Merced Daily recently interviewed a Merced transient known as “Patriot”

“I was born in Connecticut and later moved to Las Vegas.” Patriot said. It was Las Vegas, where he would lose everything, due to drugs and alcohol. He would later move to Modesto with a family member and get a job working with cabinet company. He would later move to Merced in late 2016, where he would fall back to his old ways of being a meth user.

“I started walking on the sidewalk and laid down. I later woke up and realized no one bothered me, so I just stood there,” Patriot said.

Merced Daily: Do you like the lifestyle of being homeless?

Patriot: Well….I choose to be homeless. I do drugs, that’s my choice. 

Merced Daily: When is the last time you did drugs?

Patriot: This morning.

Merced Daily: How do you get money to pay for your habit?

Patriot: I recycle cans and people give me money. 

Patriot then goes into detail about his customized mobile home, which he created using items found in the trash. 

“There’s more money in the garbage then you can ever live off of, this whole mobile home is made of garbage,” Patriot said. He also tells Merced Daily he’s a machinist by trade. “I melted some metal together in order fuze these parts together.” But Patriot admits to Merced Daily, by doing so, he accidentally started a huge fire due to melting metals together near a Merced overpass. “They had to shut the highway down,” said Patriot.

Patriot then gives Merced Daily a peak inside his mobile home, which is equipped with a mirror, shelves, and a battery for inside and outdoor lighting. 

“I do everything in here,” Patriot said. Drugs, sex everything. “If The mobile home is rockin, don’t come knockin” Patriot said.

Patriot didn’t elaborate to Merced Daily on what he plans on doing in the near future, but Merced Daily plans to interview him again in 2020.