BEGGING BAN NO MORE REVISED LAW CONTROLS CONDUCT

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: TUESDAY, March 2, 1993                   TAG: 9303020283
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: JOEL TURNER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium
BEGGING BAN NO MORE REVISED LAW CONTROLS CONDUCT
Beggars can now ask for money in Roanoke without fear of arrest.
But they can't harass, touch or step in the path of pedestrians.
City Council voted Monday to repeal a 40-year-old ban on begging in public without a license.
If the anti-begging law had not been scrapped, the American Civil Liberties Union would have challenged its constitutionality. The ACLU contended that the law violated the First Amendment.
City Attorney Wilburn Dibling recommended that the ordinance be repealed.
Council also revised a newer law that regulates the conduct, but not the speech, of beggars.
The newer law, approved in 1980, prohibits panhandlers from touching, obstructing the path of a pedestrian, impeding pedestrian traffic on a sidewalk or going into the street to ask for money.
Council amended the 1980 law to also prohibit panhandlers from harassing pedestrians or obstructing pedestrian or vehicular entrances to private property.
These changes make it "an even more effective weapon to regulate antisocial conduct, not speech," Dibling said.
David Hayden, director of Justice House, said the city's old anti-begging law was "obviously unconstitutional."
He said that Justice House, a home for poor and homeless people, had been working with the ACLU to challenge it.
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.
Hayden said he sees no need for Dibling's proposed changes in the 1980 ordinance because there are other laws on the book to regulate that behavior.
"It seems redundant and unnecessary" to expand the scope of the law, Hayden said.
Dibling said the city has other laws to charge aggressive panhandlers with assault, disorderly conduct, cursing and abusing others.
But he said changes are still needed to make the anti-solicitation law more effective.
Under the terms of the new law, beggars can be charged with violation if they closely follow a pedestrian and continue to request money. This restriction would apply equally to aggressive conduct in sales and solicitations, Dibling said.
Dibling told council that he believes the 1980 law is legally sound because it does not affect free speech.
"In drafting amendments to the [ordinance], I have attempted to steer clear of regulating speech, and I believe that the amended ordinance accomplishes this objective," he said.
Violation of the law is a misdemeanor with a fine of up to $500.
Dibling said the repeal of the old law and the revisions in the newer law "should control offensive behavior while protecting constitutional rights."
Downtown merchants endorsed Dibling's recommendations. They have been working with social service agencies to make sure that people on the streets have access to food, shelter and help with problems. But they said that some street people don't want help nor are they homeless.

by Archana Subramaniam by CNB