In response to my earlier entry, my friend Heidi writes:

I'd say to also be careful when you give them that bottled water. I had the pleasure of writing this headline last month:

She gave him burger; he gave her beating

By CHRIS ECHEGARAY
Staff Writer

A homeless man accused of beating a woman who offered him a hamburger will face a grand jury after a ruling Friday.

The case, as explained in court, started when Fran MacLaren went to a Nolensville Road McDonald's for a late lunch on Monday. The homeless man, David Craig, 41, was outside of the fast-food chain after being told to leave a nearby liquor store.

MacLaren gave Craig the cheeseburger as he was lying down in a parking spot outside the restaurant. Craig shouted he didn't want the burger, just money and threw the burger at MacLaren, she testified in court today.

"I told him he was an ungrateful bastard," she testified.

Craig went after her, MacLaren testified, and she pepper-sprayed him in the eyes.

Enraged, Craig went after her and rammed her over a 4-foot retaining wall, she said, striking her repeatedly. She testified that he broke her nose, fractured her wrist and cheekbone and cracked a rib. She also injured her knee.

She limped into the McDonald's. She was later locked out of the restaurant, she said.

During her testimony, things got testy between Craig's court-appointed lawyer and MacLaren. Public Defender Mary-Kathryn Harcombe asked whether MacLaren had been drinking and if she was drunk during the attack and whether she had really tried to avoid the attack.

Judge Casey Moreland found probable cause and Craig will face a grand jury.

The judge then ordered Harcombe out of the courtroom. Harcombe declined to comment about her removal.

Craig is being held on $75,000 bond.

Ah, springtime in beautiful downtown St. Louis.

The birds are chirping. The tourists are back. The restaurants have opened their patios. And there's a homeless person on every block begging for cash.

Seriously. The panhandling is out of control here.

My office is only about a six-block walk from my loft. But that's plenty of time for at least two people to ask me for a buck.

After a while, you get to know the usual characters. They'll ask everybody for money once, but if they see you regularly, they leave you alone. It's the new, inexperienced ones you must watch for -- or the ones who are just plain crazy. They'll stop you every time they see you and -- worse -- tell you the same sad story.

Like the effeminate black man who identifies himself as a "little black Barbie doll."

His routine: "Honey! Honey! Oh, honey! My husband and I had a big fight, and he kicked me out of the car back there, and I'm just a little black Barbie doll trying to get $4 for a bus back to Bridgeton!"

Also, he wears a garish fur coat in all weather and carries a purse -- reason enough not to trust him.

Last time I dealt with him, in the drive-through line at Jack in the Box, I said, "That's the same story you've told me at least six times."

"Well? Isn't it sad? he replied.

It was not sad. The only part that was sad was him thinking I was so dumb.

I did not give him $4. But I did get my No. 6 with curly fries.

I've also noticed a trend among the panhandlers of them addressing their victims as "big man." As in, "Hey, big man! I don't mean to be no trouble, but you got a dollar?"

On my walk home last night, someone called me "big man." I am not that big, I informed him. And no, he could not have a dollar.

With the onset of spring, The Homeless also are becoming a lot more courageous in their attempts to collect cash:

• Two nights ago, two separate panhandlers walked right into The Side Bar on Washington Avenue, walked up to patrons and asked for money. They were denied.
• No longer is a dollar good enough. A few weeks ago, a man asked me for $10. TEN DOLLARS. "I don't even have $10," I told him. Inflation affects everyone, I suppose.
• On weekends, a homeless man sets up traffic cones and barricades -- stolen, of course -- in the free public parking spaces in the alley behind Washington Avenue. He then opens the spaces when people need to park and collects tips.

I'm not totally heartless. Homelessness and poverty are big problems here -- not only for the individuals who are victims but also for the city as a whole. It negatively affects the city’s economic development.

Nashville, Tenn., has similar problems with homelessness and panhandling. But the city also has an extensive plan to eradicate the problem and offer proactive solutions to the homeless.

Giving to panhandlers is a lose-lose situation: You lose because they often use your money to support their addictions to alcohol and drugs and they lose by continuing these destructive behaviors.

According to Nashville's Downtown Partnership: The best thing to do is say no. Refer panhandlers to social resources. If you're inspired to give, consider a bottle of water or food gift certificates instead of cash.