Winston-Salem homeless man dies

This Winston-Salem Journal article reports the death of Bill Bloxham, a homeless man in Winston-Mr. Salem who was found dead in a Hardee's bathroom yesterday.  It's the same Hardee's I used to go to nearly every day when I drove a tax in Winston-Salem back in 2011-2012.  I know I've seen him around, but never talked to him.  I didn't realize he was the guy who was beaten so bad months before.

Mr. Bloxham became known to many last January when he was beaten nearly to death last January when some young guys found him sleeping under a bridge.  He wound up in intensive care, and I never heard what happened to him after the first couple of reports.

There are a lot of reasons people wind up homeless.  The stereotype is that all every homeless person is either an addict or mentally ill.  Yet the vast majority of addicts and mentally ill people have decent places to live.  As a taxi driver who worked Orange County, California for years, I've found that most wealthy people are heavy drinkers, and sometimes full-on raging alcoholics.  The biggest common thread among homeless people is lack of a strong social network.  Sometimes homelessness is better than whatever toxic situation the person was in before becoming homeless.   

Sorry to hear about Mr. Bloxham's death.  What happened to him in January doesn't happen often, but every homeless person knows that it's a possibility when they fall asleep somewhere.  I've said it many times before, the streets are no joke.