Finally, the government is giving the panhandlers a helping hand. Oh, the government doesn't know it, but there's a flip side to a plan to make transients stop begging for money in low-income neighborhoods. This might force the beggars to think smart and go where the money is. They can set up shop on Spanish Trail, Scenic Highway and Marcus Pointe. They will reach a much wealthier audience in those areas and no doubt get better handouts from the Mercedes and SUV set. [continues 430 words]
Every six months, I sit down and read the latest slew of columns I've written. In this self-review, I like some columns more now than when I wrote them, and some I don't like as much. Occasionally, I see an old column and say, "What the heck was I thinking that day?" In journalism you soon learn that you will be wrong from time to time. In public. Having written more than 1,100 columns since returning to the News Journal six years ago this month, I've committed some doozies. [continues 461 words]
If you saw these people in the mall, you wouldn't look twice. There's a 30-something woman with long hair, a bearded middle- agedman clad in a thermal vest, and a 42-year-old woman wearing a shapeless dress over white socks and white sneakers. But their acts, allegedly helped by Dr. James Graves, cost you money and threatened public safety. Here's a man who struck nine different objects during a ride along U.S. 29. This woman passed out from an overdose of drugs while she was behind the wheel of a car. Fortunately, she was stopped at a traffic light. [continues 503 words]
