Staying sympathetic but still skeptical

I read with interest about Schaumburg's plan to add restrictions to fundraising at some intersections. I have admiration for volunteers who brave inclement weather and exhaust fumes on behalf of legitimate charities, and I also understand that some of the people asking for money for themselves are likely to be in actual need. Who among us isn't one financial disaster away from a similar fate?

But, having been tricked enough times by street-corner frauds in the past, I admit to being skeptical when I'm confronted by requests that come in the guise of a generic nurse-like uniform or hand-scribbled cardboard signs that always seem to belong to a "proud but ashamed veteran" who can't quite bring himself to make eye contact as he drags a leg while he struggles up to your window - but whose limp disappears as soon as the light changes. Sometimes I give a dollar but there's often a lingering residue of donor's regret.

William Murray

Palatine