Henry County, GA Public Conduct: Aggressive Panhandling (2026)

Section 3-4-216 sits in the general offenses article of the county code and flatly criminalizes begging or soliciting financial aid while on any street or in any public park within the unincorporated county. The ordinance carves out only one category of lawful street solicitation: activity conducted for bona fide religious, civic, or school purposes. Everything else, including individual panhandling for personal aid, is prohibited outright rather than merely restricted to certain hours, distances, or aggressive conduct; the county's approach is a blanket ban on public begging rather than a targeted rule aimed only at aggressive or coercive solicitation.

The section traces to Ordinance No. 82-10, adopted July 20, 1982, and has not been superseded by a later general-offenses rewrite, unlike the disorderly conduct provisions in Chapter 3-17 which were re-enacted in 1991. Because this section falls under Article on offenses generally rather than the newer disorderly-conduct article, it is enforced independently and does not require proof of the aggressive or threatening conduct that some other jurisdictions require; simply asking for money or aid on a public street or in a public park outside the listed exceptions completes the offense.