Whack-a-Beggar

Wrong ambush site...

Roy Lee Gant, a Lucky Dog vendor in the French Quarter, may look like an easy mark for an armed robber... He wears a candy-cane-striped button-up shirt. He wheels around sausage and condiments to sell in a 1,200-pound cart shaped like a ballpark wiener

None of that oozes toughness. But Gant is a former Marine, trained in hand-to-hand combat. And a 42-year-old man accused of attempting to rob Gant at knifepoint the night of Dec. 5 found that out too late, New Orleans police say.

A man strolled up to his cart and asked him for a dollar.

Gant declined, thinking, "Hell, no. I've hardly sold a hot dog, yet you want money -- when you can be out here working the same as I am?"

The 5-foot-8, 155-pound man then shoved his face closely to Gant's and said, "If you don't give me a dollar, I'm going to take it."

Gant declined again. The two shoved each other. The man, miffed, walked away.

According to a police report filed in court, the man returned to the street corner about 11:50 p.m. He drew a knife, stood alongside Gant, reached across his body and with his right hand pressed the blade's edge against the vendor's throat, hissing, "Remember me?"

Thus commenced a good old-fashioned beat down. It should be legal -- at any time and for no specific reason -- to beat the crap out of all panhandlers, beggars, gangbangers and other two-legged urban pests. More, such behavior should be strongly encouraged and handsomely rewarded.

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(Hat-tip to Joe G.)