Hot Dog Man makes brief return

The new ad hoc committee has only gotten ?The Hot Dog Man? Brian Curran a little closer to where he wants to be.

The committee has changed the restriction on where pushcarts, like the one Curran uses, can be located. The old ordinance placed all pushcarts around the Farmers Market. The change allows pushcarts in ?the upper area of the city parking lot behind the Chamber of Commerce building, in the area between the Chamber of Commerce building and Citizens Tri-County Bank immediately below the staircase leading down from the Court Square area.?

Taken out of the ordinance altogether was requiring a checkup from a reputable, local physician and the $1,000 bond requirement. Reduced in the ordinance was the $250 to cover the background check to $100. Taking out the bond and reducing the fee for the background check will bring the monetary requirements at least to within affordable limits, city officials believe.

Despite some previous statements made by the current ad hoc committee discouraging the investigation of the ?moral reputation? of vendors, all the requirements that were objected to remain intact. Under the current ordinance, every vendor will have to provide names of at least two reliable property owners within Warren County who can verify the person?s good character.

Currently, a petition in support of Curran is being circulated and will be handed to the Board of Mayor and Aldermen.

?We don?t know if the petition will do any good,? said Brian?s wife, Wendy. ?Nothing else has worked so far but I do appreciate everyone who supports my husband. Brian is a good man.?

The ordinance still has to be passed by the full Board of Mayor and Aldermen.