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Sex Offenders or Unruly Children?
Chattanooga Budgetel Closed Sending Hundreds of Kids and Adults to the Streets. Barely Noticed.
What was the straw that broke the camel’s back in Chattanooga on November 16 sending hundreds of adults, children and pets into the vortex of homelessness? Hamilton County District Attorney Coty Wamp evicted all occupants of the Budgetel Hotel in mid-November, ostensibly because 4 sex offenders also resided at this tired, quasi-homeless shelter. Maybe it wasn’t the pariahs that caused this mass ouster. Maybe it was the children.
No one has a definitive number of how many little ones were staying in this facility. School officials identified about 75 students living at this no-tell-motel, considered homeless by federal law. How many babies and toddlers? Or youth not in school? Who knows? So much for a “kids count” mantra.
The abandoned security shack at the hotel, a telling amenity, features several harsh signs covering the windows threatening immediate ouster if children are running amok. As if the signs would change the reality of beleaguered parents and stir-crazy kids. Anyone stuck in a small hotel room for…
