[pct-l] Corner cafe

[Perry Chamberlain]

As a new trail angel (second year) in section D, the motivation of the owners of the corner cafe baffle me.
By opening the package, the line of custody of anything inside the package is broken.
Once opened, nothing inside could be legally said to be proved to be owned by the hiker.
A lawyer would be able have anything found inside to be illegal, tossed out, because it could'nt be proved it wasn't  put in there by the cafe owner.
So why open it in the first place.
If the packeg is sealed and addressed to someone else, the cafe would be held harmless.
This just smacks of being a deep seated need to be controlling, for no apparent reason.
I could not imagine any reason to open packages, period.
So I'm afraid I'm with the civil rights side of this.
As far as I'm concerned, the favor fo receiving the package on behalf of the hiker, is offset by the complete paranoid rudeness, of then justifying it by some bizarre need to catch hiking  drug users.
Basically what they are saying is "as far as we are concerned, all hikers are drug users unless we can prove they are not".
It just does'nt pass the smell test.
But with that said, I would never use this cafe as a drop point, or put money in their pockets either.
What they are doing may not be illegal, but to me its just really un-ethical, and rude. 
Giving into behaviour like this, just makes it acceptable, to be controlling and condescending.
I would rather carry the weight of supplies then toss away my privacy and personal rights.
Opening hikers packages, JUST DOESN'T MAKE COMMON SENSE.
whew, ok off the soap box.......
Canoeman
Trail angel, section D juniper hills