For the last time, Monongalia County has no spare change

We all owe the Monongalia County Commission a deal of gratitude.

They have finally solved a problem that has been plaguing poor students of West Virginia University and the general population of this county.

When we roll up to Wal-Mart and Target in our cars to buy gratuitous amounts of things we absolutely do not need, we will no longer be pestered by those damned homeless people asking for a nickel.

What would we do without the amazing efforts of the Monongalia County Commission?

Last month, they passed a resolution that outlawed panhandling in the unincorporated areas of Monongalia County without a permit. The law states that only an organization with legitimate purposes of fundraising can obtain this permit.

If you are found panhandling without a permit, you are given a warning. But on the second offense, you are fined $100.

Quoting comedian Lewis Black, "When you hear something like that, one side of your brain looks at the other and says ‘It's dark in here.'"

I suppose I can understand that the commission sees an issue with panhandling, but did they really just legislate fining the homeless?

Yes. Yes they did.

Don't let anybody fool you, either. This is a law that was specifically designed to sweep the issue of homelessness under the rug.

It's not about safety. If it were, then they wouldn't allow anybody to ask for money on that stretch of road.

But as the law stands now, a church deacon can stand on that strip of pavement and ask for money to build that new projection system in the sanctuary, but the person who wants to stand out on that same strip and ask for money to get a hot meal is verboten.

Anybody knows that struggling to survive pales in comparison to the menace of having to sing church hymns out of a book.

We have a problem here in the Morgantown area that has obviously been growing in the past few years, and it's not panhandling.

Our area is collecting a decently high population of homeless people. According to previous reports in The Daily Athenaeum, there are approximately 180 homeless in the city of Morgantown in 2009.

You can see it in the streets of Morgantown. There are people who have nowhere to live and, in many cases, not a good meal to eat.

In typical political fashion, the Monongalia County Commission has dealt with this issue in an appropriate way.

They passed the buck.

The problem of homelessness isn't going to magically go away now that people aren't allowed to ask for change by the road.

This law only does two things: further destroys my faith in humanity and removes people from having to face a real situation that needs our attention.

Instead of fining a group of people that have so little money that they have to beg for spare change on the side of the road, the commission should try to deal with the problem of homelessness.

Here is an idea. Give them a place to sleep and have a hot meal.

Now I know that sounds like a stupid plan, but bear with me, board members. If you provide a decent place for homeless people to eat and sleep, the vast majority of them won't need to beg for basic needs on the street.

Of course, if the church that is panhandling on the streets legally would use the money for feeding the poor instead of unnecessarily upgrading their church, we probably wouldn't need this law in the first place.

As awful as this law really is, the most deplorable part of the story was that only one person spoke at this hearing.

Naturally, he was in favor of the new law.

What has happened to us? The entire county couldn't produce one single person who could argue on behalf of homeless people?

When you are fighting to not starve to death or freeze on a daily basis, participating in politics is pretty low on your priority list.

However, we have no excuse.

We need to stand up for those who, due to the terrible hands life has dealt them, cannot stand on their own. It's one of the greatest things about the human condition.

We have the ability to make the world a better place. We have it within ourselves to help our neighbors up off the ground.

I urge people to get involved. Don't let policy makers in this area sweep this problem under the rug.

Make them accountable for making a decent life for their constituents.

In the classic movie "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington," James Stewart speaks of lost causes – a lost cause like the battle against homelessness.

His words resonate with me.e says, "You know that you fight for the lost causes harder than for any others ... Because of just one, plain, simple rule: Love thy neighbor."