When I was a child, one of the Christmas traditions was seeing the Spotsylvania firefighters stand at the Four Mile Fork Shopping Center with their boot — and we were all encouraged to put a quarter in as Santa (or an elf dressed as Santa… it must be an elf) waved at the rest of us.
Fast forward to 2017, and the do-gooders in your local government have decided such traditions simply will not do… from WSET:
A new city ordinance will prohibit Chesapeake firefighters from raising money for charity at busy intersections like they’ve done in past years.
. . .
Firefighters raise money every year for charity at busy intersections with a “Fill the Boot” campaign. They’ve raised $100,000 this year for the Muscular Dystrophy Association.
The new ordinance goes into effect next month. Fire Capt. Scott Saunders said the department will look at new ways to raise money.
Of course, the ordinance is in effect to keep panhandlers off of the intersections — a novelty that seems to be plaguing the good people of the Commonwealth over the last four years or so (before these panhandlers get picked up in BMWs, or “wolf” to their next destination… yes folks, it is a scam).
Henrico County has a novel approach — post signs that discourage folks from panhandling and offer the assistance of local social services with phone number on the sign. From anecdotal evidence, it seems to work.
This isn’t to say that all pandhandling should be regulated by the state in place of banning it outright. In fact, one actually does have the right to beg for alms in the United States as a form of protected speech.
Our firefighters carrying the boot to beat muscular dystrophy? Did the city fathers of Chesapeake really need to regulate that out of existence?
