INC NEWS - panhandling certification

[RW Pickle]

If you wish to discourage panhandling, setting the fee for the license at
$8,000 should stop most of it. We live in a world of fees anymore for
everything. The $20 fee seems to be such a small roadblock. Why not set
the roadblock up so as to detour the would be panhandlers towad help?
Maybe have them attend classes in mental health, substance abuse, money
management, traffic safety, etc. at the Community College. Make it a whole
program that is offered. make them become a certified panhandler in order
to get a license. Then, if they can't panhandle, they'll have to find help
from another direction. And maybe with the accreditation system, they'd
discover the help they need. And if all of that is well defined, the road
becomes more traveled to the help everyone thinks they need in the first
place. At least it sends them down the path for help.

There's a male on 15-501 who has one leg and walks on crutches. He has a
sign asking for help as a disabled vet. He lost his leg in a motorcycle
accident and has since wasted most of his big settlement. He lives in
Pittsboro. The last time he was arrested he had a money roll great than
3". Pittsboro has lost tolerence for his activity. So he moves on to
Durham where he enjoys getting his tax free income. Why don't we just get
the IRS to step in here and investigate these panhandlers? They're always
looking for people who beat their system. You think they report their
earnings? If so, I have a bridge you might be interested in buying as well
as some land in Flordia.

Just do the math. Last time I did it came to around $40 an hour. Sure
beats working for it.

RWP