This story seems odd to me, on several levels.

I do not advocate limiting freedoms for everyone in order to curb crime commited by a few. It's the same argument as taking away guns from everyone because a few people commit crimes with them. Don't get me wrong, I'd love to get rid of the panhandlers, but the far majority of them do not hijack cars, so using it as a basis for a law is absurd. If we're going to ban panhandlers, it really should be on the safety angle. Am I bad for wishing the panhandler would have gotten hit by a car?

I wouldn't roll down my window and talk to the panhandler and given him the chance to car jack me.

What about the very well-dressed gentlemen peddling literature from the Nation of Islam? Should they be viewed differently? Are they any less of a threat because they dress well?

This is a totally bogus argument.

If the argument is sound, then we should also ban cash register sales because you never know who might show up in front of a cash register looking for some money. You don't provide security by eliminating individual liberties. Keep doing that and you'll end up with no security at all.

If we absolutely need more laws, how about a ban on stupidity? When a crime like this is committed, a grand jury can determine whether or not the lone woman was an idiot for stopping her car for a begging stranger at an off ramp. If found stupid, she gets her drivers license revoked for 3 months.

The way I see it, now that the economic decline has begun, we're going to begin seeing more people who are out of work and out of their houses. It's going to get much worse before it eventually levels off. Those people WILL be seeking help. Many who have exhausted all other resources will resort to asking for handouts on the street.

I'm not about to support a campaign to prevent these people from using every outlet they can find to feed themselves or their families. If they need to stand on a street corner and ask people for hand outs, I won't be the one to stop them. FYI, I'm not talking about drunks, addicts, or the mentally unstable. The impression that Abdul is giving ois that panhandling needs to stop because these are the folks who are “victimizing” us. My concern is that as our economy worsens, good family folks who are facing deserate circumstances will want to try their luck at asking for handouts. Knowing our economic circumstances, advocating a law that prevents them from doing so is cruel, seflish, and inhumane.

I was leaving Lowe's the other day and waiting at the light to turn onto Keystone. There was one car in front of me at the light and several behind me. A Panhandler was leaning into someone's car shaking them down.

He stayed there talking to the people in the car though the light turned green. I gently beeped my horn to let him know to move away because he was now blocking the right of way of traffic.

He gave me the middle finger and kept on panhandling the car in front of me blocking my ability to get through the green light.

I then laid on the horn and kept it on even when the light turned red again. This panhandler had held up at least 4 cars with the right of way by this point .

I called the cops. I have the north precinct speed dialed on my cell phone. They dispatched someone immediately.

I was very irritated with this situation, but I still don't want the government interfering with free speech….even the freeloading panhandler's freedom to give me the finger.

Any panhandler leaning into my window attempting to 'shake me down' is going to get shot.

To follow up on Melyssa's comment…. All the proposed law would do would be impede individual liberty until it could be thrown out in court. And clog the justice system if people actually got arrested for it.

It is already illegal to impede traffic as the panhandler she encountered did. It is already illegal, I BELIEVE, for hitchhikers, panhandlers, & other pedestrians to be on interstate offramps. It is already illegal to threaten or harrass people to intimidate them, (assault) as well of course as battery, carjacking, etc.

To ban a person standing where he or she has a right to be, in a true public place, because he/she has a sign that the government doesn't like, is never going to withstand constitutional challenge so why should the city/county waste our tax dollars spending time on this and then fighting a losing legal battle? The government can't ban a sign asking for money or food anymore than they can ban signs saying “Stop Abortion” or “Keep Abortion Legal” or “Stop Taxing Our Property” or “Obama Show Us Your Birth Certificiate” or anything else, like it or not. There will always be panhandlers, those maybe genuinely in needs and those who just run a good con like the guy in Indy trying to get bus fare to Little Rock/Memphis for 15 years now. They'll just try to hide a little more from cops with more laws in place.

Educate people like this woman about not giving or putting yourself in position to be a crime victim with the money that will be spent on legal defense.

Well, there is a rule to follow with the pan handlers that I hold true–I make sure my doors are locked and I don't give them money. There are many volunteer charities that will gladly take money for their food pantries and help feed and shelter the needy. Abdul, I actually find your comment to be a bit reactionary…almost conspiratorial in nature and not surprising, because we all suffer from a little myopia to some degree or another. I do agree with you that it annoys me that people stand on the ramps or even in the middle of the street to collect donations because if I run over that person's foot, guess who has to pay for their insurance along with higher rates?

The one solution I offer is to have the city start putting signs on the exit ramps instructing people that they can easily donate money to certain shelters who use mostly volunteer work with very little admin costs and if enough people started respecting that, the money can actually go to a cause that will help others in need. As the Bible says, give a man a fish, he eats for a day…teach a man to fish, he eats for life.

Shorebreak, slyness like this proposal certainly helps to keep the lawyers employed.

If this goes through the City-County Council, it's not a bill and a law. It's a proposal and an ordinance. Semantics.

Along with the “live sign holders” for $5 large pizzas or tax services, panhandlers represent a public safety threat because they distract drivers. Anything that distracts drivers should be mitigated or minimized. Heck, if the political parties can set up a protest zone, why can't we have panhandler zones?

Here is the ultimate illogical point of this post: “Had their been an ordinance, the police would have had the authority to tell that panhandler at I-65 to get lost and go somewhere else and beg.”

Only beggars who stand at off ramps and intersections are capable of stabbing people. Beggars who beg elsewhere do not have such capability. Standing on a street corner empowers you to stab someone. That makes sense.

Distract drivers?

Music, cell phones, billboards, and so much more “distract drivers” but there are few to no laws on them.

oh and another newsflash: the charitable organizations are fine but all they have to offer is clothing and food and sometimes shelter: those of us who have just lost jobs, yes we do have homes, we can get foodstamps and we need gasoline in our cars to job seek.

So tell me what is shelter, food and clothing going to do for me to help me keep my home. My last comment here is that those of you with the most money to give are the stingest and you really should be ashamed of your self and you know what race you are. The same race that subdued slaves for decades.

oh my made you four minutes late did he? I take it you never arrive late?

Right on, Matt Stone. But you forgot eating and putting on make-up.

oh and another newsflash nightstick: : the charitable organizations are fine but all they have to offer is clothing and food and sometimes shelter: those of us who have just lost jobs, yes we do have homes, we can get foodstamps and we need gasoline in our cars to job seek.

So tell me what is shelter, food and clothing going to do for me to help me keep my home. My last comment here is that those of you with the most money to give are the stingiest and you really should be ashamed of your self and you know what race you are. The same race that subdued slaves for decades. I am now ashamed to be a part of that race. Who says I have to be homeless to ask for help????

oh my made you four minutes late did he? I take it you never arrive late?

Right on, Matt Stone. But you forgot eating and putting on make-up.