Charity must beg questions

Helpless person down on his luck????

Listen for a minute.... Did you see the clip that WMTW ran on Channel 8 news? If you had you would have seen a VERY noticeable limp when John was gimping around grabbing money from people as they drove out of the parking lot. Now, just two days after this story ran I saw John RUNNING... actually RUNNING... through a store, not a limp in site! Not a month prior to that I saw him at a pharmacy in full "I'm disabled, please feel sorry for me as I pick up my Oxycontin prescription" regalia... Cane AND a neckbrace!! I actually laughed right at him and he gave me the "SHUT UP" look!

Look, I've known this thieving drug addict for a long time.... 7-8 years probably... and he's been a pill/heroin junkie since the day I met him. I know members of his family and they all say the same thing, he's ripped every single one of them off. Do NOT feel sorry for this guy.

How about this! Since this story ran he obviously can't stand around begging in L/A, right? So he headed back to Waterville, where coincidentally there had been a house fire the day or two before. So a car pulls up and asked him if that was the house his sign was talking about it.... He said YES! He actually told these people his house had JUST burned down. Guess what? The people he told this to... it was THEIR HOUSE!!! They called the cops and the ol' child molesting d-bag was not only arrested but the money he had in his pocket was taken!!!

Still feel sorry for him? LOL

. .. .Back in the day they were called " ho-bo's " : an interesting moniker . Does it mean the son of a whore or the user of one ? Doesn't matter . We think they were cute back in the 1930's . .uh. .except when we are confronted face - to - face with one in the 00's. i applaud this newspaper's having made the effort to get to know this guy and his wife , their problems , trials and tribulations . Why they stay in Maine beats me . Family ? Do they like the cold weather and the even colder people ? For every one of these folk out in the open there are probably four or five hiding in the shadows too ashamed to even show their faces . Unless you have worked in a mental insitution or have family like them , you have no clue to the nature of their illness . No one chooses to be homeless beggars . .. ...It's not an enviable lifestyle

A person who is down on their luck is someone who loses their job through no fault of their own. This man has never held a job longer than it takes to get "injured" and file a claim. His wife was burned out of the apartment too. I don't see her panhandling. She probably borrowed some clothes and went back to work. How does she rationalize living with this bum?

Congratulations to the Sun Journal for a good job at exposing this panhandler. Evidently he called them and wanted the public to feel sorry for him. But now he's mad because the SJ did their job. What this man did was dishonest in trying to get people to give him FREE money. Here in Oklahoma there are panhandlers everywhere! But when you see them get out of a fancy new van, or smoking cigarettes...then begging for money....What's wrong with that picture? When we offered them food or offered them work, they refused. When their signs say "Will Work, Please help" then they refuse to...That's dishonesty.

Sounds like someone in the SJ management woke up after a ripper and said we need to get someone and this poor bloke got picked. Instead of reporting on how irrelevant our two Senators have been in the health care debate, and why, you chose to go after a homeless guy who is barely hanging on. The depths to which the SJ will sink knows no bounds.

Any problem that can't be solved with taxcuts, republicans pretend doesn't exist.

The man is also a liar. He was back in Waterville Friday afternoon, same sign, same guy. If the cops ran him out of Waterville....why was he back there Friday afternoon??

SJ bashed him. In spite of the fact that I say there is something seriously wrong with this guy due to the long rap. You gave just enough information about his convictions to loose the sympathy he was getting from the public. The one thing the SJ was successfully in was pointing to the fact that the judicial system is seriously flawed. Stevens was arrested and convicted but never did they find out why he kept committing crimes.

Just a voice in the dark, but I think you did an admirable job in covering this story.

Since moving to Maine, I have seen a tremendous amount of people who are "on the State" these people could be working but just don't care to get up and go to work each day, like the rest of us have to. Many are couples who live together with the male being the unofficial bread winner, the "wife" is a single mother who is attending school, (on the state) is being provided an apartment, by the state, where she and her "husband" live together and where she and her child get full medical benefits, provide for by our generous state. Yep, the State of Maine is the real bread winner. The "husband's" wages are just bonus money. Quite often they are off the books too.
I've always seen the Sun Journal as having an extremely liberal point of view. Refreshingly, I felt this story was well written and objective. I saw no bias at all. Examining all the facts involved in a case like this does not show liability, it's just good reporting.
There is probably a good reason that Stevens is turned down repeatedly for disability....The governing agencies do not see that he has one, other than his obvious objection to putting in a day's work.

This was great investigative journalism. Ok, now that you practiced on Mr. Stevens how about turning the same journalistic effort to goings on in Augusta as well the November Referendum questions. Throw the "official" press releases away and spend some time and shoe leather getting to the truth on each referendum item and present the facts minus the emotion; ask the hard questions. Just a suggestion.

Rarely do I agree withmuch of whats written in this paper, but this story was perfect! It exposed someone who was other than he claimed. How many would claim disability and then drive an hour each way to freeload? If he is such a victim, then why not put on his sign that he drives an hour because he got run out of other towns because he is a pedophile. Nice work LSJ on this one, you defense is not neccesary!

Well, I thank the Sun Journal for digging a little deeper. I know I wanted to know the back story to this guy. Do I wish him harm by wondering? No, but all those people who were digging in their pockets and their hearts to help him deserve to know the truth. My husband and I are dealing with his 40 hour job being dropped to 24, with 3 kids in college. We all have our struggles and most of the time we manage. The fact that he had his hand out and was taking money using a oldish story of his hard luck was wrong. Hopefully he finds a job (or accepts one, if that is true) and he can learn the pride of making it on your own. If he can't, their are legitimate ways of getting help, he wasn't using one.

Charity Begs The Question, but Truth and Full Disclosure is the answer.

The Community also has the right to stand next to him with a big sign.

Sex Offender => (don't forget the pointing arrow)

What's Good For The Goose Is Good For The Gander

Good journalism means trying to tell a complete story, not necessarily the story that the subject wants you to tell. I thank the Sun Journal for their attempts to bring a complete story to light. Stevens presented himself to the public as an honest decent person down on his luck, and that wasn't a very accurate picture.

I can't help but wonder about the people who are most upset by the publication of this story. Can it be that the facts strike a little too close to home for them?

thank you sj

Tron I am a conservative bully. I want all public assistance to end for those to lazy to get off their butts and work. However if a person is working and being an upstanding citizen and misfortune hits them with a real injury, or disability then they should receive help, real help. Pay all their bills until they are able to return to work so they don't fall behind and never get out of the hole. However I am not saying to help this person for the rest of their lives. Only until the injury is over with. I did have and continue to have back problems for twenty years while I worked until I old enough to retire, I only expect others to do the same.

Can you imagine the negative feedback if the whole story had not been told, people jumped to his aid in force with even more money and then the whole story about his lazyness came out?? Wow then you all would have had something to say about the way the story was reported! He was offered a business card in a way of trying to help him find work and he said he didnt want to work....he has tried (he says) for disability for like three times and denied....ever wonder why he couldnt get a Dr's letter???? Its really hard to help or find help for the ones who refuse to help themselves. For me it seems he was hoping the SJ would print only what he wanted them to say about himself as an advertisment hoping more people would feed him more cash. Guess he thought he needed a pay raise. I am all in favor for helping those who are trying to help themselves but as I see it.....this guy isnt one.

This newspaper demonstrated the conservative bully factor in its zealous pursuit of this story. You bashed a helpless person down on his luck. You must be so proud. Instead you should place your efforts exposing corruption, malfeasance and other stories that truly impact your readers lives. This guy was a footnote, people were free to give him money or not. We need reporters to genuinely look into the city and find the true stories. Most of your stories are merely press releases instead of true journalism.