We all feel for people who are down on their luck. Nobody wants to see a family go hungry or live without adequate shelter over their heads. On the other hand nobody wants panhandlers to aggressively pursue us for our spare change. The city of Slidell has recently begun a crackdown on panhandlers. The ACLU is now fighting those arrests as unconstitutional.

According to the American Civil Liberties Union begging is protected under the constitution and arresting an individual for doing so is a violation of their civil rights. The Slidell police department has forwarded the ACLU complaints to the city attorney for review.

Meanwhile the city's law enforcement officers have been arresting panhandlers on charges of vagrancy instead of panhandling. The ACLU says that is just as unconstitutional since Louisiana's vagrancy law has been thrown out as well.

What do you think? Should random strangers be allowed to stop you on the street and ask you for money? Do these personal entrepreneurs have to pay taxes on the money they collect? Think about this scenario a slick hustler could panhandle $100 a day easily. That is $500 a week, if they don't work weekends. That's $2,000 a month tax free. I think the only other way to get money that easily is to run for office and steal it the old fashioned way.

More From 97.3 The Dawg