He's homeless, but never homely
Dury Miller keeps up appearances, even in a tent city. And, hey, watch the shoes.
By CRISTINA SILVA, Times Staff Writer
Published December 16, 2007
With each step, a cloud of dust swirls up, licking at the bottom of Dury Miller's shoes.
It's almost dinnertime at Pinellas Hope, the outdoor shelter that has become home to dozens of homeless people since it opened at the beginning of the month, and Miller is quickly getting agitated. Every day he faces the same losing battle: how to keep his white sneakers clean.
The plastic garbage bags he ties around his ankles, enveloping the shoes, are not getting the job done.
After nearly a lifetime in prison, Miller, 36, fears no man, woman or hardship. Uncleanliness, on the other hand, is another matter.
When he had a home, he spent an hour and half grooming in front of the mirror every morning.
Much of the money he earned in his street hustles was spent expanding his wardrobe. Rocawear jeans. Air Force One sneakers. Piles of oversized white T-shirts. At Pinellas Hope, he stores his small collection of urban couture in his tent.
He began selling crack cocaine as a teenager in Atlanta, his hometown. When he was 17, he said, a group of men broke into his apartment to steal his drugs. They shot his girlfriend, his first love, in the face, instantly killing her. They shot him so many times, the bullets nearly sawed off his leg, he said.
He survived. His leg didn't.
His rage consumed him.He sold cocaine, got into fights, stole. From 1989 to 2002, he was in and out of Georgia prisons.
After he served his last sentence, he came to St. Petersburg.
Miller says he stopped hustling nine months ago. He works as a cook at a St. Petersburg sandwich shop. It's his first legal job, he said.
It isn't enough to make ends meet. For seven months, he and his girlfriend stayed at different low-cost hotels. On nights when they couldn't afford a room, they slept in shelters, on streets, in a coin laundry.
He knows he can't control how others see him, but at least he can try to look his best and stay clean.
It wouldn't be so hard, except his favorite color is white.
Times researcher Caryn Baird contributed to this report. Cristina Silva can be reached at 727 893-8846 or csilva@sptimes.com.FAST FACTS
Pinellas Hope
Pinellas Hope is an outdoor shelter off 49th Street N in unincorporated St. Petersburg. The shelter opened Dec. 1 and will close in April. For the next five months, the St. Petersburg Times will run occasional profiles on the men and women who call Pinellas Hope home.