Homeless man's death prompts community actions

Joseph Blagg, a Chattanooga area singer-songwriter, works on the chorus to a song he is writing about a homeless man who recently passed away while sleeping outside in the cold. Blagg spent time at Chattamusic's studio on Feb. 27, 2015 a few hundred yards from where the man had died.
Joseph Blagg, a Chattanooga area singer-songwriter, works on the chorus to a song he is writing about a homeless man who recently passed away while sleeping outside in the cold. Blagg spent time at Chattamusic's studio on Feb. 27, 2015 a few hundred yards from where the man had died.

The death of a homeless man who succumbed to hypothermia while sleeping on the ground has moved people across Chattanooga to try and help the city's homeless population.

Douglas King, 64, died Feb. 17 in the 600 block of East 11th Street while sleeping against a trestle near a railroad track, but local residents say his death was not in vain.

Musicians at Chattamusic are celebrating King's life by writing a song in his honor and donating some of the proceeds to the homeless. Local minister Michael McClendon slept at the Chattanooga Community Kitchen the night after King's death and distributed candles to the homeless. And radio hosts have dedicated parts of their broadcasts to programs to end alcohol and drug addiction and encouraging homeless people to use shelters.

"If this man's death served any purpose, it was to make all of us aware that there are people sleeping outside, under bridges, anywhere they can hole up, and who are very vulnerable," said Ron Fender, a former Community Kitchen outreach worker who knew King.

Several Chattanoogans took action to help other homeless people after learning of King's death.

"The idea of somebody being out in snow is bugging me," said Lookout Mountain resident Crystal Durham.

After King died, Durham purchased L.L. Bean gloves and hats on sale at Ace Hardware to donate to homeless people.

Nancy Earl Harrison, a Christian Science practitioner, hung up a sign in the Christian Science Reading Room on Market Street offering warm blankets to anyone who needs them.

"It's not our normal outreach," she said. "Our focus is on healing and prayer, but given the news of the man dying needlessly that way -- we wanted to help."

Local musician Joseph Blagg, 62, is writing a song about King's life and using some of the proceeds to help the homeless.

"These people need help, and we've got to find a way to do better than what we're doing," he said.

McClendon, founder of the "Whatever It Takes" ministry, said a handful of people will sleep outside whether it's cold or not.

He said those include people who are mentally ill and self-sacrificing people who could go home to family members but don't want to expose them to their struggles.

King grew up in a "well-to-do" family in Ohio and graduated from Ohio State University, said Betsy Seepe, a licensed social worker in Nashville who said she once dated him.

She said he wasn't always an alcoholic. She suspected he was bipolar and used alcohol to cope with the disorder.

King had been married twice, had a daughter from his first marriage and held different jobs in accounting, Seepe said.

When he was found he had money in his pocket and $175 in the bank, said Seepe, who kept in touch with King's family.

Community Kitchen officials said a final investigation of King's whereabouts concluded that he never entered the shelter the day before his death, despite witnesses who said he was sent out of the shelter or turned away for drinking.

King's family will memorialize him within the next month at Forest Hills Cemetery, Seepe said.

The area's homeless population included some 600 people in 2014, according to the Chattanooga Regional Homeless Coalition. Population estimates from 2015 are expected to be available in March.

Contact staff writer Yolanda Putman at yputman@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6431.

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