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News Herald Photos Robert CooperDanny Flynn watches as Solo Hemnc sets up the chess pieces carved by fellow regulator Jarvis Gallop. Chess is one of the more popular pastimes in the camp.P E R K 0 N A t 4 r'-t rCTIONS: A group of men living unassisted in awooded area of town don’t see themselves as homeless but as ....Kevin Porterr H E NEWS H E R A L Dhen Carl Martin peered into his spotless mirrored medicine cabinet nailed to a tree in this smallsecluded forest, there wasn’ta homeless man looking back.Rather, he stared at a survivor. A man who lives off the land.This 41-year-old, dressed in a sleeveless denim shirt, blue jeans and a camouflage cap, isn’t the campfire legend that stalks his dinner or spears it from the sea. Slowed by an injured knee, he digs in trash bins and sifts through garbage cans. He patronizes charities and accepts donations from churches. He has a food stamp card,“You’d be amazed at the(stuff) you can get for free, Martin boasted with a wryMartin’s campsite, obscured by titi leaves and pine needles in an otherwise developed part of Panama City, is a cornucopia of discarded belongings and treasured finds. It’s a testimonial to the wastefulness of the American lifestyle.Martin has tables, chairs and dresser drawers. He’s collected practically everything you’d find in a modest home — minus the roof and walls.Carl Martin passes the mirror that marks the hygiene area of the camp. Martin and his compatriots share and share alike, their communal toiletnes and anything else they can forage.“We found all this stuff in Martin shouted, demon-Dumpsters,” Martin said, spreading wide his tattooed arms. “We are not thieves.” A transplant from Biloxi, Miss., Martin is admittedly no stranger to jails. Neither are the six men who share his mosquito-infested domain.They call themselves “The Regulators,” something that inexplicably came to Martin when he was in a drunken stupor one night. “Regulators, mount up!”strafing the group’s war cry, which is rarely invoked.He’s the self-proclaimed leader or, as Martin put it, “the chief.”Martin and his confederates claim they no longer look for trouble. Instead, they keep to themselves, enjoying an uncomplicatedlife.Some are content with living this way forever. Others are riding out a spell of bad luck.“Anvbodv can be stuck like Chuck,” laments Solo Hemric, 46. We’ll be on our feet again soon.” Tanned and muscular, Hemric is a fisherman by trade. He’s planning to get back on a boat as soon as someone gives him achance.4k I’I’m trying to get my ID back,” he explained. It’s not something that happens overnight.”See REGULATORS, page 5A
Newspaper Details
Panama City News Herald
Panama City, Florida, US
Sat, Apr 27, 2002
Page 104
Full Page
Clipped by
Chastity W.
AL, USA 21 Mar 2022
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