BART leaders have decided to alter the transit agency's free speech-related policy after discovering that a private school and church in West Oakland used unaccompanied children, some as young as 7 years old, to solicit funds at stations after school and at night.
Under the new rules, which could take effect Aug. 1, children are required to be accompanied by an adult and are not allowed to solicit funds during school hours or after dark. Agency leaders are also considering requiring solicitors to stay in a specified location on BART property or behind a table, a policy change that concerns some free speech advocates. BART spokesman Jim Allison said other changes could still be made.
The St. Andrew Missionary Baptist Church and its founder and pastor, Robert Lacy, have a history of financial and legal troubles. A recent California Watch investigation found that the church’s school has continually overbilled taxpayers for government assistance by inflating enrollment numbers. Former students complain of physical and emotional abuse, and parents say the school forced their children to solicit funds at BART stations, sometimes late into the night. Lacy could not be reached for comment.
http://californiawatch.org/dailyrep...solicitation-prompts-bart-policy-change-17198
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...pics-Youth-tries-grab-flame-torch-bearer.html
A 17-year-old shouted 'Allahu Akbar' - Arabic for 'God is Great' - as he unsuccessfully tried to grab the Olympic torch during a stretch of the flame's route through Maidstone towards Redhill.
Broadcast live on the BBC, the youth lunged from the crowd to try to take the torch from the hands of its bearer Anna Skora, but was swiftly bundled away by officers.
In one video posted to YouTube he can be seen waiting behind a car and as Ms Skora gets closer he lunges towards the torch.
Ms Skora was about to hand over the torch to Graham White, a Surrey charity worker, when the teenager burst out of the crowd and tried to grab it.
He managed to get through the line of police officers escorting the torch as it headed through the town.
One of the officers at the back of the group swiftly grabbed hold of Ms Skora and the torch, guiding them to the opposite side of the road....
Under the new rules, which could take effect Aug. 1, children are required to be accompanied by an adult and are not allowed to solicit funds during school hours or after dark. Agency leaders are also considering requiring solicitors to stay in a specified location on BART property or behind a table, a policy change that concerns some free speech advocates. BART spokesman Jim Allison said other changes could still be made.
The St. Andrew Missionary Baptist Church and its founder and pastor, Robert Lacy, have a history of financial and legal troubles. A recent California Watch investigation found that the church’s school has continually overbilled taxpayers for government assistance by inflating enrollment numbers. Former students complain of physical and emotional abuse, and parents say the school forced their children to solicit funds at BART stations, sometimes late into the night. Lacy could not be reached for comment.
http://californiawatch.org/dailyrep...solicitation-prompts-bart-policy-change-17198
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...pics-Youth-tries-grab-flame-torch-bearer.html
A 17-year-old shouted 'Allahu Akbar' - Arabic for 'God is Great' - as he unsuccessfully tried to grab the Olympic torch during a stretch of the flame's route through Maidstone towards Redhill.
Broadcast live on the BBC, the youth lunged from the crowd to try to take the torch from the hands of its bearer Anna Skora, but was swiftly bundled away by officers.
In one video posted to YouTube he can be seen waiting behind a car and as Ms Skora gets closer he lunges towards the torch.
Ms Skora was about to hand over the torch to Graham White, a Surrey charity worker, when the teenager burst out of the crowd and tried to grab it.
He managed to get through the line of police officers escorting the torch as it headed through the town.
One of the officers at the back of the group swiftly grabbed hold of Ms Skora and the torch, guiding them to the opposite side of the road....
