In New England/Ontario they talk of "holding a toll road" - charity panhandlers (LINGUISTICS)

In western Massachusetts and also in Ontario Canada they talk of "holding a toll road," as in the announcement in a newspaper in Keene ON by one Elaine Kempt that "Keene Lions will hold a volunteer toll road on Friday, May 15, from 3 until 7pm at the four corners in Keene." A "toll road" in this sense is a road with charity collectors standing in the lanes asking motorists for donations for charitable causes as they wait at the traffic signal. Or the Stop sign.

Kempt makes her pitch: "As the smiling faces, of this wonderful group that help to raise money for local projects, greet you make sure you dig deep and pull out some loose change to help support this cause. Sorry they will not have debit machines!" (not our punctuation! TRnews)

"All (toll road) contributions will be directed to the Otonabee-South Monaghan Library System and McIntyre Park."

Regulators at work on toll roads

The Springfield MA Republican paper separately has an article from the township of Ware, where "toll roads" are presently illegal. A Subcommittee of Selectmen is working on regulating toll roads.

(Where are the political correctness nannies? Surely nowadays they are Selectpersons. TRnews)

Reports the Springfield Republican:

"A subcommittee, comprising Selectmen William R. Braman and Richard A. Norton, met recently with Police Chief Dennis M. Healey, Fire Department Pvt. Randy J. Wessels, and Lions Club representative John E. Carroll to hammer out potential regulations to govern toll roads and make them safe. The regulations include limiting them to Ware non-profit organizations, requiring that $1 million liability insurance policies be purchased for each event, and prohibiting youths from participating.

"In the current proposal, toll roads would be allowed only along Main Street, from the intersection with North Street to the junctions with South and Church streets. The proposal would require all collectors to wear reflective safety vests that meet federal standards, and would limit the collection season to April-October.

"Organizations would be required to apply for toll-road permits from the board, and each group would be allowed to collect only twice a year. The board would issue penalties for policy violations. "

"Being accosted..."

Not everyone favors these "toll roads."

On the Springfield Republican newspaper comment site is this from "oldtaxpayer":

"I hate these damn things. Someone will get seriously hurt or killed. But more to the point, I don't like to be accosted at a stop light by people I don't know, wanting money for something I don't give a (damn) about."

TOLLROADSnews 2009-05-21