Fredric, Constance, List,
With all do respect, a political candidate (or any citizen canvassing for that
matter) is quite different than a thief. We can surely agree on this.
I believe it was back in the early 1940's (please correct the date if I'm off)
when our United States Supreme Court ruled that an individual knocking on doors
and ringing bells unannounced to talk politics is the price we pay to combat
"slothful ignorance" to paraphrase Justice Black, I believe.
At least it differs greatly from an assault and burglary, no? It was stated
that Fredric refused to answer his door. I would argue that this ability
allows Fredric to enjoy his privacy. Unless the canvassers were busting down
the door demanding to talk rather than moving on to the next door as I suspect
they were, they should not have been removed from the building.
There was a somewhat publicized court case involving a well-known religious
organization that reaffirmed this right a couple of years ago. If there is a
city ordinance or state law prohibiting the canvassing of multi-unit dwellings
(can anyone help on this?) I would hope somebody gets cited and challenges it
soon.
Matty Lang, Central
Fredric Markus <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
Yes, we apparently showed some intruders the door last evening here at our
senior highrise. They were none other than the mayor and his too-numerous
entourage, who were asked to leave, I'm told, because they insisted on
knocking on our individual doors.
I refused to answer my door - nothing new there - but jeepers, one would
think that repeated requests not to disturb our elderly residents wouldn't
fall on such tin ears.
Speaking of tin ears, we had another bad incident where the perpetrators
parked in our lot and then one of them jumped an elderly resident when he
was en route from his car to the front door. This old gent takes a drug that
thins his blood as a preventative against blood clots and he bled profusely.
A life-threatening incident from the sound of it. I do hope our civic
leadership, whomever they turn out to be, can embrace the notion that
seniors have the right to peaceful enjoyment of their "golden" years.
Putting these two examples of selective deafness together would make a nifty
editorial cartoon had I only the drawing skills to render same.
Fred Markus, Phillips West
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