An orange line accompanies a deadline from the city of Lawrence, demanding homeless camps move away from a levy along the Kansas River.
LAWRENCE, Kan. -- A line drawn in the sand, or in this case, mud, accompanies a deadline from the city of Lawrence, demanding homeless camps move away from a levy along the Kansas River.
FOX4 spoke to some of the people living beyond that border, one week away from the threat of their removal.
Jan. 8 is the date the city of Lawrence posted, saying by then people need to move at least 15 feet away from the levy due to federal regulations and concerns about maintenance.
But few tents have been moved so far.
The area is in the sightline of City Hall, behind Johnny's Tavern just north of the river. It's the areas outside of the city-sanctioned camp that is being targeted, with a line of orange spray paint following the levy in the unmanaged, yet still busy, camping area.
"But it seems to me that there's going to be some kind of problem with people who don't want to leave, and I can't see them being invited to do something," said Mark William Keplinger, who lives at the sanctioned camp.
"Everyone's arguing over who owns what or what owns what or what this is all becoming. And I'm like, it is what it is. Just get along with it," said Jimmy Lee Lierhadley, who lives in the area outside of the city fencing.
"Well I didn't notice it went down really until they said something the other day," said a 44-year-old man also living outside of the fenced area.
The line cuts through his tent. He said it was painted while he was at work doing construction.
"I told [my boss] my situation, and he needed a laborer and he went out and bought me these work boots," he said, bringing the boots out of his tent.
"I try to save money to get a place, but it's kind of tough because I have a drug felony on my record. And everywhere I contact they don't rent to drug felons," he said.
"So I kind of got stuck where I'm at," he said.
The levy issue comes as the city faces a lawsuit, accusing Lawrence of failing to enforce its own laws by allowing homeless camps beyond their specified zone. There has been no comment from the city on that pending litigation.
But the orange line could test how aggressively the city might act in dismantling unmoved structures housing people wanting freedom from city control.
"It's sort of an iron lung they've got us in where we're being supported but we can't do a lot of movement," Keplinger said.
According to postings citing federal guidelines, only grassy vegetation is allowed on and around the levy. Already, much of the sod has been trampled to mud by the addition of the surrounding camps.
