HUFFINGTON
11.11.12
NO WAY OUT
bus system, and Stinson cannot
afford a car.
Friends have told him about a
building materials business that
would hire him on the spot, but
the company is 26 miles away
and over the Georgia state line,
reachable only by car. A plywood
company would hire him, too, but
that job is 30 miles away. Merely
getting to the state Career Center
to maintain his a $180-a-week
unemployment check and search
through job listings on a public
computer requires a 40-minute
bus ride.
Lean, able-bodied and proud,
Stinson is accustomed to earning
his way. He does not want an unemployment check any more than
he wants extra time to sit around
his cramped apartment watching daytime television. He would
much prefer not using the food
stamps that have become the only
thing sparing him from hunger. He
wants what he has had for most of
his 49 years: He wants a job.
But in Chattanooga, as in much
of America, getting a job and getting
to a job are two different things.
“That’s the thing that hurts me
Stinson on
his way to a
career center
on the free
downtown
shuttle bus.