Posted on 09/23/2009 6:53:13 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
LOVEBIRDS Steven and Kathryn share a well-organised home in bustling Las Vegas. They have a neat, if compact kitchen, a furnished living area, and a bedroom complete with double bed, wardrobe and bookshelf featuring a wide selection including a Frank Sinatra biography and Spanish phrase book.
And they make their money in some of the biggest casinos in the world.
But their life is far from the ordinary.
Because, along with hundreds of others, the couple are part of a secret community living in the dark and dirty underground flood tunnels below the famous strip.
Rather than working in the bars or kitchens they "credit hustle", prowling the casinos searching the fruit machines for money or credits left by drunken gamblers.
Despite the risks from disease, highly venomous spiders and flooding washing them away, many of the tunnel people have put together elaborate camps with furniture, ornaments and shelves filled with belongings.
Steven and girlfriend Kathryn's base - under Caesar's Palace casino - is one of the most elaborate. They even have a kettle and a makeshift shower fabricated out of an office drinking water dispenser.
But their bed and many of their belongings are on crates to keep them off the damp floor.
Despite it being hot and dry outside, their tunnel is wet from water being sent down from nearby construction work.
As he gives a guided tour of home, Steven Dommermuth explains: "We use our imagination a lot.
"Our bed came from a skip outside an apartment complex. It's mainly stuff people dump that we pick up. One man's junk is another man's gold.
"We get the stuff late at night so people don't see us because it's kind of embarrassing."
He later gives directions to the tunnels' own art gallery, a collection of graffiti by local artists and some by the underground residents.
Steven moved into the tunnels two years ago after he lost his hotel front-desk job due to a heroin problem he claims he kicked in January.
He now works the same hotels credit-hustling, and his life retains other similarities with the one he left behind.
He says: "We work our way down the strip. The most I've ever found is 997 dollars (£609) on one machine. I've found about $500 a few times. But normally $20 or so is enough to call it a night.
"We buy food and supplies like shampoo and soap. Last night I went and watched the new Quentin Tarantino movie Inglourious Basterds up at the Palms Hotel."
Despite his established set-up, Steven claims he eventually wants to leave the tunnels but can't because of two outstanding arrest warrants from drug possession charges two years ago.
It is estimated the population of the underground community could be as many as 700. As well as credit-hustling, they earn their money off the wildly excessive city above by begging and "dumpster diving" - raiding bins and skips.
There are around 350 miles of flood channels running under Las Vegas. Most inhabitants are in the area under the city's strip.
Another couple, Amy and JR, have lived in the tunnels for two years, having moved to Las Vegas in search of work, wealth and a slice of the famous Sin City action.
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Putting down the Twilight vampire book she is reading for the third time, Amy, 33, explains: "My husband and I have been down here two years this week.
"We were living with my mom in California but the house was full and we had to leave.
"I heard Las Vegas was a good place for jobs. It's the city that never sleeps, with all the bright lights, and I'd always wanted to come.
"But it was tough and we started living under the staircase outside the MGM casino. Then we met a guy who lived in the tunnels. We've been down here ever since.
"I have my books, my CD player, crossword puzzles, some clothes and my picture of our son Brady, who was killed 11 years ago at four months old. The main dangers are the floods and the Black Widow spiders. But it's not a terrible place to be if you're homeless.
"It's much cooler than on the streets, we get a breeze coming through and the cops don't really bother you. It's quiet and everyone helps each other out down here.
"I hope to get out one day. But I want to stay in Las Vegas - I love it here."
Amy and JR met 13 years ago and even got married in one of the city's popular wedding chapels on Valentine's Day last year.
Their wedding had some similarities with the 110,000 other couples who get hitched in the city each year.
JR, 36, explains: "We got married in the Shalimar Chapel.
"We went to watch a show, then to McDonald's for dinner. We got a little bit drunk and did the other normal wedding day things - only we had to come back down here rather than go to a hotel room."
Some of those living there have been forced into the network of tunnels by the recession and difficult job market.
Food The economic downturn has hit the underground residents in their pockets too.
Amy and JR's neighbour Jamie, showing off a wristband he found that gives him free food all day at a hotel buffet, explains: "I've been down here since May.
"I've worked at a lot of the hotels, mainly in building and construction, but not for a couple of years. The jobs are harder to come by now.
"Now I credit hustle but there are lots more people doing it these days. Hundreds and hundreds. You see little old ladies doing it."
As for other entertainment in the tunnels, the 45-year-old adds: "We're big talk radio fans. And a few of us are accomplished musicians and have instruments here.
"One guy down here has a full-time job. I don't think gambling is the cause of many people being down here. It's more alcohol and drugs. We all gamble a bit - we're in Vegas."
Local writer Matthew O'Brien, who has had a book published about the tunnel people, called Beneath The Neon, has been working with Steven and others to help get people housed. He recently founded the Shine A Light foundation to aid them.
He explains: "I guide social workers into the tunnels, show them the terrain and introduce them to people.
"They offer these people services like health and drug counselling.
"We have got 12 to 15 people into houses in the last six months.
"But a lot of the people are very resistant to help. Many don't want to give up their addictions.
"They like their freedom and that no one is telling them what to do.
"They are scared of what's out there.
"To come out of the tunnel and face the world is intimidating for some of the people. Some are very much entrenched down in that tunnel and comfortable. That's why the charity doesn't like to give out too much food, water and clothing.
"We don't want them to get too comfortable because it is really an illusion. It can be extremely dangerous.
"It doesn't rain much in Nevada but when it does the tunnels can fill very quickly. There have been 20 drownings in the last 20 years and a lot of those were people who were living in the tunnels.
"Steve and Kathryn can say they feel like they have a home. But when it pours down three inches of rain in two hours it's clear it's not a home. It's a flood channel."
Hey, I live in Vegas. I’ve seen some hooches and tunnel dwellers before. But the bitch is when the tunnels flood once a blue moon. They always find a floater or two.
OBAMAVILLE
Gett’n a head fake, watchin’ msn’s take; All of their pundits oozing foul oil. Clean’n my six gun on my front porch swing. Felling my blood— It’s beginnin’ to boil.
Wasted away again in Obamaville, Searchin’ for a job so I can earn my salt. Some people claim that Bush is to blame, But I know it’s Obama’s fault.
There’s no rhyme or reason, They are all commitin’ treason With nothing to show but a brand new tax or two. But they are real beauties, Despotic duties, how they got passed I haven’t a clue.
Wasted away again in Obamaville, Searchin’ for a job so I can earn my salt. Some people claim that it’s Bush we should blame, Now I think,— hell with them it’s Obama’s fault.
I blew out my flip flop, Stepped on a pop top; Cut my heel, but I just cruise on back home. Because no medical care will the doctors render They say there’s little service I can tender And there’s no need for me to hang on.
Wasted away again in Obamaville Searchin’ for a job so I can earn my salt. Some people claim that Bush is to blame, But I know, it’s my own damn fault. Yes, and some people claim that Bush is to blame, And I know because of my vote it’s my own damn fault.
It disgusts me that people would take economic advice from an actor or actress... they all need to shut up and act.
[I find Las Vegas disgusting on many levels, this is just one I was not aware of.]
You just haven’t met me yet.
I’ve heard the stories of homeless living in the tunnels for years. I suspect the number of people there now is probably far greater, and I would guess far higher then 700.
*
So they’re making it seem as if Obama wrecking the economy is on purpose?
I’ve always suspected the Communists couldn’t take over without ruining the country deliberately first.
“We are the ones we've been waiting for. We are the change that we seek. We are the hope of those boys who have little; who've been told that they cannot have what they dream; that they cannot be what they imagine.
Yes they can. “
Remarks of Senator Barack Obama: Super Tuesday
Chicago, IL | February 05, 2008
http://www.barackobama.com/2008/02/05/remarks_of_senator_barack_obam_46.php
Dennis Leary .
1 If the greatest paragraphs ever written.
I watched that on TV.
Loved every word of it.
its going to be the property taxes that kill us....if we get the house paid off....
after listening to the commie today, I wonder where we'll be moving...
I thought skip were people who skipped out on their rent and had their belongings put out on the sidewalk.
me too.....and I like the slots....but vegas.....no.....Reno is really a run down place now but at least its not pretentious...
I have been to LV many times, maybe I have met you.
What, exactly, is credit hustling? Is it a fancy term for panhandling?
From the article:
Rather than working in the bars or kitchens they "credit hustle", prowling the casinos searching the fruit machines for money or credits left by drunken gamblers.
"Skip" = "Dumpster" in England.
Obamaville.
Beat me by... whatever...
Two years?
Then this one really is Bush's FaultTM.
Cheers!
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