COOS BAY, Ore. - A police survey says panhandlers outside Wal-Mart in Coos Bay can make $300 a day. Inside, it takes a clerk a week to make that much.
Police say people who have a problem with that needn’t look to the law - asking for money is considered protected free speech.
Coos Bay authorities say most panhandlers are not criminals.
Coos Bay Police Captain Rodger Craddock says most have lived in the city a long time and they actually have homes. Craddock says, “This is just their chosen profession.”
He says most are docile, and that people should report those who are not.
Bob More, director of housing and emergency services at South Coast Community Action, says many panhandlers are there for the money - to feed their addictions.
He suggested a voucher system involving tickets people could give that are good for a meal or bed in a shelter.
I’m obviously in the wrong business. At $300 a day, these guys are making over $109,000 per year. Now I’m wondering if I can pull that off. I’d have to dress differently and blacken out a few teeth. Maybe if I made myself up so that no one would recognize me. Nawww, I guess I’d have a hard time doing that. But it does give you something to think about the next time you see someone begging outside of Wal-Mart (or anywhere else for that matter).
February 7th, 2008 at 2:07 pm
panhandlers making hundreds a day and returning to their cozy houses at night - what a bunch of nonsense! i say the saddest part is there are folks who actually believe this yarn (after all, it’s from a ‘police survey’ so it must be true. why would the cops want us to see panhandlers as the bad guys? i mean if they were the bad guys the cops might have to arrest them and we all know with the big money the panhandlers make they’d be able to hire good lawyers, right? er wait, maybe they’d end up with counsel encouraging them to plead it out and just spend a little time in jail and a couple years on paper. oh wait i forgot, the police chief said the panhandlers are not criminals. whew, had me worried there a moment.
how do we solve poverty? how would i know, it’s the poor that cause it right?
i can’t wait to hear the results from the next ‘police survey’. i’ll stay tuned!
February 9th, 2008 at 4:59 pm
Coos bay is the town nearest to my farm. It started about two years ago with a few panhandlers outside Wal-Mart but it’s gotten out of hand. Trouble is the liberal government. It will soon be like San Francisco. Ugh!