rcd@opus.UUCP (Dick Dunn) (12/19/84)
Following on about not being allowed to ring bells 8 hours on end outside a store... > At least that's better than what's happened in Cleveland. > (and a few other places from what I hear.) Some mall owners are not > letting the Salvation Army in the mall or on mall property AT ALL!!! > The reason, they claim, is if they let the S.A. solicit, they would > have to let any and all organizations solicit on their property, or > else be sued! There are, however, several "brave" malls, and you > can just guess who will get my business if I can help it. Not to congratulate some of the shopkeepers for hiding behind a somewhat flaky legalese defense, but this really puts it in perspective: Just what IS different among the Salvation Army, any off-the-wall religious cult, and a bum spare-changing you? Perhaps only tradition. There certainly are some annoying similarities: A technique to get your attention by irritation. (Clang clang clang clang...for as long as you can hear it is NOT musical or joyous by any common standard.) No idea what a contribution is really going for. No idea how much of the contribution is actually going to the end project, as opposed to administration of the charity. (Frankly, I find that the bum on the corner at least as reasonable a recipient by the usual standards that I'm told to apply when judging a charity...but then I don't follow those standards anyway:-) -- Dick Dunn {hao,ucbvax,allegra}!nbires!rcd (303)444-5710 x3086 ...Nothing left to do but smile, smile, smile.
mdg@ariel.UUCP (M.GALE) (01/04/85)
Not all members of the Salvation Army just ring bells-- On the Saturday before Christmas I was in Willowbrook Mall, Wayne, NJ. In front of Sears the man there was doing a "mime" of a wind up singing doll. He would just stand without moving untill a person dropped some change in his pot. Then he would sing--REALLY WELL--for a time in relation to how many donations he was getting, sometimes stopping in the middle of a line to await more encourgement to continue. He was a good singer, and a right jolly fellow that would sing twice as long for a childs nickle and request for "Rudolph" as for an adult's quarter. Sure beat the heck out of a tuba and trombone. Michael Gale "What do you mean my IQ is an unlisted number?"