In a town that seems to have never met a tax that it didn’t like, Talkers were surprised to find out that panhandling was not a right granted by the town charter.

Unless it’s officially sanctioned, government-style panhandling. While the town’s elected officials effectively go door-to-door to tell residents it’s their obligation to subscribe to the town’s municipally owned MI-Connection cable system — and to pay an extra $200 a year for garbage service to help prop up the cable company each year — asking for few bucks to buy a sandwich is apparently unsavory enough to land one in the pokey.

Talkers suppose the severity of the crime depends upon how much the beggars are asking for, in inverse order.