Panhandlers

I get sick of the homeless, and I get paid to work for them. It happens when I walk through the city and suddenly realize after five blocks that I've left the office wearing a sandwich board saying ''Ask this man for money.''It happens more often when I look the part of an attorney. When I look like a student, or a jogger, the requests for money diminish and often times cease, yet the amount of money in my pocket remains constant. I've registered my complaint with some of these street entrepreneurs.

Ironic that the very day that Dan Rodricks attacks Pat McDonough for his candid and truthful assessment of gang crime downtown ("Conflicting realities collide downtown," May 24), The Sun buries on page 4 the attack by 20-30 "unruly" teens at the 7-Eleven at Light and Pratt streets - the heart of the Inner Harbor in the middle of a workday! Say what you want, Mr. Rodricks, but facts are facts, and Baltimore is not typical of other cities. You want to feel secure walking around town?

The escalating battle between Baltimore's homeless and those who bristle at their presence moved to federal court yesterday, with a lawsuit that accuses police and the downtown business community of trying to drive street people away from the area's tourist attractions.The suit, similar to other legal actions nationwide, claims that police officers threaten to arrest homeless people and panhandlers who are doing nothing more than sleeping, eating, talking, or holding a cardboard sign or a paper cup in a public place.

Don't revert to `normal' I have heard several times that after the tragic terrorist attack we should get back to a normal life. But just what is a normal life now? Can you call the life we were living prior to the attack normal? Consider what had been happening in our country for many years: Violence and trash sex in the movies, on TV, in the newspapers; all types of crime - muggings, rapes, drive-by shootings because of drug wars, killing after killing. How about the infidelity of public officials, scandals from entertainment and sports fields.

FAR BE IT from us to promote vices of any sort, but let's face it, life is one shortcoming after another. As the weather got warmer we rummaged around among our own failings and soon came to realize: Baseball is best in the afternoon - during the week. Novels are best when we're supposed to be reading a well-documented report on a vital and worthy topic. Little can match the enjoyment of a late-night friendly poker game, as long as there's enough beer on hand to keep it friendly. It's just as well that smokers have been forced outside, and every case of tobacco-related lung cancer makes us sad and angry, but if an occasional cigarette provides some people a measure of solace in an otherwise virtuous life, well, let them smoke.

MARTINSBURG, W.Va. -- Everybody in town seems to know Jim Tobin.Most wish they didn't.Still, over the years, Martinsburg Mayor Tony Senecal has given the 64-year-old street bum money, cigarettes and food -- once he even bailed him out of jail.Last Thursday, the Martinsburg City Council gave preliminary approval to an ordinance offered by Mr. Senecal that outlaws begging in this Eastern Panhandle community of 15,000.Violators would be fined $500 or jailed for up to 10 days."All over the country, people are getting fed up," said Mr. Senecal, who owns a tobacco shop on a downtown street favored by Martinsburg's 18 or so panhandlers.

Dallas -- I DUG INTO my pocket and gave a buck to a street person the other day. Does that make me a good Samaritan -- or a sucker?The disheveled fellow said he was hungry and needed some money for food -- a point that hit home with me since I was walking into a restaurant for lunch when he approached me. From what I could tell, the man seemed to be speaking the truth. He was hollow-eyed and haggard.Still, my momentary compassion came not without some skepticism. Only a week before, in virtually the same spot, a desperate-looking woman had asked me for a dollar or two. Her car, she explained, had just run out of gas and she needed to get home.

He stands outside the Burger King and asks for change.Some people give and some don't."Did he bother you?" the Burger King manager will sometimes ask when you enter. "He's not supposed to bother you."We don't admit that the guy bothers us, though he does. All panhandlers bother us because they force us to recognize that they exist.Poor people, like other people, come in all varieties. Some are just down on their luck and would go out and earn a living if they could.Others are bums. (There are rich bums, too. But they are called heirs and heiresses.

Germany's SPD did not swing leftCommenting on events abroad should reflect some understanding of the background and context.Such understanding seems to be sadly lacking from the Nov. 17 editorial regarding the election of Oskar Lafontaine as head of the German Social Democrats (SPD).Historical inaccuracies aside (Mr. Lafontaine had not exactly ''poor-mouthed'' reunification but warned of its huge cost, with some justification as it turned out), the interpretation of the election as a turn to the left is a tad audacious.

Pieces of column too short to use:Two thoughts . . . from a reader named Tommy Shanks: "You know you're getting old when you start wearing the same kind of socks you used to razz your father for wearing."And, "Separated at birth: Bob Irsay and Marge Schott. Don't believe me? Look at her face. Look at Bob's."More Baltimalaprops . . .A Parkville guy's reply to a New Year's Eve party invitation: "Sorry, but I will be in Pennsylvania, sliding down the mountainside on cafeteria trays with my pal. We're staying in a combo."