I'm sitting out in back of Wandering Goat sipping a coffee. A freight train is stalled on the track and four men and two dogs jump off an open car. They mosey to the Goats back lot and occupy a table not far from where I'm sitting. One, his bare arms networked with jail house tattoos, comes immediately over to ask if I've got some "spare change", then returns to his buddies, grumbling obscenities, when I say No.

I overhear their conversation and I realize they got off the train here because Eugene is one big easy mark for them. If they don't get what they want legally, including a place to stay, they'll probably take what they want illegally. Perhaps they'll use bolt cutters like those used to break into the Rose Garden to cut your bike cable or get into your backyard.

As long as our community remains lost in quasi-intellectual guilt for not doing enough and realizes we're already doing too much for "travelers", we'll continue to be overrun by these "takers".