Learn to Do a Bad Thing Well

The media's embrace of the plight of a homeless ex Marine EMT firefighter from North Carolina who struck public relations pay dirt when he came to the aid of a driver who ran out of gas near his Philadelphia I-95 exit panhandling station had all the elements of a Walt Disney After School Special. Pretty girl runs out of gas, attempts to leave her vehicle after sunset in an area as bleak as it is dark; sees a shadowy figure emerge in front of her. Is it an alien from Whitely Strieber's Communion? No, it's Johnny S. Bobbitt, Jr. a transplant to Philadelphia from North Carolina who wound up homeless on the streets of the city through a series of "bad choices." The "bad choices" part is what the media chose to ignore now that the full story of this nocturnal meeting has gone viral. Most people are probably unaware that the 95 exit ramp near Richmond Street where Johnny met the woman Kate was a relatively new panhandling spot for Johnny. A few months prior to the meeting Johnny was stationed outside the Dollar Tree store in the Port Richmond Shopping Center. He would sit yogi-like on a slat of cardboard near the entrance of the store so that shoppers had a good view of him. A sign propped up beside him read: Homeless Vet trying to go home, anything helps. He would change the sign periodically, as most homeless do. The words, "Anything Helps" meant just that. Johnny's method of asking for money in front of Dollar Tree was never intrusive. He often had his nose in a book and only rarely looked at people entering the store. Intense and highly charismatic, Johnny had a large following of people willing to help him prior to his 25 minutes of homeless fame. This is the story of Johnny Bobbitt and the homeless scene in Philadelphia's Riverwards neighborhood as told by an intimate friend of Bobbitt's. Nickels was there there. He knew Bobbitt's friends; he followed them into Kensington where they would go to score drugs or to hustle men and women for money. He observed their lives, their fights, struggles, and problems with police and overzealous security guards. This story is not for children; it is also certainly no Disney 'After School' special.