Shut Up & Starve

The Salina [Kansas] Journal, December 1, 2006, had a brief news item:


Man to go to court on begging charge

A Salina man who allegedly asked customers of Wal-Mart, 2900 S. Ninth, for money Wednesday was issued a notice to appear in court on a charge of aggressive begging.

Deputy Police Chief Mike Marshall said Wal-Mart officials had asked Curtis Jackson, 21, 314 N. Kansas, not to ask customers for money.

Workers called police Wednesday afternoon after seeing Jackson allegedly approach a couple of customers after being told not to do so.
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My letter to The Salina [Kansas] Journal, with the Subject, "Welcome To The 'New Economy'" :

Dear Editor,

How appropriate that a young person, perhaps unable to obtain employment sufficient to provide a decent living because of all of the U.S. manufacturing jobs being lost to China thanks to corporations like Wal-Mart, is arrested there for begging--one of the few available activities that still allows him to eke out the kind of income that used to be provided by those lost U.S. factory jobs.

Sincerely,

Terry L. Clark