To panhandle is “to beg (usually on the street).” Amer. College Dictionary, 1962 ed,, p. 875. Downtown Indianapolis has become rife with begging, but its pace accelerates, and its numbers of practitioners increases, each January. Perhaps it’s the cold.

The area of greatest concentration is between Capitol Avenue on the east, Washington Street on the south, Senate Avenue on the west and Ohio Street on the north. These beggars are aggressive and can be quite offensive. They threaten to do things if not paid.

They also promise to do things if they are paid - but they only “come through” if the amount of money is great enough. It’s like this every year. It’s worse in odd-numbered years when we are treated to four (4) months of the same thing.

I think we should enact a law to ban members of Indiana’s General Assembly from soliciting funds - or at least cut short the time during which they can panhandle. Fortunately, most of their activities are confined to the Statehouse at 200 West Washington Street.

Why? Whom did you think I meant?