The men and women who spend their days begging on Highland Road just outside LSU’s stately oaks and magnificent gates usually are looking for food – and a little compassion.
Andrew Stubbs has been in Baton Rouge for three weeks – he has spent most of this time begging for money outside the Circle K on the corner of Highland Road and State Street.
“I’m stuck,” he said. “I’m just stuck.”
Men and women like Stubbs have become part of the character of the area north of campus. Walking the streets and parking lots begging for food and money, their presence has become too strong to go unnoticed by University students and area business owners.
On a corner across from Stubbs, at Highland Road and Chimes Street, Lew, a man in his fifties who did not give his last name, leans night after night against his regular light post, jingling the change in his pocket and asking passersby for more.
At the Jack in the Box parking lot down the street, Robert Queens sits dejected and frustrated, his head in his hands.
“I talk to white people, I talk to black people, I talk to Chinese people,” he said. “Nobody will help me. I just need help.”
Queens has two daughters to feed and a fiancee who spends her money on cigarettes instead of groceries. As of 8 p.m., Queens’ two daughters have not eaten for 24 hours.
He makes a habit of begging at the Circle K and Jack in the Box.
“I sure do,” he said. “I’m not gonna lie. I don’t lie. We’re just hungry.”
People like Queens hang around Highland Road all day, said Zach Hayes, an employee of Roly Poly, located on Highland Road.
“We get a lot of them here,” he said. “You can usually see two or three of them outside in the afternoon.”
Hayes, who described himself as “formerly poor,” (he ate nothing but Ramen noodles for months) said he hardly ever gives men and women like Queens money.
“I did it, I got a job,” he said. “They can do it too.”
Roly Poly provides tables for customers outside and sometimes those customers are bothered by passing people begging for money and food.
“I ask them to leave, but I’m never rude,” he said. “I’ll just say, ‘Hey man, you know you’re not supposed to be here.'”
Sometimes Tyler Downing, a philosophy sophomore and Roly Poly employee, will let a homeless man take out the garbage.
“I just give ’em five bucks or something,” he said. “I don’t yell at them.”
Hayes said he has seen employees at Chelsea’s next door handle men and women who are begging from their customers – they “aren’t as nice.”
“I’ve seen them physically throw them out and yell,” he said.
But Chelsea’s employees insist that doesn’t happen.
“As long as they don’t bother people, we don’t usually have a problem,” said Kelly Roach, an anthropology senior and Chelsea’s waitress. “We will ask them to leave, but I’ve never seen any of our employees yell at one of them or kick them out.”
Lew said he has been asked to leave an establishment before but never been yelled at.
Stubbs has not been as lucky.
“The owner or manager of the Circle K or whoever she is has yelled to people I’m talking to, ‘Don’t give him shit! He’s one of those guys who will break into your car and steal from you.’ I just try to be polite,” he said.
Stubbs said she yelled at him Monday, but the man he was talking to yelled back at her.
“He made her apologize to me,” he said.
And she did.
Circle K’s assistant manager declined to comment on the incident.
Despite the Circle K employee’s efforts, Stubbs has found that getting money from people around that business can be difficult, but is not impossible.
“Some people won’t give me money, but they’ll buy me a hamburger,” he said. “I depend on the people here for my next meal.”
Queens’ luck hasn’t been as good. But Stubbs is white with blond hair and light eyes. Queens’ skin is the color of black coffee, his teeth are crooked and his speech is barely discernible.
And some students say the ragged appearance of people asking for money can influence their generosity.
Kristyn Barbaro, an anthropology sophomore said, “Sometimes, they just don’t look believable. There is one man who always asks me for food for his daughter. I don’t believe him.”
Barbaro has been approached often by people begging for her money, usually at Jack in the Box and Circle K, she said.
But there are other students who aren’t afraid.
When Stubbs approaches Rich Bailey, an English junior, and asks for money, Bailey hands over a few dollars.
“He said he wants to eat, and I believe him,” he said.
But Stubbs knows of many people who ask for money for food but then spend it on alcohol.
“I just don’t understand that,” he said. “I just want to eat.”
Lew said he wants the same thing.
“When people tell me they won’t give me money but will buy me food, I am glad,” he said.
Lew insists he doesn’t spend the money on alcohol, but on food – and not just for himself.
Lew is notorious on the corner for his small dog, Dot. As people pass him buy, they give him a wave, some change, and say, “Hey Dot.”
“I use some of the money I get to feed her,” he said. “She eats more than I do.”