THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, July 13, 1994 TAG: 9407130009
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A14 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Editorial
LENGTH: Medium: 60 lines
A bouquet of thorny, dead roses to Norfolk General District Judge Reid M. Spencer for imposing a year in jail and a $2,500 fine on a Farmville man for selling flowers without a license - a sentence apparently meant to teach the man's florist brother a lesson.
A man may be his brother's keeper, but since when did the courts start setting punishment on the record of one's relatives?
David Daugherty, a 59-year-old retired school-bus driver, was justifiably dazed by the stiff sentence and his $5,000 bond - especially since he said he didn't sell a single flower and was only setting up a roadside stand for his brother. The latter does hold a $500 peddler's license from the city and he was the one supposed to operate it.
The florist, Levi Daugherty, has had several encounters with police over peddling. David Daugherty said Judge Spencer opined, before sentencing him Thursday, that his brother apparently had not ``learned his lesson yet.''
That may be, but that's not David Daugherty's fault. His conviction will be appealed. If his version of the incident stands up, it should be overturned as easily as a papier mache vase.
Levi Daugherty says that police have treated him as ``a real menace'' but that his encounters only reflect how hard he's ``hustling and working for a living.'' Better to peddle flowers on the streets than have them spoil in a shop, he says.
He says he or people working for him also have gotten citations for: operating his store without a license; changing his store address without a permit; selling without a peddler's license (two people) and failure to move sidewalk displays often enough. He says all charges, brought by the same policeman, were either not prosecuted or dismissed on appeal.
Mr. Daugherty says he's being treated as if he were a ``flower cartel'' and has asked for a police internal-affairs investigation.
Some of the problems, he maintains, resulted because regulations weren't explained clearly. Maybe. Bureaucracy can be confusing.
Ironically, peddler regulations are intended to protect merchants like Daugherty, who enrich city coffers with business licenses, real estate taxes and other fees and who employ others. Store owners routinely complain about peddlers who undercut their prices. The $500 license, issued only to individuals, is intended to offset revenues possibly lost by the city.
There has always been controversy over street peddlers, of course, with storefront merchants complaining the peddlers undercut their prices. It is also true, however, that cracking down on peddlers tends to discourage low-income people with some entrepreneurial spirit and who don't want to be a burden on their fellow citizens. Storefront merchants also usually offer a wider selection of better quality merchandise than is available on the street.
Norfolk needs to encourage business, not drive it to the exit, as it did with a farmer's market on Granby Street. City Hall could do worse than examining the various license fees and taxes that make it profitable for street peddlers to compete with established businesses. by CNB