Saturday, November 14, 2009
A picture of an idiot (and a law-breaker) in action
Hardly a spring or summer weekend goes by when there isn't a group of individuals -- religious folk, little league sports teams, bowtied Nation of Islam dudes -- approaching cars at the busiest intersection near Hickory Hollow Mall. I've always thought such, well, begging is extremely dangerous. Furthermore, I'd like to think that a feller should be able to stop at a red light without having someone approach his car with a big bucket with "please donate" scrawled 'cross it.
Such activity is, of course, illegal. No matter how worthy the cause, people who walk amongst traffic asking for money are engaging in panhandling, pure and simple. I've asked several Metro Council members over the years to put a stop to such panhandling, but the buckets and beggars return each spring like the swallows in San Juan Capistrano.
That said, I want you to take a look at a picture I snapped today:
That's a lady holding a "Support Metro Police Charities" sign. She and about two dozen other folks, some holding signs and others holding buckets, were standing in the middle of the Harding Place/Nolensville Road intersection at 11 a.m. To say that they were disrupting the flow of traffic is an understatement.
I traveled a bit further down Nolensville Road only to witness a similar scene at the Thompson Lane intersection. Traffic was even more f'ed up there as a result of the "Metro Police" beggars.
Now you would think that folks affiliated with the police department would know that such activity is illegal. Hell, I would like to think that the police beggars would know how stupid it is to stand in the middle of two of Nashville's busiest intersections, on a Saturday with mild weather and lots of cars on the road.
Rest assured that my anger will be duly registered with local elected officials.
Such activity is, of course, illegal. No matter how worthy the cause, people who walk amongst traffic asking for money are engaging in panhandling, pure and simple. I've asked several Metro Council members over the years to put a stop to such panhandling, but the buckets and beggars return each spring like the swallows in San Juan Capistrano.
That said, I want you to take a look at a picture I snapped today:
That's a lady holding a "Support Metro Police Charities" sign. She and about two dozen other folks, some holding signs and others holding buckets, were standing in the middle of the Harding Place/Nolensville Road intersection at 11 a.m. To say that they were disrupting the flow of traffic is an understatement.
I traveled a bit further down Nolensville Road only to witness a similar scene at the Thompson Lane intersection. Traffic was even more f'ed up there as a result of the "Metro Police" beggars.
Now you would think that folks affiliated with the police department would know that such activity is illegal. Hell, I would like to think that the police beggars would know how stupid it is to stand in the middle of two of Nashville's busiest intersections, on a Saturday with mild weather and lots of cars on the road.
Rest assured that my anger will be duly registered with local elected officials.
# posted by Joltin' Django @ Saturday, November 14, 2009 
