A FORUM FOR COMMUNITY ISSUES : Platform : The Panhandlers

MICHAEL OBENLAND, Hollywood, about 40 years old.

I’m manic-depressive. Both my wife and I have been in many mental institutions. We have both had electric shock treatments over and over. We weren’t born this way on purpose.

My wife and I are both on disability. We each get $595 per month. Our rent, $597, takes half of that. Soon the state will cut us back $35 each per month. We could end up homeless again, like we were for a year and a half.

Gov. Wilson needs to be recalled. He doesn’t care about the poor. See this brace I’m wearing for my spine? I need steroid shots, but they’re not covered by Medicare. I need tranquilizers for my nerves, but they’re not covered by Medicare. I’ve thought sometimes of suicide.

Things are getting worse. About five months ago I started getting up at 3 a.m. to go out with a flashlight to get bottles and stuff out of trash cans. It’s gotten so shabby everywhere. I’d say one-eighth of the people I ask give me money. The most I ever got? About $5. But mostly it’s chump change, just enough so I can take my wife to Denny’s for an iced tea or something.