Posted on August 12, 2005

Tolerance Now Means Embracing Public Urination

Tom Knott, Washington Times, Aug. 11

You just want a cup of coffee and a doughnut from the 7-Eleven in Herndon, and the Hispanic gentlemen hanging out in the parking lot there ask whether you want a gardener, painter or a handyman of varying quality as well.

This is the daily drill that challenges the incredibly enlightened who believe in the worthiness of virtually unfettered immigration, legal or otherwise. They believe in it until one of the new arrivals is hooting at a babe or addressing a bladder issue on the side of the building. They believe in it until one of them separates you from your wallet.

We all can agree that these faux way stations are a problem, unfair to the communities and the small-business owners who did not sign up to be a loitering ground. Back in the day, it would have been so simple to address. Someone would have posted a no loitering sign, the police would have enforced it, and that would have been the end of it.

But it is not so simple today, because we have been ordered to try to understand another people’s culture, and respect it as well, and maybe relieving yourself in public is part of the culture, and we need to understand that, we need to respect that and maybe we even need to have a Public Urination Pride Day.

Of course, Fairfax County officials are looking to resolve the issue with your money. They have stumbled on the notion of having formal centers for day laborers, because it has been done in other communities, and it allows everyone to have it both ways. You cannot be accused of being a heartless bigot if you erect a Day Laborer Center and stock it with Spanish-language reading materials, if not a pool table, a flat-screen television and, most important, a bathroom.

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