Page 4 ■ Thursday, December 29, 2011


BAKKEN NEWS


Homeless Aspen man given bus ticket to North Dakota


By JENNY MICHAEL Bismarck Tribune


Dakota has jobs. The former California man who had been camping in Aspen, Colo., was will- ing to hitchhike to North Dakota, but the staff of a homeless shelter thought it would be safer to get him here by bus. Vince Savage, the director of the


Jimmy Baldwin wanted work. North


the employers want potential employees to have addresses before hiring them, she said.


until they have a job and have housing lined up,” Grundstad said. Though Baldwin’s ticket was to Wil-


Aspen Homeless Shelter, said Baldwin never stayed overnight at the shelter in the ritzy tourist town but did come in for daytime services. Baldwin couldn’t fi nd a job in Aspen, where Savage said the aver- age cost for a single-family home is $3.5 million. “It’s a hard place to live if you can’t


fi nd a job,” Savage said. The 32-year-old man expressed a


desire to go to North Dakota, where a friend had told him jobs were plentiful. He told Savage he might just hitchhike there. Instead, Savage found a donor to put up the $190 for a Greyhound ticket from Glenwood Springs, Colo., to Wil- liston. “Out of sympathy for his own well-


being, I thought I’d rather see him on a bus,” Savage said. People in North Dakota learned of the situation on Dec. 22 through an article in the Aspen (Colo.) Daily News. The story told of Baldwin’s ticket to North Dakota, and mentioned that some of his prob- lems in Aspen were of a legal nature. He had recent arrests for trespassing, open container of alcohol, disorderly conduct and menacing. Savage said the shelter staff saw good qualities in Baldwin, who he said is an ex- cellent cook. He believes Savage “strayed from the straight and narrow,” including doing prison time at some point. But he thinks Baldwin would work hard if he can control his impulses and drinking. Dee Ann Grundstad, program man- ager at NDAD, which runs a homeless shelter in Williston, said people arriving with no job, nowhere to live and little in the way of plans have become common in the booming town in northwestern North Dakota’s oil patch. Grundstad has fi elded calls from people who inquire about openings at the shelter before they even arrive. Others load up all their pos- sessions and sometimes their families into cars and head to Williston without checking anything out. “That’s really hard to hear and really


hard to deal with that,”Grundstad said. Though there are more jobs by far than people in the community, most of


“I encourage people not to come ...


liston, Savage didn’t know if he’d make it all the way there or hop off at another stop along the way. Savage believes Bald- win had a cellphone when he left Colora- do, but he didn’t have the phone number available. Generally, there is a mixed reaction when the shelter helps someone leave Aspen, Savage said. While some people believe providing a ticket to a new place will help, others are annoyed that some- one got a free ticket. In the case of a woman being given a ticket back to Ha- waii, people were mad that she was given a free trip to an exotic location, Savage said. In Baldwin’s case, some in North Dakota objected to the idea that some- one else’s problem would be cast off on a new community, he said. “We’ve heard it once or twice before,”


Savage said about the complaints. Savage said he and other staff mem- bers at the shelter questioned the wis- dom of going to North Dakota in the middle of winter, but Baldwin wouldn’t budge. They also didn’t know whether Baldwin’s claims of jobs in North Dakota were true or whether he’d be able to fi nd housing once he got here. “We don’t really have the staff to do


thorough research on every idea that people come up with,” Savage said. Instead, the staff trusts that adults can make their own decisions and try to help them better their situations. Grundstad said jobs are plentiful,and


the economy is booming in Williston. “If you don’t have a job out here, it’s


because you don’t want to work,” she said. But nobody was prepared for the housing crunch that would come with the infl ux of jobs, which she said “hit so fast.” However, she’s heard that rooms in


els, but the winds commonly make it feel even colder during a North Dakota winter. The Aspen Homeless Shelter’s main


homes often cost $1,000 to rent, and the 33 houses on the real estate market cost more than $200,000. Motels are booked up long in advance. The shelter NDAD runs is at capacity, and NDAD has had to partner with a Bible camp to house some people. The Salvation Army has helped transport people from the camp, 15 miles out of town, into Williston. “We’re really kind of having to get


creative,” Grundstad said. “We’re all so overwhelmed out here.” Many people are living in cars or


campers, which come with dangers of their own — there have been several in- cidents of camper fi res recently. Camp- ing out, as Baldwin apparently planned to do, also is not without its problems. Grundstad pointed out that not only do the temperatures dip to dangerous lev-


goals are to keep people from freezing or starving, but they also want to help make people self suffi cient, Savage said. While the shelter is not in the habit of sending people away from Aspen, it will do it if staff thinks it will help someone’s situa- tion. “We’re offering a hand up, not a hand


out ... To me, this made sense, because it came from him,” Savage said. “I think the guy just wants work.” But to Grundstad, it doesn’t make


sense. Coming with the desire to work hasn’t been enough for many other peo- ple. She encourages people to do their research, apply for jobs online and con- tact companies before showing up on Williston’s doorstep. “I think it’s very important for fami- lies and individuals to have housing fi gured out before they move here,” she said.


(Reach reporter Jenny Michael at 701- 250-8225 or jenny.michael@bismarcktri- bune.com.)


Free bus ticket ends in arrest in Williston


By LAUREN DONOVAN Bismarck Tribune


A homeless Aspen, Colo., man who


was given a bus ticket by an anony- mous donor to go fi nd a job in North Dakota’s oil patch ended up in the Williams County jail soon after he ar- rived in Williston. Jimmy Baldwin Jr., 32, who made headlines in Colorado and North Da- kota last week in a story with “second chance” overtones, was jailed for dis- orderly conduct after the bartender at Whispers and Heartbreakers bar in Williston called police to report Bald- win urinating in front of the establish- ment. According to an arrest report, of- fi cers were called to the bar about 9


p.m. Dec. 22 when the bartender said the man was urinating and was shirt- less. After being cited and released after a disorderly conduct arrest, a second call came in later that evening and responding offi cers took Baldwin to the emergency room. The report said Baldwin refused treatment in the emergency room and also was disor- derly at the hospital. He was transported to the county jail and booked on disorderly conduct charges, according to the report. Baldwin left Aspen mid-week, when the director of a homeless shel- ter found a donor to put up the $190 for a bus ticket to North Dakota. The director said Baldwin was talking about hitchhiking to the oil patch, where he’d heard jobs were plentiful,


and he felt a bus ride would be safer in the winter. The Aspen Daily News published a


story about Baldwin’s ticket to North Dakota and also described his legal problems there involving trespassing, open container, disorderly conduct and menacing. At the time Baldwin left Colorado, he was under a three-month continu- ance for a trail on a trespassing charge. The prosecutor said he would wait to see what transpired with Baldwin’s re- location. He was dropped off at the bus sta-


tion in Colorado on the evening of Dec. 19. (Reach reporter Lauren Donovan at 701-220-5511 or lauren.donovan@ westriv.com.)


Graphic by Trampas Johnson


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