To the Editor:

I have had “not for profit” solicitors coming not only to my front door, but back door regularly since February. Apparently, they are registered with the local police for five hours or so at a time to canvass our neighborhoods.  If a resident does NOT want them on his or her property, one must post a No Trespassing sign. Not for profits are protected by both New Jersey and Federal Supreme Court Rulings to freely enter private property with whatever issue they feel is for the betterment of the public be it religious or of public interest.

I am not interested in having these people walking uninvited up to my door trying to convince me to support whatever cause. The last visit was for some children’s group campaign. The first one was for water issues. The police report that this last group had from 4-9 p.m. to bother us. How many children were home alone during that time after school? Or walking home from school with strangers walking near them? The man who came to our street with his brochures came a second time (two hours later) because some of us weren’t home. I have been told by our mayor there is nothing we can do about it — other than put up ugly No Trespassing signs in our yards. Even then, these people can claim they “didn’t see the sign”.

I offered the suggestion to our mayor that we register our addresses with the municipality/police department as a “do not solicit” address.  If the police can register these groups, they can certainly hand them an address list of homeowners who wish to opt out. This suggestion would keep our town looking beautiful. No Trespassing signs would not.  The mayor responded that that would be “too much trouble”. The Town has our addresses on file for everything else they need.  How could it be so much trouble to register an address for no trespassing?

Perhaps this can be addressed and implemented by those who manage our town. And perhaps ASAP or before the next wave of “not for profit solicitors” hit our neighborhoods again this summer. This is an invasion of privacy and a dangerous situation for out of school children.

Nancy Woelk

Maybury Hill Road, circa 1725