COVINGTON — With a directive signed by a police captain, Covington employees began razing about 15 riverfront camps Monday while the occupants were away.

        An advocate for the homeless said workers moved in at 9 a.m. with a dump truck and backhoe, clearing out most of the campers' food, clothing and tarps.

        “Most of the men are at work and don't even know that they don't have a place to come home to,” said Mark Teegarden, who volunteers for agencies serving the homeless. “Anything that could be used for building material (the city crews) removed.”

        John Chetuck, 30, says he lost all his belongings, including a VCR, digital address book, Sega game and his only photograph of his son.

        He had just moved back to the riverbank after staying in a friend's apartment, he said. Because he has a steady job as a dishwasher, he had intended to get his own apartment soon, perhaps by selling some of his electronic equipment.

        He thinks last week's recovery of businessman Lon Dowdle's body along the riverbank drew attention to the camps, and that the Covington mayor's re-election bid was also driving the decision.

        Mayor Butch Callery said the city was responding to dozens of complaints about trash along the riverbank and smoke from campfires. Mr. Callery said city officials also were concerned about the safety of those camping on city-owned property.

        The mayor said he understood that city crews stopped their cleanup after they were confronted by a lawyer from the American Civil Liberties Union. No one from the ACLU could be reached for comment late Monday, and Covington City Solicitor Jay Fossett said that he had not talked with anyone who represented the homeless campers.

        “Under Kentucky law, we have the right to control and manage our own property however we deem necessary and proper,” Mr. Fossett said. “We don't let people camp in our parks or anywhere else in the city, so why should we allow them to camp on the riverbank?”

        On Monday night, some of the camps' former occupants met at Welcome House, a Covington-based, non-profit social services agency that shelters women and children, to check into possible housing options and to replace blankets, socks and clothing that were removed from the camps.

        Some of the homeless people were directed to Fairhaven Rescue Mission in Covington, a 22-bed facility that is the only Northern Kentucky shelter for men.

        “I do have a real concern about the way this was handled by the city,” said Linda Young, executive director of Welcome House. “This has gone on for years, and all of a sudden they decide to go in and take away everything without the people's knowledge of it. Some of them came in as they were taking out their stuff. They could have told them.”

        Neither Mr. Callery nor Mr. Fossett knew what had happened to the items removed from the riverbank, and Geoff Warneford, Covington's director of general services, could not be reached for comment late Monday.

        The area cleared was between the Brent Spence Bridge and the Covington floodwall just west of the Hampton Inn. The camps are near the spot where searchers recently found the body of a missing Alabama businessman who is thought to have died from an accidental drowning.

        About five or six weeks ago, city crews removed much of the trash from the camps and asked the campers to move, the mayor said. In a Friday memo to the mayor and police chief, a Covington police captain wrote “The problem has apparently moved east and is now concentrated between the area of Wright Street to the Waterfront restaurant.”

        “You feel for (the homeless campers), but definitely it's not a positive thing for tourists visiting the city,” said Ted Vondenbenken, general manager of The Hampton Inn. “I would think anyone bringing their family into the city would rather not have that.”

        Mr. Vondenbenken said guests have complained about smoke from the campfires when it seeps into the hotel vents. He added the homeless also have been spotted panhandling in the parking lots of a nearby gas station and liquor store.

        “You won't see panhandling here like you do over in Cincinnati,” said Mr. Teegarden, who said he struggled with a drug and alcohol problem before becoming a full-time volunteer for Northern Kentucky groups serving homeless people. He added most of the 25 to 30 riverfront campers are out working during the day, doing everything from general labor to stocking shelves at liquor and convenience stores.

       Enquirer reporter Karen Samples contributed.
       E-mail cschroeder@enquirer.com, ksamples@enquirer.com

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