Wary life among the 'clowns' By John C. Ensslin Denver Rocky Mountain News Staff Writer Richard Steinmetz's eyes well with tears when he talks about Melvin Washington, his murdered friend. He spent most of his nights on the streets of LoDo, until alarm over the seven homeless homicides drove him to shelters and other parts of town. If I had been down there drunk as a skunk, it could have been me. And I never gave him a dime. And now they beat him to death.
Music begins to play in a coffee shop for homeless men.
Steinmetz brushes back a tear. But he's in a better place. They beat him and stole his bag. Society knows them as 'mall rats,' but they're clowns. That's what they deem themselves to be.