?
like
dislike
Did the Pennsylvania Lottery say if there was a $83 million dollar jackpot that year? (I doubt it back in 1981) And I think tommyduncn may have a point, with HIPPA and all that.
"Lotto man" as we've called him for years, lived in the woods on the East side of Anderson Road just south of Gunn Highway off and on for at least a year back around 2004. He was almost a daily sight for me, often engaging himself in animated conversation. At one time he had professionally printed signs about his lottery ordeal. We've heard the rumors that he actually has a bank account and a decent amount of savings, but just prefers to be out on the streets, looking for help to reclaim his lottery winnings. We've always wondered why he doesn't go to Pennsylvania, thinking that his campaign might be more effective there, but I suppose the answer is obvious enough. I believe he was arrested circa 2005 for camping too close to the public park there and was sent to Pinellas County for treatment, but he's been back on the street for at least a year now.
We bring you top brand name replica watches at very favorable price. replica Tag Heuer is fascinating, durable, and affordable especially.
People usually say :"Seeing is believing." GHD Each attempt has a corresponding gain, in part or obvious, or vague. At least we have the kind of satisfaction After I bought this watch ,in a sense,it means a great deal to me. rolex watches
Multithreading and batch conversion enable you to convert multiple videos to iPad videos/music at the same time.Thanks for sharing! ipad converter Blu ray to iPad Free download iPad Converter to enjoy.
At the end of each year, go over the material and save only bracelets for women the best. Organize your photos, particularly if you don't keep them in an album. Write the date of the picturecheaper for rings (at least the month and year) and the occasion on the back of each.
We'r ed hardy outlet one of the most profession of the coolest and latest ed hardy apparel, such as ed hardy tee ,ed hardy bags, ed hardy bathing suits, ed hardy Polos, ed hardy board shorts ? ed hardy men T-shirt, ed hardy swimwearand more, ed hardy clothing. We offers a wide selection of fashion cheap ed hardyproducts. Welcome to our shop or just enjoy browsing through our stunning collection available wholesale ed hardy in our shop. our goal is to delight you with our distinctive collection of mindful ed hardy products while providing value and excellent service. Our goal is 100% customer satisfaction and we offer only 100% satisfacted service and ed hardy products. Please feel free to contact us at any time; we are committed to your 100% customer satisfaction. If you're looking for the best service and best selection, stay right where you are and continue shopping at here is your best online choice for the reasonable prices. So why not buy your ed hardy now, I am sure they we won’t let you down.
Rolex watch brand, introduces the history Rolex watchesformerly known as W & D. By the Germans and the British Davis Khan omega watchesRolex Swails Randolph in 1905 in Renton partnership. 1908 Wise Randolph
Our shop offers many famous Best Replica Watches. for example:Chopard Replica Watches, They are all wrist watches and you can buy one for your father to show your love ,moreover. no one could know it a replica one.
Nmap just created a visualization mens polo shirtsengine based on Alexis.com data which lets you navigate the web’s most trafficked websites. Definitely worth a look TIFFANY & COeven though the servers seems to be over capacity right now, due to all the traffic from Mashable. on 17878996852007
We have been banned and have a considerable amount of money owed to us. http://www.anfworld.com/abercrombie-and-fitch-jeans.html http://www.anfworld.com/ruehl-no-925.htmls
Hi webmaster, commenters and everybody else !!! The blog was absolutely fantastic! Lots of great information and inspiration,
Hi webmaster, commenters and everybody else !!! The blog was absolutely fantastic! Lots of great information and inspiration,
Erb's palsy describes damage to the system of nerve fibers that deliver signals from the spinal cord to the shoulder, arm, wrist, hand and fingers, and thus impacts the child's power to manipulate the affected areas and feeling in those areas.
Hello, I am very happy to read your blog. This is another fantastic blog post what I have read. There are so many tools available that it becomes difficult to know which will work. And how best to use them.
The worth of tradition is its impact on character. It avails absolutely nothing except it ennobles and strengthens that. Its use is for lifestyle. Its purpose is just not attractiveness but goodness.
These kind of post are always inspiring and I prefer to read quality content so I happy to find many good point here in the post, writing is simply great, thank you !
Thanks for your great website, i love it very much.Welcome to visit our website too.
When you are looking for a piece of abstract art keep in mind that you may want to look at the piece more than once to get the true feeling of the pa
Your articles are very good. They are very useful for me. I will come here often.
Well said! This was a really quality post. In theory I'd like to write like this too - taking time and real effort to make a good article... but what can I say... I procrastinate alot and never seem to get something done.
It's so funny that so many people are complaining about an event...not every event you attend is going to be exactly as you'd like it to be.
Thank you for you personally submit. I like this piece of writing greatly. it gave me quite a lot of beneficial data. I hope I can see you additional articles or blog posts. Posed By jordan 9
Thanks for sharing your great website with us. i am really love it. I Knew many knowledge from it.
I hope you will keep updating your content constantly as you have one dedicated reader here. Thanks for a great post and interesting comments. I found this post while surfing the web for Thanks for sharing this article.
Thanks for a great post and interesting comments. I found this post while surfing the web for Thanks for sharing this article. Pretty good post. I just stumbled upon your blog and wanted to say that I have really enjoyed reading your blog posts. Any way I'll be subscribing to your feed and I hope you post again soon.
This blog is cool. No Doubt! your blog contain very useful information. Great blog article about this topic, I have been lately in your blog once or t
I have been reading your posts during my afternoon break, and I must admit the whole article has been very useful and very well written. I thought I would let you know that for some reason this blog does not display well in Internet Explorer 8. I wish Microsoft would stop changing their software. I have a question for you. Do you mind exchanging blog roll links? That would be really cool! blog??? Thanks for the blog loaded with so many information. Stopping by your blog helped me to get wha
DllErrorsFix is an dll errors fix tool.DllErrorsFix can repair and fix dll errors easy, safe and fast. DllErrorsFix will not collect or use any information about the visitors to the Web Site and your visit to the Web Site is anonymous.
No one likes a Windows XP slow startup.When you startup your computer you want it to be ready to use immediately. I can not make it that fast, but I can help you fix Windows XP slow startup.First step to fix Windows XP slow startup is to find out what programs are loading when you startup Windows XP. To do this click start, run, then type in msconfig and hit enter. Look at the Boot.ini tab. In the box labeled Timeout change the time from the default 30 to 3. This changes how long it waits to before booting.
My friend suggested me to visit your blog. Very well explained. I would like to say that it is very interesting to read your blog.coach purses,cheap coach purses
you know this is a great post and thank you for sharing this nice experience,and hope you can give another posts as soon as possible.
Good article, Each and every and Just about every Stage is good Sufficient.Many thanks for sharing with us your wisdom.
More please, this information helped me consider a few more things, keep up the good work.
Top Commenters
