Homeless Woman Muddles Cumberland's Tourist Plan
CUMBERLAND, Md. (AP) -- A plan to steer more bicycle-riding tourists into downtown Cumberland faces a hurdle in the form of a homeless woman.
Cathy Coughenour, 53, has been living for much of the past decade in a tiny park near a major downtown intersection.
Now the City Council is considering leasing the space to a business group that wants to staff it with volunteer greeters. Their main targets would be users of the C&O Canal and Great Allegheny Passage bike trails.
Downtown Manager Ed Mullaney tells the Cumberland Times-News that Coughenour probably won't be happy with the situation.
She told the newspaper Thursday that she doesn't plan to move. She has refused to leave the spot despite having been jailed and fined several times for violating a no-camping ordinance.
(Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
