Gov't
Door to Door in Central
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By Dave Freneaux
What right do you have to keep people from coming to your door selling merchandise or asking for donations? According to Central Council Member Wayne Messina, the answer is simple. If you do not want them knocking on your door, place a "No Soliciting" sign at your front door. He explains that you may then answer your door and tell any would-be solicitor that they are trespassing and ask them to leave. If they refuse you may call the Sheriff's office because they are breaking two laws: Trespassing, and Remaining After Forbidden.
Council Member Messina had recently introduced an ordinance for consideration by the Council to limit the hours of the day during which people could go door-to-door and to require them to register with the city to do so. The intent was to limit the hours to such times as people would likely be home and thereby reduce the use of such activities to serve as a cover for potential neighborhood burglars to case homes.
Unfortunately, explains Messina, the ordinance had to be withdrawn because court decisions upholding free speech and political campaigning have made ordinances such as this all but impossible to enact. While his preference was to control door-to-door peddling via ordinance, he sees that he will have to settle with making the people of Central aware that they can indeed stop this practice at their individual front door with a simple "No Soliciting" sign.
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