News/Commentary

Homeless squatters ravage motel, leave millions in damages, 500 lbs. of feces

September 4, 2023 | | Print Article

The scenic little city of Casper, Wyoming has been ravaged by homeless squatters who have caused millions of dollars of damage and left 500 pounds of excrement in the downtown area.

Two hundred homeless people took over an abandoned Econo Lodge motel and other properties in the second-largest city in Wyoming that boasts 60,000 residents. They proceeded to trash wherever they stayed and defecate everywhere, according to the Daily Mail.

Many found it curious that such a conservative town in a conservative state would allow something like this to happen. The homeless there are evidently just roaming the streets and parks.

Casper Mayor Bruce Knell is horrified by what has transpired and by the extent of the destruction and filth. He called it akin to “third-world-country stuff.”

“It’s like nothing I’ve ever seen. It’s third-world-country stuff happening in Casper, Wyoming,” the mayor told Cowboy StateDaily in an interview. “They destroyed everything. It’s horrible.”

The Econo Lodge had approximately 300 rooms and had been shuttered due to flooding. There is no power or water there. But squatters moved in anyway and the property is now uninhabitable and dangerous. It has been condemned.

Flooding was ostensibly caused last winter when water lines froze and burst. One floor was flooded, submerging the electrical switch panel. That incident had already caused millions in damage before the squatters showed up. They added millions more in damages to the tab.

A bank foreclosed on the property and it was boarded up. Then the homeless squatters arrived. The bank did nothing about any of it.

The homeless squatters broke in and set up shop. Five hundred pounds of excrement were reportedly left behind by the vagrants and the city is now having to clean that up as well.

“They have destroyed this business,” Knell said to Oil City News in an interview. “It broke my heart to see.”

Knell commented on drug paraphernalia left behind and the massive destruction of the property.

“You cannot wrap your head around what happened to that hotel,” he asserted.

Instead of letting the police do their jobs and arrest the squatters, city officials claim they have run out of ideas on how to deal with them. They claim that fines and arrests do not work.

“We know very well we cannot litigate our way or arrest our way out of the problem, but our police need some teeth to start dealing with the squatting,” Mayor Knell contended. “They’re just causing so many problems.”

“In desperate times people do desperate things, and unfortunately we’re the ones left having to deal with it,” he added referring to the rising crime rate in the city.

Nevertheless, the city council wants to implement a new code that would require squatters to obtain written consent from property owners. They also want to set limits on how long they can squat on private property. None of that will likely make a bit of difference to the squatters. It is a proposal that is doomed to fail.

The mayor pointed out that many of the homeless are drug addicts and/or mentally unstable. Because of that, they are denied access to shelters and are forced to do things like this. Winters are exceedingly harsh in Wyoming which could lead to the deaths of many of these individuals.

“There’s a certain part of the homeless population, whether substance abuse or mental illness, that is getting them to where they don’t want to conform to society’s rules,” Knell remarked, according to the Cowboy StateDaily. “When they do that, they’re not allowed to go in the shelter, which means they’re just out and about in our community raising hell.”

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