Navigating system can be rough sailing for homeless

Friday, Aug. 15, 2003 | 11:11 a.m.

Until Wednesday, Gary Norris had one pair of pants -- shorts, to be exact.

But he bought a pair of black jeans in a thrift shop for his Municipal Court hearing on a misdemeanor citation Thursday.

The jeans were not all that was new for Norris. Outside the court Thursday afternoon after the charge against him for "soliciting on a roadway" was dismissed, he reflected on all that has changed in his life since January, when a police officer saw him holding a sign that read,"The Lord is my shepherd" near D Street and Interstate 15.

The officer cited him. Norris decided to fight the charge. That fight led him to take on other battles -- including ending six years of homelessness and quitting smoking after 50 years.

"I've always stood up for the little guy and I guess this time I was the little guy," he said.

But apart from the personal satisfaction Norris obtained from having his charges dismissed, observers said the case also struck a blow for the rights of the homeless.

The issue is particularly sensitive in recent weeks, after a national organization's report called Las Vegas the nation's "meanest" city to the homeless. The report alleged that Metro Police selectively enforce so-called quality of life laws such as soliciting and jaywalking -- and mentioned Norris' case as an example.

"While the lines aren't clearly drawn and every cop isn't out to get the homeless ... no one can deny ... there's a subtle and silent but relentless war against the homeless in this city," Norris said.

"This is a case where the guy wasn't doing anything except exercising his freedom of speech and religion ... but it was easier for police to remove him from the streets because he was an eyesore," said Norris' lawyer, Peter Bellon, who works with the Clark County Pro Bono Project.

Bellon said he was pleased with Judge John Lavery's dismissal of the charges. It carried a condition that Norris stay out of trouble during the next four months.

Norris said the case had motivated him to get off the streets and back to his true love -- songwriting.

"Freedom is God's gift to America and the world, and standing up for that has made many other things go well," he said.

Norris has obtained an apartment and improved his health. He not only quit smoking, but had a 5-year-old hernia operated on in recent months. All of that required a by-the-hand approach of navigating tiers of government that few agencies provide, however.

Linda Lera-Randle El, director of a nonprofit called Straight from the Streets, took Norris in and out of Clark County Social Service offices, as well as mental health clinics, hospitals and state welfare offices, dozens of times since the year began.

She has helped Norris cobble together rental assistance for his $369 a month apartment, food stamps, a medical card, and weekly group therapy sessions.

"Many agencies will only take people like Gary so far and drop them with a huge to-do list, which just doesn't work, especially if they've been on the streets for years," Lera-Randle El said.

"Going to all these offices is much more overwhelming than what they're used to -- like picking up bottles and cans. So they go back to that," she said.

Now Norris said he has time for the first time in years to write songs and has 15 under his belt since the court case began -- though none touch on the case itself.

"That may take some time yet," he said.

But he does have a song called -- fittingly enough -- "Bottles and Cans" -- which he thinks has a chance to be a hit.

He said he has an agent he left behind in Nashville 27 years ago, who said Norris could always give him a call -- "collect."

The song's chorus says, "No one understands the life I'm living now is free. Needles and pins, gone with the wind -- no one to satisfy but me."

When told that the song made homelessness sound sort of romantic, Norris said, "Nothing is all bad.

"The experience has definitely helped me as a songwriter ... learn from surviving on the streets."