10/16/2021
https://www.facebook.com/1623511311256753/posts/2951054925169045/
"A lot of people know me as Cowboy. This hat is the only thing that hasn't been taken from me. I am homeless and have been arrested for disorderly conduct drunkenness multiple times. Earlier this year, I was arrested and sent to jail for 75 days on old warrants. The police took my dog Mack and put him in a shelter. I got out of jail and went to get Mack, but they said he had been adopted out. How do you get rid of a man's dog? I raised Mack since he was a puppy. He was my heart and like my child. He would run and jump into my lap. He knew the difference between his left and his right, and the difference between a wrench and a pair of pliers. On his birthday, I let him pick out his cake and ice cream. I put a candle on his cake and sang happy birthday. When company came over he would get his toys one at a time and bring them out. I had to clean them up later. I wish I knew where Mack is.
I grew up in Creola, Satsuma, and Saraland. I built bridges and overpasses around here, including the Dolly Parton bridge. I started when I was 16, but told them I was 18. Minimum wage was $1.65 an hour in 1974, and I made $5.50. I built scaffolding and climbed all over it. I worked 400 feet in the air and was't tied off. I always wanted to go higher. A guy pulled on the back of my shirt and said, 'You must have angel wings or there's an angel holding you up.' Now I can't even stand up and walk from here to there without falling on my face.
I lived in Sacramento and had my own apartment. I came back to Mobile for family stuff and ended up homeless. Smac Walker gave me a job working on his building and gave me some self respect back. He tells the other guys, “You are letting that old man in that wheelchair outwork you.’ He doesn't pity anyone who doesn't pity themself.
Squirrels love to climb on my wheelchair. I was in a wheelchair years ago and had back and neck surgery so I could walk again. I got hit by a car while I was riding a bike, and it put me back in the wheelchair. I have been in a wheelchair the last two years. I wear them out.
I'm not the person people make me out to be. I try to help others, but everyone sees me as the bad guy. My wife died of cancer. My sons died in a car wreck. They were 17 and 18 and didn't have a chance to live. They wanted a '76 Ford Explorer like I had, so I bought one for them. The guy who hit them was two times the legal limit for intoxication. It's hard to fill those holes in your heart."
*** I switched the picture to just Mack. Cowboy gave me permission to use his picture, but I normally just show hands in the homeless stories and want to stick to that. Lynn