the Homeless: Clearing The Air

Clearing The Air

Street person Richard Kreimer won national attention -- and a potful of cash -- when he sued the public library in Morristown, N.J., over a patron code of conduct that banned homeless people with poor personal hygiene. But the self- styled "homeless Ralph Nader" found himself barred from the building once again last week when a federal appeals court in Philadelphia overturned his victory and upheld the right of public libraries to expel vagrants in certain circumstances. A lower court had said the rules were an infringement of Kreimer's First Amendment rights, but the three-judge appeals panel disagreed. Although the library...

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