Posted on 05/20/2004 6:08:07 PM PDT by chance33_98
Father And Daughter Had An Elaborate Camp
Rather than live on the streets and expose Ruth to alcohol and drugs, Frank said, they hiked deep into Forest Park and built a lean-to.
"The amazing part of this was the fact that Sergeant Barkley really evaluated what was best for these people," North Precinct Cmdr. Scott Anderson said. "Sometimes police would be a little quicker to hand things off to state workers. But instead ... he saw this through to the end."
PORTLAND, ORE. - A man and his 12-year-old daughter spent the last four years living in a remote hillside in Portland's Forest Park, police said. The pair was discovered in a dense, wooded area by an Australian cross-country runner and his wife.
They reported seeing an older man with white bushy hair and a beard, and a young girl at what appeared to be a "well-established transient camp." They called police on April 28.
That afternoon, North Precinct Sgt. Michael Barkley sent four officers on all-terrain vehicles to find the pair but they didn't find them.
"We had very little to go on, " Barkley said. "There's no way you could not do everything you could because it was a report of a child living up there."
The next morning, the runner escorted police to the site.
After an hour-and-a-half hike, police found an elaborate camp dug into a steep hillside.
Under a tarp-covered, wood-framed shelter, they found sleeping bags, a partially burnt log, a Bible, a stack of old World Book Encyclopedias, rakes and other tools.
A rope swing, a tilled vegetable garden and a small creek were nearby.
A police dog found the pair huddling behind a tree about 50 yards from the camp.
The man and girl told police they had lived in the park for four years. The pair appeared clean, well-fed and healthy, Barkley said, and the girl was well-spoken beyond her years.
The man, who identified himself as Frank, told police he was a 53-year-old Marine Corps veteran and college graduate who served in Vietnam.
He came to Oregon with his daughter, Ruth, from Tacoma with no job and virtually no money. Frank told police that the girl's mother was institutionalized in New Hampshire, and the two now lived on a $400-a-month disability check.
Rather than live on the streets and expose Ruth to alcohol and drugs, Frank said, they hiked deep into Forest Park and built a lean-to.
The pair went into the city twice a week to stop by the bank, attend church, buy groceries and clothes from Goodwill. Frank, a devout Christian, said he taught his daughter using the old encyclopedias.
They grew vegetables and used the nearby creek to keep clean. They stored perishable foods in a small pool of water at the creek's edge.
The man and girl told police that the runner was the first person to find their camp in four years.
Their biggest worry was being split up, Barkley said.
"Please, don't take me from my daddy," the girl told the 26-year police veteran as they sat on a log talking for at least 30 minutes.
Barkley, who has a 6-year-old daughter, said he was struck by the relationship between father and daughter.
"What was so clear was that their living conditions were unacceptable, but their relationship was a real deep love and caring for each other," Barkley said.
Officer Joe Campbell, who helped find the pair, said separating the pair would have broken their hearts. "Their whole lives seemed to revolve around each other," said Campbell.
A pediatrician found the girl free of any illness, any signs of physical or sexual abuse - and no cavities. A criminal background check came up empty, according to police reports.
Even though the child and father lived for such a long time disconnected from society, the girl had been home schooled and was in good physical shape.
In fact, the girl received a very good education from her father while living among the trees. Officials said the girl, who would be normally in 7th grade, is at a 12th grade equivalency.
"When we interviewed this little girl, she was very impressive. She really was very responsible, and she really looked as though she was way advanced in her years," said Portland Police Cmdr. Scott Anderson said.
KATU Television has been given permission from 'The Forest Family's' father to set up a college fund for 12-year-old 'Ruthie.'
To make donations for the girl, who for the last four years have lived in the forest and was educated by her father, to 'Ruthie's College Fund’ at any Bank Of America Branch.
Police say the father was ecstatic when KATU offered to set up a college fund for his daughter.
The father has done a wonderful job of educating the girl, says police. She reportedly performs at a 12th grade level.
Police persuaded them to leave the camp, promising help them find food and shelter.
The pair spent two nights at a homeless shelter. Barkley found the man a job and a place for the two to live on a friend's horse farm in Yamhill County.
Now, Barkley said, the pair are living in a mobile home and adjusting to life with heat, electricity and electric water.
The man mows lawns and is learning to drive a tractor, and the pair ride bicycles to a nearby church on Sundays.
"The amazing part of this was the fact that Sergeant Barkley really evaluated what was best for these people," North Precinct Cmdr. Scott Anderson said. "Sometimes police would be a little quicker to hand things off to state workers. But instead ... he saw this through to the end."
Right now, I am without AC, because our unit broke and we don't yet have money to replace it. Do you think I should call the Red Cross?
Ha!
MARINES always have!
Semper Fi BUMP.... Good Story.
"ummm... electric water?"
It goes with the electric chair.
PING
It can also be taken as a symptom of mental illness by the father.
And it also sounds really fishy. Could you possibly imagine yourself in this situation?
I would really hesitate before judging this one.
Exactly my thoughts on the situation.
Police persuaded them to leave the camp, promising help them find food and shelter.
"You must conform. You will be assimilated. You must conform. You will be assimilated. You must conf..."
"What was so clear was that their living conditions were unacceptable, but their relationship was a real deep love and caring for each other," Barkley said.
Unacceptable? I surely hope that Barkley's six year old daughter has as good a relationship with her father, and that she ends up with as good an education. Since she's probably in a public school, I don't have much confidence.
Surely. It's your UN right. /sarcasm
Jesse and Roy never had AC. In south-central Texas. During the summer, they would hang wet sheets in the house and run fans at night. During the day, they wore ties and long sleeve shirts (always). And never whined. Ever.
After Jesse died, Roy did buy a 'swamp cooler' (antique evaporative cooler). For one room, the parlor. But he didn't run it unless we were visiting. It caused mold, we were told.
/john
Well now she will probably have to go to a gubbermint screwl and will be dutifully turned in to a Teenage Mutant, pregnant by 16, drug addict.
The best thing for this child was most likely to stay where she was.
***ummm... electric water?***
Sure, where do you think electric eels come from?
Cheers to Barkley! He is an exceptional man! Cheers to the father and daughter, too, as they are quite exceptional!
I have faith in the values her father instilled in her. She's a good person.
The best thing for this child was most likely to stay where she was.
I understand the romanticism involved in this story, but it could very easily be a bunch of baloney.
Is there ONE person out there who would actually like to see his child living under these circumstances?
Is there ONE person out there who thinks this is a rational response to drugs and sex? Or is it possible (if even true) that there is more to the story?
Never heard of Secondhand Lions.
I have lots of stories about my great-uncles. Roy would turn on the oven, and then go looking for a match to light it. His right hand was terminally devoid of hair. He wasn't big on eyebrows either.
/john
I wonder how they fared in the winter. I guess in Portland it rains a lot in the winter and perhaps isn't very cold.
I remember reading some statistics that claimed that if given a chance, fathers make better single parents than mothers.
I can imagine if this were my husband, he would do equally as good a job of educating our daughters. He has a gift of teaching and isn't squeamish about living in the woods like I would be. He can spend hours just "being" with our girls while I constantly think of other things I "need" to be doing.
What an interesting story. Interesting too, that the reporter put the "spin" on it that he/she did, that this wasn't really a case of some nutjob hiding from the world, but somebody actually getting by in fairly good fashion with a very minimalist lifestyle.
It's true that this guy was squatting on public park space and we can't go around letting people do that, or parks wouldn't be usable anymore. That's not what they're for.
But I have relatives not far up the generational chain that lived pretty much the same as these two. We all do. Seems to me that they likely had a better *real* quality of life than most folk today have.
Hair: ping to an interesting story.
Yes. My baby girl is Texas Army NG. I would have rather seen her in a spider hole in a park out west than in the hands of CPS. And she agrees. She toughs out rougher circumstances during drill weekends.
/john
I remember being 12 and reading at a "12th grade level". It really isn't all that difficult, which is why public schools are so scary.
But I also had a lot of practice. When there's nothing else to do and you read all day, you'll probably learn something.
I wonder why nobody asked questions at their church? Seems a bit odd, I guess.
Thank you for the Post!
Very, very, moving.
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