Arrrggghhhh ----- have we become so cold when it comes towards our older folk that we deny a simple holding of a child (baby). Hey use your common sense ( by the way MOTHERS have always had that better than DADS --- and I am a DAD ). Why did you not accompany him with your 4 month old ( hello). You never mentioned how long ago this took place, but I would think, if YOU were in his shoes, you might be indignant as well. WE ARE ALL A COMMUNITY where we share OUR love ones either by conversation or whatever reaches out to be known to others.
Cavemen passed stories down for generations depicting how others would be shared in moments of anothers life , even if they were not related. Please view all people first with respect and then judge by the control you have to observe and react.

I guess once in jail he can tickle "Bubba" all day long.

Exactly. I'm sorry, but there are other ways to make a child laugh. Tickling involves very close physical contact and touching in a very personal way. There is NO WAY that a stranger should be allowed to tickle a child. Would it be ok if a stranger walked up and started poking at your ticklish bits? NO! It is creepy and way over the line of acceptable behaviour. Also makes me wonder about a man who asks permission to touch a child in such a personal way -- can't get in trouble for it because the parents said "ok". Very weird.

I too was wondering what the exact charge was that he was arrested on, then I read the article; "disorderly conduct" the catch-all charge for when police don't have anything specific but still want to give you "the ride".
Having said that; this guy obviously has some emotional need that isn't being met, and he's definately screwed up his chances of signing up with "Big Brothers".

This man does NOT have the inalienable right to loiter in a park and harass parents and children. The "disorderly conduct" charge is an appropriate one is this case. Douglas' behavior is disruptive to others at the park, even though it may not present an actual public danger.

From The Telegraph news story, Douglas asked, if a mom would allow the children to "tickle the fuzzy bunny." "The suspect did not have a fuzzy bunny that was visible to (the victim)," the charge states.

It took 4 complaints over the past two months before the police acted to stop him. Now that the story has come out, who knows how many other parents or children will come forward?

I have to say, I agree. I think people should be able to ask for anything they want--freedom of speech is protected by our constitution. We certainly don't have to give people everything they ask for, particularly if it's that creepy and weird, but it scares me that a man can be arrested for asking.

Are you so surprised? All you have to do is read some of these responses to see that we no longer live by the Constitution in this country...we have been trained to live by judgement...there are no longer two sides to every story, fairness, compassion, objective thinking or discernment...there is opnionated, one sided, narrow minded judgement based on negative possibility...many people are SO focused on the negative actions of the few that the actions of ALL are judged by that standard, and that negative possibility is ACCEPTED as the ONLY possibility. People have forgotten goodness, good heartedness, innocence and good nature because they fear their opposites. And because they "heard" about or"read" about the travesties (few have actually experienced them) they are willing to sacrifice the "good stuff" so that they can maintain some semblance of control in life.
I remember playing tickle monster with my kids, my neices and nephews and neighbor children...they loved it. And so did I ! It made me laugh to hear them giggling and laughing and enjoying the experience of laughing. Many parents today would rather sacrifice that experience, that laughter, that fun...because they can't control their own vicious thoughts...their own "dirty minds"...their own judgemental attitudes toward thier fellow man...these are the people who can take an innocent older man whose only goal is to experience childhood laughter and turn him into somthing evil, ugly and sick...without knowing him, without knowing facts, without knowing circumstances...with one ugly thought of their own! HE is judged...not the one who created the insidious "possibility" in a fearful mind!
And MANY people ACT on these insidious thoughts, the fears are SO real in their heads they MAKE them real in their lives....and it starts with something as simple as typing a few judfemental words here...I was once ridiculed in a grocery store line for SMILING at a woman's child!!!! Imagine it people!!!! A society where YOU could be ARRESTED, taken to jail, fingerprinted, locked up and made to spend THOUSANDS of your own dollars to defend your actions, and possibly BANNED from grocery stores because you SMILED at a child in line....THAT'S what many of the people posting here today are creating....for themselves, their children and for us...courtesy works both ways. Politely decline if someone if someone suggests something that stirs up a dirty thought in your own mind, or if fear controls your reactions, or your instincts kick in to help you discern danger, by all means...but don't nail an innocent man to a cross verbally or with the written word because you yourself have lost the ability to recognize simple joy when you're presented with it and find the need to CONVINCE EVERYONE that you're RIGHT and everyone should agree with you and join you in perpetuating paranoia, angst and the very malicious acts of which so many of you apparently fear the most! USE your MINDS...child molestors don't ASK permission to molest your child. Kidnappers don't ASK parents' permission to steal their children. Rapists and thieves don't ASK permission to perform abominible acts! What this man had taken away was NOT his "right" to do those things...he was denied his right to ASK permission to play Tickle Monster with children...I don't want to live in a world where prisons are filled with Grandpas who miss the days when that simple childhood game is all the interaction they have with kids but it's judged by the paranoid, blogging, masses as perverse...because it ISN'T...or at least it WASN'T at one point in time, until you all created a society that now thinks otherwise...
I don't fell sorry for the gentleman in this article whose freedoms are at risk here...I feel sorry for those of you who are innocently creating a world where smiling is punishable by public denouncement and prosecution because some day, sooner or later, YOU will be at the receiving end to experience the frustration of what little joy you have left being taken away!

Ummmmm.........last time I checked you were innocent until proven guilty in this country. Or have we changed that right as well ? Personally, I think if someone is offended by his asking to tickle their child, they should just SAY NO!!! What a concept. How do we leap from there, to "arrest the pervert"!! I do not think it is illegal to ask permission to do something. If he continues to harass after they've said no, then ok....that is something else entirely, but the article does not state that he did anything to harass people.