VNovomhr I. I96! SCARLET AND BLACK >‘S‘even Children in One House woman who said that the family was in the process of mot/mg. The tether ot the iamily worked, or had worked until the shooting accident, in a rnanutacturing plant on the south Side. The family lived in a barracksrlike, one~story build- ing, which, as was ditch the case, had no lawri around it and was badly in need at paint. Nine peo- ple, including seven children, lived in the house. Maybe their new house would be better. You can always hope. We met another triendly boy that day in the Bottoms. His name was Paul and he lived in a house that had two trucks filled with old washing machines, tires, and as- sorted junk in the trout yard. Paul was friendly and wanted to talk to us. But we were out of luck. and Paul’s mother ordered a retreat into their home. We liked Pall], We almost missed the last per son we talked to. Site was sitting behind a house that made you wonder what was supporting it. She had a well-used house trailer behind the house, She was hard to see because her tattered coat blended so well with the unpaint- ed, grey boards of her house. She got up to tend a trash burn- er. and we approached. She had a hard time seeing us because a cataract condition had blinded one eye, and old age was dimming the other. She couldn’t allord new glasses. IllillllllililliiiilIIIliililllllliiiiIIliiiiliIIllilillIIlliiiiliIIliilliiIIlliililllllliiiilIi Wants Acreage In the Country ulllliiilllliiiiiiillliiiiiilllliiilllIliiiilllllliiiiillllliiiilllliiiiilllliiiiilillliiiiili “I’m figuring on leaving helore long." the 72-year-old widow told us. ”They keep taking my taxes. and they’re [00 nosey. I want to get some acreage in the country, “I've been thinking ot trading this place on on a pig and eating the pig, but l haven't had that big of an appetite yet.” The woman had been moved out of an urban renewal district in another part ol the city several ,' years oelore. Now she was living in undoubtedly worse conditions. Site had little liking tor the people who ran the urban renewal pro gram, nor did she eare lor the neighborhood health service. “i had a stroke the other day, but didn’t tell anyone or they would have called the police and they would have sent me to the hospital. I don’t like doctors. It’s just not worth live dollars to go in and have them say good morn- ing to you. I just keep a bottle of aspirin around. [don't have anything more to do with medi- Cine." Besides having survived the stroke, the old widow had saved herself several times from being burned badly. The city ordered that she keep her back yard tree from weeds because of the fire hazard, so little by little each day she pulls them up and burns them in a deteriorating metal barrel. The fire in the barrel occasion- ally backs up through holes in the barrel and several times has threatened to add more holes to clothing that: can hardly afford more wounds. The definitely ragged old wom- Ao noted that she lived on a small she absolutely refused to go on reliet or be sent to a nursing home. She honestly intends to “die with my boots on." She said she had been Work— ing since childhood. “l ain’t satis- fied if I'm not working.” The old woman was pitiful but what would help her? She said she wants to be alone. A nursing home would oiler her no better alternative than her present ex- istence. Maybe the only viable solution to Des Moines' poverty is the ex pensive and demanding task of personally analyzing each per. son's or each family’s need and then planning a logical method to extricate them from the conditions which keep them struggling to maintain a wretched existence, an existence which Des Moines can be proud complies with its mime mum standards of fire safety but fails to comply with that old woman’s desire for a degree of dignity. as we LEFT the Bottom; area to return to Grinnell, we passed this row or houses. all unpainted, and again noted the irony ui the gold capircl dome overlook. ing the scene. Low cost apartments will probably replace the old houses in the domain ct the gilded dome, and people like ihc ragged old lady will be leti again to lend for themselves. But we didn't have a so. lulion eilller. so we headed back to Grinriell. But first we stopped at ihe capitol and climbed is the tap oi inc dome. It's true — from the dome you can‘t really tell that the slums exist. midi security incan’m 'and‘flat'fé'” LEANING ON A masn BURNER behind her dilapidated home. this 72-year-old widow talked icr over an hour to see reporters. The ragged old lady recalled the day: when she wax the last hoidout living in an area designated tor urban ra- nuwat She said that looting was a popular sport with the residents cl areas surrounding lhe urban renewal develop- ment and thai police protection left something ic be de. .nud. "Some boys haul bothered me tor icur nights, so I linally goi a gun. When they came back again I went out and asked them it ihey needed their lime icensils cut. The leader came at me, so I eui off his iccnail with one shot. They ran off and never came back." ' The widow was linally moved cut at the urhan renewal district and settled on the property pictured above. The urban renewal program in her old neighborhood obviously did her no good. and she seems iusfilied in having a dislike for the urban renewal administrators. who, she complains. ”don't earn their living by the sweatot their brows." Like most at the people we met in the bottoms area. though. she remained optimistic and happy, At the left. she laughs as photographer John Phillips takes her picture. Atier the picture was taken she said in a maileraiefacf tone. "I was pretty once. if you want a picture of iris l'Il lind you one when l was younger."