Ranks of protesters dwindle, but diehards vow to remain

On the 99th day of Occupy Chattanooga’s campout, protesters on the Hamilton County Courthouse lawn are fairly quiet. The ranks are thinning. The picket signs are stacked neatly inside a tent.

On Thursday, a group of young men stand smoking on the sidewalk, saying their goodbyes. Three are leaving for the Rainbow Gathering, a 1,500- person hippie gathering in Florida.

Soon another protester, who came from Washington, D.C., will leave for Mardi Gras in New Orleans.

“Living this life isn’t the easi- est thing,” said Larry Simpson, 51, who’s been camping out for 98 days and admits he slept in a hotel Wednesday night.

A few minutes later a car drives by and a man screams out the window, “Go home, commies!”

“That is mild compared to what they usually holler,” Simpson said.

Today is the 100th day that Occupy has been camping on the streets of Chattanooga. For the first eight days, protesters camped on the sidewalks around the City Council building, bringing a pantry, a camping stove, a mini-library, chairs, a corkboard,

a whiteboard, signs and tables.

In those first days, protesters say there were as many as 50 campers rallying for more jobs, lower college tuition, campaign reform, higher taxes for the rich and an “end to corporate personhood,” as one sign reads.

But now many of those Occupy supporters are sleeping on mattresses at home or hitting the road, and only 10 or so diehards are left, depending on the night.

Life at the camp has been hard and cold, said Casey Barrett, who was a part of the Chattanooga Occupy camp for 87 days and now is leaving for Florida. For one, there are a lot of rules. No drinking. No drugs. No sex.

And being so public for so long can be challenging, too, protesters said.

“We constantly get people