Someone who gives you a flower at the airport and then asks for a donation is attempting

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December 22, 1976, Page 31Buy Reprints

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ATLANTA, Dec. 21—Aggressive religious panhandlers, most notably members of the Hare Krishna sect, are stirring anger at airports and other transportation centers across the country and in the process creating a major constitutional question on the extent to which they can inflict themselves on others in the exercise of religious frAedorrt.

At least 20 of the nation's largest airports have tried to bar or restrict solicitations, but in most cases their attempts have been prohibited by the courts on constitutional grounds.

New York's LaGuardia and John F. Kennedy Inernational and New Jersey's Newark Airport reported problems of varying’ degrees with solicitors. The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which operates the airports, said that it was reluctant to attempt to act against solicitors because of a court decision it lost in 1968 over a war protest issue and a fear of losing, further ground on any similar .court test now.

In San Francisco, a court of appeals is considering a lower court ruling limiting the number of solicitors who can work at the terminal at one time and restricting the areas where they can solicit.

Also under appeal is an order at Hartsfield International Airport in Atlanta, the nation's second busiest, requiring solicitors to set up booths and not roam about the airport.

After having its restrictions on distribution of literature and soliciting struck down by the courts, Washington National Airport put up 20 prominent red, white and blue signs telling passengers: “Religious groups, in an exercise of their First Amendment rights, are distributing flowers and literature and soliciting donations. Their activities are not endorsed by the airport.”

Similar signs are posted at O'Hare in Chicago, which has a court case pending, and some airports make peri odic announcements dissociating themselves from the solicitations.

“Unfortunately, they're here,” said Timothy Pierce, manager of LaGuardia, speaking of the Hare Krishnas. “Under the First Amendment rights, they're allowed to describe their religion and seek donations,” he said. “But they're a pretty aggressive bunch and we do get complaints.”

Mr. Pierce said there was an “unofficial agreement” with the Krishnas that keeps them 10 feet from the. ticket counter, stops “disrupting the ‘flow of traffic” and is supposed to restrict solicitation to the main terminal area, although that is often ignored.

Most airport authorities feel their hands are tied because the solicitors have legal status as members of a tax exempt religious groups entitled to all constitutional freedoms.

Complaints are mounting: from harried passengers almost everywhere, a few of whom have taken swings at the more aggressive solicitors, usually members of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness, commonly referred to as the Hare Krishnas.

“We've never had a problem until the Krishna group arrived on the scene,” said John Carr, manager of O'Hare Airport, the nation's busiest. Several religiOus groups operate in O'Hare, proselytizing, solicting funds, or both. Among them are the Jews for Jesus, Foundation Faith and the Jesus People USA, as well as the Hare Krishlas and the so‐called “Moonies,” the followers of the Rev. Sun Myung Moon and his Unification Church.

Forrest Nichols, a security guard at O'Hare in charge of regulating solicitors, said that each Krishna averaged $125 to $150 a day in solicitations and that the airport got about five complaints a week ‐about them.

Use of Airport Facilities

Moreover, the Krishnas resort to what amounts to disguises, giving up the saffron robe that is the vestment of their sect in favor of less exotic clothing like a leisure suit—or, as in New York, a Santa Claus costume, or, as in Phildelphia .and San Francisco, Bicentennial garb, with the men as Minutemen and the women as Betsy Ross.

Beyond passenger complaints, airports report that the Krishnas have from time‐to‐time used terminal facilities to sleep, stored literature in airport lockers and used crowded airport restaurants to eat the vegetarian’ lunches they carry.

Persons who write to the Port Authority in protest over the solicitations get a form letter that says in part:

“The rudeness you, encounered is inexcusable but unfortunately the Krishna type of soliciting takes place with a one‐on‐one situation and would be necessary for the person to make a complaint Although the airport provides identification to the Krishnas, we do not authorize him to solicit within the airport terminal building. In actuality they are here because of their success in the courts.”

At Newark Airport in New Jersey, Lieut. Norbert A. Medenbach of the Port Authority Police Department said there were no current problems with religious panhandlers because of an “understanding.”

“All religious panhandlers are required to contact the airlines that are in the buildings they are soliciting in. The airlines are the tenants of the that time left Satra alone to deal with the Russians. The Associated Press reported that the Soviets were known to have been upset by the departure of the American network executives.

After word of the arrangements reached New York, network officials reacted with skepticism.

Boone Arledge, president of ABC Sports, who has supervised the network's coverage of six Winter and Summer Olympics since 1964. said last night he buildings and if they don't complain, we cannot do anything about it. Once they have their [the airlines'] permission, we cannot eject them,” he said.

Lieutenant Medenbach said there had only been one or two arrests when people refused to leave a building after being warned not to panhandle.

Putting up signs, said Benedict D. Castellano, assistant to the manager at Washington, National, “is about all we plan to do, because if you push it too hard, you end up with the Krishnas given a section of the airport and then they demonstrate, chant and sing all day long.

“At times, the Krishnas come into conflict with other groups. In San Francisco, for example, the Jews for Jesus, converts to Christianity from the Jewish faith, pass out leaflets that say, “Wanna flower? means give us money.” They warn “Do not be deceived!” and feature a line drawing of a young man proferring a book and a flower. Arrows point out “wig,” “ready smile” and “more books in bag.”

At O'Hare in Chicago, a man named Morris Yanoff heads a group called “Where Is David?,” which pickets the terminal with signs that say “Don't contribute to the Hare Krishnas.” His grandson, David, joined the Krishnas several years ago and Mr. Yanoff's efforts to find him have failed.

“We have to hit the Krishnas in the pocketbook,” Mr. Yanoff said. “So what we do is step up to people and say, ‘do you know who they are?'. Generally, the person says, ‘no’ and usually that's enough.”

Uttalma Sloka, the president of the Krishna temple in the Chicago area, said, “We have nothing to hide. Morris Yanoff has a screwed‐up conception of what we are.”

He said that the solicitations, the amount of which he declined to disclose, go to support the temple, where some 50 Krishnas live, and to buy books.

He contends the Krishnas have “nothing extensive” by way of training on seeking money. “It's brief,” he said. “We shake their hand, find out their name, show that we want to be personal, and say we're passing out books and ask for a donation on printing costs. Sometimes we have to encourage them. If they give $2, we ask for $3. We're not perfect, and sometimes devotees have made mistakes. In general we're pretty clean. We're bold, but not bold in a commercial way.”

The New York Times/Teresa Zabala

At National Airport in Washington, a sign informs travelers of the status of solicitors such as the man at