Homeless man in Ballard dies of hypothermia

Geeky Swedes Ballard

A homeless man died in Ballard on March 5th near the Ballard Locks. Our news partner, The Seattle Times, is reporting that 49-year-old Charles N. Tompkins died from hypothermia. Tompkins was reportedly a transient in the Ballard area and his friend called police after finding him at the west end of the Locks just after 9 a.m., the Times is reporting. According to the police report which the Times cites, Tompkins “was bundled up, his entire head and face covered with a wool-type hat as though he was keeping warm.” The Crestline Courier-News in Southern California reports, according to the Times, that Tompkins was a 1979 high school National Merit Scholar and a graduate of the University of California.

Women in Black, a group who holds vigils when homeless people die, will hold vigil next Wednesday for Tompkins and two other recent homeless people who died. You can read more here in the Seattle Times article.

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61 thoughts to “Homeless man in Ballard dies of hypothermia”

  2. Sad indeed. Sad, that in a city full of places to get food/shelter 1 has to end their life this way. I keep hearing some say they kind of like being in that “tent-city” company or way of life. Outcasts? Addicts? “Issues”? Almost a chicken/egg problem in that we all donate or help food drives/banks, shelters, missions, churches, government program after program and on and on. In other words; there are massive places to find help, but still after all of the help etc, if 1 chooses this way of life what can we do? Thereby the grace of God go I…………………

  4. Well, we do help those who seek help, as we should.

    Freedom is fundamentally about choices.

    It’s not about avoiding consequence.

    To many have that basic confusion clouding their view.

  8. A man’s dead and if you have nothing nice to say, shut the front door. The man had a Master’s and a PhD from the University of Arizona, was fluent in Chinese and lived a full life from what I’ve read. Without knowing the circumstances behind his fall from grace, your comments, regardless of your intentions paint you as a moron.

  9. Cate, you can help ’till you’re blue in the face, you can give until you’ve got no more, and it still isn’t going to fix the problem. Obviously you haven’t had much experience with a drunk or drug addict. At one time the experts cited all that giving was enabling the drunk or drug addict to continue on their path to destruction. Now it’s Roof’s First and we’re supposed to put them up in brand new apartments, with medical care and food and that’s supposed to help. Now they will have more money to spend on their alcohol and drugs.

  11. Do you know that I haven’t opened my life and being to the hungry or the oppressed or the drunk? Do you know anything really about me or Mr Tompkins and the circumstance of his death? He died alone and cold, the jug of wine is of your own invention.

  15. Norse, the cities that have built drunk houses (or whatever you want to call them) have done so because they did the math and found that it was much cheaper to house the chronic inebriates where they could keep an eye on them than it was to keep sending fire engines and ambulances all over town to wherever they happened to fall down. The savings are substantial and it also raises the quality of life for the people living there as well as the people living around there, so what’s the objection? That someone who can’t control their addiction is getting a free ride?

  17. So if you have a heart attack nobody should call 911 and society shouldn’t pay for paramedics to come help you? Hey, if you’re lazy and have a heart attack that’s your fault so screw you, right?

  18. So if you have a heart attack nobody should call 911 and society shouldn’t pay for paramedics to come help you? Hey, if you’re lazy and have a heart attack that’s your fault so screw you, right?

  19. THanks for taking the time to read.

    So, are you going out tonight and find a sh*t faced hobo and bring him into your house? Didn’t thinks so. Some people are beyond help, no need to waste our precious resources helping those unwilling to help themselves.

  20. I feel sorry for you. A derelict drinks himself to death and the OMG libs come out in force to shame society for letting this happen.

  21. WTF, really? What fucking article were you reading. What are you talking about? Your an idiot. the guy was a street drunk that froze. It’s too bad that some people go down this path and I feel for the guy’s family, but you reap what you sow.

  22. So if he was a HS dropout with a criminal record would you defend him the same?

    Thought so, your comments, regardless of your intentions paint you as a hypocrite.

  23. You are a f’ing douchebag. Arguing with you would be futile as wrestling (with) a pig. I’ve read your earlier comments and decided to ignore them and for what it’s worth, I am sure Chaz was a better man than you can ever aspire to be. I believe that’s why you are here being an asshat – a homeless man who died in a sad way accomplished more than your useless douchebag arse.

  24. Everyone is a hypocrite at some point. Everyone is a moron at some point too but you belong to a rare breed of internet keyboard warriors who are pure attention whores regardless of what it takes. You are a disgrace to the name “Sven”.

  31. So do you think the powers that be use our taxpayer money to “help” the so-called “down and outers” because they care about them or because it saves the city/county/state money? Maybe if they didn’t “care” so much and provide so many benefits to the “down and outers” our city/county/state wouldn’t be such a magnate for “down and outers.” Or maybe I’m just jealous for having worked hard all my life, controlling my own addictions and paying my own way when I could have easily partied my way into addiction and gotten into a nice cushy little apartment with counseling services, meals, medical care for life and a monthly stipend of $350 from the state. I was figuring I was going to have to rob a bank at 75 in order to have the care I need before I die. It would have been a lot more fun to have partied my way there.

  32. Liberal compassion. Talking about someone after they’re dead. True compassion would have forced him into a facility against his will. Everyone of you bleeding heart Libs would have argued against that.

  33. Hey Sven, I’m with you on this. It makes me sick that the Locks (second most visited tourist destination in the Puget Sound-the first is the Seattle Center) is the outdoor campgrounds for every “hearty” transient that needs a place to sleep, crap, canoiter. I live nearby and watch a parade of scruffy men scramble over at night to get the best spot, then crawl out in the morning to beg for a cup of coffee or get a hot breakfast at the food bank. The spend the entire day loittering all over ballard, pissing in planters, ripping people off to get a few bucks for the day’s cheap drunk. It’s a choice.

  37. From what I’ve read about the “drunk houses” as SPG likes to call them, the officials (government, church leaders, homeless program leaders, Phil Block) keep saying they are saving taxpayers a lot of money but can only give savings in general terms. In other words if they take in 50 of these homeless drunks/drug addicts and place them in supportive care (with on site medical staff) they can reduce the trips to the emergency rooms — thereby the savings.

  38. Norse – you still have the opportunity to try out this cushy life you describe. Why be jealous? I say go for it! And then report back in a few years on just how much you’re enjoying it, hm?

  39. Conservative douchebaggery. Talking about the people you wish dead. Every one of you ultraconservative fascists masquerading as libertarians would have shot him dead on the street at the first opportunity.

    Your straw man is just as valid as mine.

  41. Support the Union Gospel Mission. They do the best job of getting people off of drugs and alcohol of any organization operating today and do it all with private money. Real compassion would have forced this bum into this program.

  42. It’s quite sad, I never realized how many mean spirited people I live here with in Ballard. Alcohol, drugs, mental illness, whatever…Im still sorry he died.

  43. this story is also linked to the seattle times so that usually ups the sleaze ante a bit – not nessecarily your neighbors. either way, hardly a time a be a nasty jerk, where ever you may live.

  44. good point, and I know there are many good hearted people, but boy some of these comments sure make you wonder why these people have so much anger. Alot of bad things in life can happen to people, Im sure these people didnt grow up planning to live on the streets.

  45. People are so mean-spirited in these comments because they are allowed to be anonymous. I bet if we were all forced to use our actual names, we wouldn’t behave quite like this.
    I read all the linked articles about this man and more than anything else, I just feel really bad that this happened to someone who seems to have been so accomplished and done so much in his relatively short life. Something terrible must have happened to him in his life to have taken him down so far. It’s tragic. Regardless of our feelings about the homeless (and I am not a huge fan of all the loitering/public urination/etc.), it is sad that a life was lost in this way. Condolences to his family and daughter in particular.

  46. How is drinking yourself to death ANY different than eating too much and having a heart attack because you failed to stay in shape? In both situations you have chosen to over indulge and should reap what you sow. What part of the analogy isn’t appropriate?

    “Your an idiot”

    Do I really need to point out the irony in that?

  48. It would STILL be tragic. I don’t know the answer, but I wish that these things didn’t happen. I’m not trying to be self-righteous here. Mostly, I read the story and just wondered what on earth happened to this poor guy to have fallen so far down in life. It made me realize that a lot of these homeless people probably have a tragic story as to why they are where they are. Whether it’s family tragedy, mental illness, bad luck, a desire to live outside the boundaries of society, whatever.

  49. a lot of accomplished people have tragedies in their lives but why haven’t they ended up in a ball in the gutter? if we could bottle that, we would be rich.

  50. Really jealous??? Wow – do you really believe that is a good way to live? Is “partying” really that appealing to you?

    Good for you that you can control your own passions… or at least ones that can lead to homelessness. Luckily for you – Hate doesn’t lead to homelessness because obviously you missed out on the compassion gene.

  51. I think the fact that he had been accomplished points to a greater societal problem. That problem being that one can do all the “right” moves and still end up in the gutter. It is amazing how quickly someone can end up on the street these days due to exorbitant medical bills, a lay off, divorce, or dock in pay. The rise in the number of homeless who HAVE jobs is astounding to me.

    A friend of mine became homeless while working two jobs because the house he was renting was foreclosed upon. The amount of money he required to pay first months, last months, and security deposit was more than he could make, so he was homeless for eight months. Due to the support of his friends, not his family, he made it out. But in a world where you need a job to have a home and a home to get a job, it’s tough. It makes one realize how close we all could be to dieing in the park.

    A story like this should shake one to the core. Had he not been accomplished and pissed his whole life away it may have made sense or seemed oddly just, but that’s not what happened. He was accomplished and that’s the story we are reading about today- not some made up hypothetical. Death is sad. ALL death is sad. But seeing someone with great potential makes it seem all the sadder because they potentially had the talent to do something great.

    Having talked with, been friends with, and worked with the homeless I am appalled at the insensitivity and naivete of some of these comments, but am grateful for those who share their sympathy and compassion for this man.

  52. The tragedy is the fact that this man died in a way that none of us in our right minds would choose. Whatever led him to this situation is probably a lot more complex than you are willing to acknowledge but that doesn’t mean he doesn’t/ didn’t deserve compassion.

    Any one of us if beaten down by enough circumstances could find ourselves in a hopeless situation – although we don’t HAVE to do anything about it I’m glad I live in a city that WANTS to try and help people find their way again.

  55. OK, let’s go with third most visited. My stats may be a bit out of date (from the CVB aobut 5 years ago). Maybe the Locks slipped to third place because of the increase in transient drunks that camp there.

  56. The anger comes from having a rock thrown at your window, human poop left near your door (with a Fred Meyer’s receipt used as TP), empty beer cans tossed in your outdoor planters, someone taking a piss on the side of your car (in wide open day light, near the Gymboree) and so forth. This, after years and years of gathering food, hot coffee, blankets, clothing, and a kind word. I am a liberal that has given up on these people. My bleeding heart bleeds for them no more.

  58. I am certainly the last person to imagine the drunks and addicts around the Locks as saints, but at least I do realize that there are many reasons for people to find themselves there and not all are worthy of such a level of scorn.
    Some people have a higher susceptibility to addiction. Some people have a harder time coping with issues. Some people have a hard time recovering from a trauma in life. Some people just aren’t that smart. Some people have mental health issues. The list goes on. Combine a couple of those issues with the lack of a decent safety net and you have the scene by the Locks. I don’t think a single one of them aspired to be where they are now. They might try to justify it if you ask them, but I don’t think any of them saw the destination when they started down this path.
    I don’t have a neat simple solution. I don’t even like those guys and I won’t give them a nickel, but I do think that we need to do something about it to keep more people from joining them. A better and more effective social safety net would be a start. A police force that would enforce the laws when it comes to the drunks might actually help get some of them on the road to recovery (and no, I don’t mean that the cops should just harass them).

  59. Sure, all homeless people are not good people but you know, there is a lot of working white trash walking around doing the same things, some of them are even our ‘good neighbors’ children.

  60. Statistically speaking, alcoholism and drug abuse are more likely to be the symptom of homelessness rather than the cause.

    In terms of Mr. Tompkins’, I don’t know his story, but I would be curious to know the circumstances that led to him becoming homeless. Through my conversations with the homeless, I have learned that their stories are really pretty amazing. There are a lot of factors involved in why/how people become homelessness. There’s rarely just one silver bullet to the problem.

  61. I just found out about Chaz today and came here looking for a little information. I’m stunned. Why the anger toward a man you didn’t even know? When did you tear up your decency card? Chaz was my friend. I knew him for over twenty years. He was a groomsman at my wedding. He was a kind man, smart, had a dry whit and I loved him. He was also a hopeless drunk. Why? I don’t know. There was a deep pain in him that I don’t think anyone ever understood. I didn’t at least. I know there are a lot of stories like his out there though. Who are you to judge and who are you to exorcise your own anger in a forum that his mother can read, or his daughter, or his friends who come looking for some kind of answer to why the sweet, tortured brother/father/son we knew will now never figure out his demons and find the peace that always seemed to elude him. Show some humanity and keep your diatribe to yourself. You reflect poorly on your community.
    Mike Hans

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