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

DATE: TUESDAY, February 16, 1993                   TAG: 9302160341
SECTION: EDITORIAL                    PAGE: A-6   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

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MOBILE LIVING

FREDERICKSBURG authorities have passed an ordinance against living in a vehicle. There isn't really a problem with people living in vehicles there, The Associated Press reported, but one fellow did this, and it was bothersome.

So bothersome that the City Council spent more than two months tinkering with an ordinance to ban such an unsettling lifestyle. It took a while to get it just right. The city didn't want to hassle campers, for pete's sake, or bother someone who has a bed somewhere but just happens to doze off in his car. It wanted to make sure the law got its man: the truly homeless.

The fine for transgressing is $25. That may seem unfair, to fine a person $25 for not having the money to rent a room. But this is pretty softhearted, really, if you consider that the council first gave thought to a $250 fine.

The fine will double, to $50, if there's a second offense within 30 days. We figure this is because the perpetrator is likely to be twice as poor after paying that first $25.

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