Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, February 27, 1993 TAG: 9302270248
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JOEL TURNER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
CITY ATTORNEY URGES BEGGING-LAW REPEAL
Faced with the threat of a legal challenge, Roanoke City Attorney Wilburn Dibling has recommended that City Council repeal a law that makes it illegal to beg for money in public.Dibling said he doubts the law would be upheld in court if the American Civil Liberties Union challenges it on the grounds that beggars have a First Amendment right to ask for money.
The ACLU has said it plans to file a lawsuit against the city raising the constitutional issue of free speech - plans that now may be dropped.
"This case would evaporate if the city repeals the current ordinance," said Kent Willis, executive director of the ACLU's state chapter. "It would save a lot of trouble and a lot of money."
Willis had said that the city's law was "so broad that it could be used to arrest someone who borrows lunch money from a friend."
The ACLU had planned to finance and coordinate a lawsuit in which homeless advocate David Hayden would provide the plaintiffs. Hayden said the law has a chilling effect on many poor people who have a legitimate need to ask for money.
Hayden said Friday that the city's law is "obviously unconstitutional and the city attorney recognizes that."
Hayden said Justice House, a home for poor and homeless people in Roanoke that he founded, has been working with the ACLU to prepare the lawsuit.
The ordinance, which was enacted in 1956, prohibits anyone from begging or soliciting in public without a license.
In recent months, police have made about 25 arrests for violation of the ordinance, a misdemeanor that has a $250 fine as the maximum punishment.
"While our Police Department has acted with commendable restraint, applying [the law] only to the most aggressive and obnoxious conduct, it must be conceded that the ordinance is susceptible to a broader application," Dibling said.
Council will consider Dibling's recommendation Monday.
Although Dibling has urged council to scrap the anti-begging law, he wants council to keep a newer anti-solicitation ordinance that regulates the conduct, but not the speech, of panhandlers.