Clarkson discusses panhandling in city limits

Read more at the Grayson County News.

Clarkson Police Chief Buck Meredith addressed a recent panhandling incident in the city during Monday evening's Clarkson City Commission meeting. 

Meredith said a group, believed to be from Paducah, Ky., raising funds for a non-profit organization supporting substance abuse recovery recently set up at the traffic light in Clarkson with signs to collect money, similarly to how fire departments collect money for the annual WHAS Crusade for Children.

This raised concern among some in the Clarkson Fire Department who worried the group's doing so might detract from the department's Crusade for Children fundraising efforts, according to Meredith.

However, Meredith said the Kentucky Supreme Court recently ruled that a governing body cannot prohibit one group from panhandling to collect money if it allows another to do so.

"You either have to let everybody do it or nobody do it," said Clarkson City Clerk-Treasurer Scotty Gore. 

Gore said the city of Elizabethtown passed an ordinance prohibiting panhandling, and City Attorney Tom Goff said Clarkson may consider doing so as well should it become a problem. 

Meredith said it has not been an issue outside of the recent incident, so he suggested the commission take no action unless it does. 

"Let sleeping dogs lie, so to speak, and if it becomes a problem then you may have to address it," he said. 

No action was taken Monday on this matter.

In other business, the city commission:

*Approved a proclamation naming Saturday, Aug. 16 National Honey Bee Day in the city of Clarkson.

*Announced that sign-ups for the fall soccer season will begin in early August, and the season itself will run from the beginning of September through the first Saturday in November. 

*Announced that the Clarkson Police Department's 2014 Ford Explorer had been sold to the city of Caneyville for $4,350.