Stand Down for Homeless Veterans event

Homeless military veterans find help, hope at VA medical center
Tampa Bay Times
John Woodrow Cox
Times Staff Writer
Saturday, April 5, 2014

ST. PETERSBURG — At the end of a long, fluorescent hallway, a deputy emerged from the bustling office and told Harry Cooper his turn had come.

Cooper stood and leaned down to the camouflage backpack he'd been given earlier that day. Already stuffed with fresh clothes and toiletries, he added the contents of his pockets: a wallet, a lighter, a pack of 305-brand cigarettes and a chain of keys with one painted like the American flag. He removed his baseball cap, too, revealing a long, white pony tail that matched his handlebar mustache. On the dark green hat, two words were printed in bold black letters: "VIETNAM VETERAN."

On Saturday morning, Cooper, who is 67, had come bearing a burden to the C.W. Bill Young VA Medical Center. He was released from prison in late 2011 and had been clean from the drugs and alcohol that sent him there for nearly a year. But he still owed about $3,300 in court costs and fines. A judge was about to decide what should be done about it.

Another deputy escorted him to a lectern in a nearby conference room. Public Defender Bob Dillinger stood next to him.

"These are Agent Orange hands," Dillinger told the judge. He motioned to Cooper, who held up a pair of disfigured clumps at the end of his wrists.

The makeshift courtroom was part of the medical center's Stand Down for Homeless Veterans event, meant to help them with everything from housing to health care to employment.
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