NEWSBYJACLYN FONTANELLA

Las Vegas. Just hearing those two little words conjures up an endless dream of wild and crazy nights, Wayne Newton, money, gambling, lights, excess and fun fun fun. Vegas, though, is more than just an escape from reality, more than just a bachelor party playland ... it's home to an estimated homeless population of 14,000 people.

And as Nevada's foreclosure and unemployment crisis continues, this number is only growing. However, the city has fewer than 1,000 shelter beds available. So where does this growing homeless population of Vegas sleep?

One shelter called The Shade Tree, like all other Vegas shelters, is completely packed and long ago passed capacity. Shelter director Marlene Richter says, "In total, we're sleeping 200 in this one room .... That includes our cots, our cribs, our bassinets. We have more than 50 toddlers in the building right now and five newborn babies." Each night, The Shade Tree has nearly 350 women and children under its roof, while all those sparkly hotels run under capacity.

Many others have turned to even more extreme living situations and gone underground. Beneath the prosperity, glitz and bright lights of the strip is a dark, damp labyrinth of tunnels where hundreds (maybe thousands) of Vegas homeless reside. The tunnels provide an escape from the heat, the police, and a chance to be unseen by those who live, work and play up above. But it's a rough life, with little hope of improving.

For the past 10 years homeless men and women have called the woods off of Cedar Bridge Avenue and Route 88 in Lakewood, New Jersey home. However, just two weeks ago the Township of Lakewood filed suit against them. The lawsuit called the homeless "trespassers" who have done "irreparable harm" to public property. The battle lines were clearly drawn. Miraculously, a compromise was reached this week.

As long as the camp does not grow or expand, the homeless who have made this settlement home can stay until adequate shelter is found. This compromise has quelled the fears of those who live in the tent city and has bought advocates and officials more time to figure out a more permanent housing solution.

The consent order, filed by the attorney who represents the homeless campers, Jeffrey Wild, and also signed by the township, cites "cooperation in solving the problem of homelessness in Ocean County through emergency shelter and other means."

Ocean County, the fastest growing county in New Jersey, lacks a formal homeless shelter of any kind, and Steve Brigham, the founder of the Cedar Bridge camp, has been advocating on behalf of the homeless in Ocean County for years now. "We don't want temporary," Brigham says. "We want something that's going to be there this winter, next winter and the following winter."

Growing up on the beach at the Jersey shore, my friends and I spent countless nights sleeping on the cool sand listening to the waves. Yes, it's illegal and slightly dangerous, but we knew we could always just run home if trouble found us.

Michael "Gray Wolf" Knockett was not so lucky. Knockett, who was homeless, had been entertaining tourists by dancing around in Virginia Beach for the past few years. Just after 8 a.m. this past Monday morning, he was run over and killed by an 18,000 pound dump truck while sleeping in a chair on the beach.

Summer is a rough time for the homeless who live outdoors. With four-month-long waits for a bed in Virginia Beach's only overnight homeless facility and a lack of safe, affordable housing options, the beach in this oceanfront community offered cool(ish) ocean breezes and a (relatively) soft place for Knockett (and other local homeless) to sleep. Unfortunately, on this night, Michael Knockett became another life unnecessarily lost to homelessness.

Deputy City Manager Dave Hansen told the Virginian-Pilot, "The driver didn't see him. They rolled over him and didn't realize until a tourist witness ran down the beach to notify them."

A spokesman for the public works department said that beach truck drivers cannot go over two miles per hour and are required to have city training, as well as a commercial driver's license. Whether it was Knockett's spot in a "depressed" part of the beach, his proximity to the trash bins or the lack of sunlight — the driver of the dump truck still should have been more aware of his surroundings.