Wise Man Wants to Be Angel, Shepherds Bell Ringers to Mall

Declaring “I’m not Scrooge,” a Northridge shopping center manager on Saturday welcomed two Salvation Army bell ringers he had arrested a day earlier for trespassing at his mall.

Northridge Fashion Center operations director Donald Lieberman stuffed several dollar bills into a red Salvation Army kettle outside the mall and announced that bell-ringers will be invited indoors for the rest of the holiday season.

“I don’t want to be known as the grinch who stole Christmas,” Lieberman said.

On Friday, Lieberman placed Salvation Army Capt. John Purcell and corps Bandmaster Ray Chasse under citizen’s arrest when they set up their kettle and began soliciting donations outside the entrance to the mall’s Broadway department store.

Lieberman told them that shopping center policy prohibits solicitation on mall property by any group.

Purcell and Chasse were released after being held briefly by Los Angeles police on misdemeanor charges. But they vowed to challenge the mall’s ban.

When they returned Saturday, Lieberman ushered Purcell into his office instead of into a police car. After an hour’s private discussion, a compromise was reached.

Lieberman said the Salvation Army--with its bell ringers, its kettle and its musicians--will become an official part of the mall’s holiday program. By classifying them as invited entertainers, corps members will be able to accept donations in their kettle without violating the mall’s ban on solicitations, he said.

“It will enhance the holidays in the mall,” said Lieberman, who also announced he is dropping Friday’s trespassing charges.