The Word on the Street

by MATTHEW PUCAK, Senior Technical Journalism Major

Living on the streets, ducking “Johnny Law Dog,” is a life that makes you fear the name you were given at birth.

For Red Bone, 48, a homeless Fort Collins man, hearing his family name spoken usually means trouble is near.

“The only people who call me by my real name are the police, or my mom,” said Red Bone. “All my friends, all my buddies, all my bro’s, all my sisters, they call me ‘Red Bone.’ If Dog could speak, she would call me Red Bone.”

Dog is the name of Red Bone’s constant companion, something he cherishes much more than a pet.

“She is my best friend. She’s the love of my life,” he said.

Red Bone has called Fort Collins home for most of his life, and he has been homeless off and on now for four years.

He ended up on the streets as the result of his addiction to alcohol and an accident that injured his back, rendering him unable to work construction.

“I was framing one day and it was as much anyone’s fault as mine and I took a fall off a wall and landed on some lumber,” he said, describing the accident. “It screwed up the last two disks in my back.”

He claims Occupational Saftey and Health Administration said the accident was his fault because he wasn’t because he wasn’t tied on, but Red Bone argued that he would have been hurt regardless.

Being without consistent work left him without a roof over his head.

“I am a drinker. I don’t have any problems admitting it. I’m an alcoholic,” he said.

He knows his “health is crap” and his “future doesn’t look too bright.”

The drinking is a way of self-medicating without paying the high costs of prescription pain pills, common for people without insurance, but the biggest health risk for Red Bone now are the alcohol-related seizures he has to endure.

“I go through seizures now, and I never used to go through them. My very first was two or three years ago, and it scared the holy fuck out of me. I didn’t know what it was, but I have had 10-to-15 since then.”

While Red Bone one day dreams of escaping society to live in a secluded cabin, for now his needs are much simpler.

“I just want a place to sleep without being hassled by the cops,” he said.