Under highway ramps that lead commuters to and from Cincinnati, there lies a whole other world.
The underside of bridges provides an underbelly of existence for hard-core homeless people who choose makeshift camps instead of shelters as spots to rest for the night.
Danger is an occupational hazard for those who make their living on the streets. Three homeless people put themselves in that peril Tuesday night.
They were in the middle of an apparent drunken argument at the foot of the ramp from Gilbert Avenue to northbound Interstate 71 about 11:30 p.m. when a car entering the ramp struck them, police say.
Dennis Brown, 39, originally of Corbin, Ky., was in critical condition Wednesday at University Hospital. Michael Ray Birney, 45, who listed his address as the Drop Inn Center Shelter house in Over-the-Rhine, and Carla Nichols, 23, whose parents live in West Chester, were in serious condition.
Cincinnati police say the trio lived under the ramp across from the Greyhound bus station, just east of downtown. The driver who hit them, Deborah Mayher, 41, of Loveland, was not injured or charged.
The homeless encampment off Gilbert Avenue, just beneath the Liberty Street exit, was unoccupied Wednesday. But evidence of life remained: an empty 40-ounce bottle of malt liquor, a jacket and stray gloves and socks, a few peanuts and sugar packets and a book called Anatomy & Physiology.
Gordon Dean heard of their accident and said he's met Mr. Brown on the streets.
Gordon Dean, 48, lies in a garage in Over-the-Rhine after construction pushed him out of old sleeping places.
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Mr. Dean, 48, a former railroad worker, has been homeless for two years. He has stayed along the river and under bridges and has moved farther north of the river as highway construction has overtaken his old camps.
Lately, he's been living in an open garage in Over-the-Rhine. He eats once a day at Daily Bread soup kitchen and has dropped from 146 pounds to 106 in recent months.
He likens the three injured homeless people to himself -- people who like their space and independence and scrap to survive.
On any given night, there are about 8,000 homeless people in Greater Cincinnati, said Dr. Bob Donovan, medical director of the Health Care for the Homeless program run by the Cincinnati Health Department.
People who live on riverbanks and under bridges are the hardest to treat -- or even to count -- because they often don't seek help, he said.
Area agencies make occasional sweeps to seek them out and offer food and shelter, but advocates have come to accept that some homeless prefer to live that way.
"Some of them are skeptical of dealing with a bureaucratic system," said Iola Green, coordinator of the Veteran Administration's Health Care for Homeless Veterans. "It's hard to explain that they don't want our help."
Cincinnati police do what they can, spokesman Lt. Roger Wolf said, but are most likely to deal with the homeless when they are the victims of crime.
"They are more prone to accidents and prone to the elements," he said. "We'll go out when it's cold. That's usually when we get involved."
Help is out there for those who want it, said Ed Perrine, executive director of City Gospel Mission in Over-the-Rhine. Shelters are not full and neither are their substance-abuse programs, he said. But the Teddy Hendersons of the world may continue to seek shelter of their own.
Mr. Henderson, 50, said he was kicked out of the Drop Inn Center because he was argumentative. So he stashed his belongings in a garbage bag and has decided to live on the streets.
The Vietnam veteran still carries around a 1968 Army yearbook. He points out his picture from his life that seems a world away.
"I never thought I'd be like this when I came out of the service," he said. "I wonder, where did I mess up? How in the world did this happen to me? I broke up with my wife in 1976, and I've been kind of half cuckoo ever since. I ain't that cuckoo. I got myself a whole bunch of blankets. I have enough sense to do that."
Tonight he'll stay at the camp at the open garage. He isn't sure about Friday.
