WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A ban on sledding on the U.S. Capitol grounds should be lifted to give children and their parents a perfect site for downhill fun, the District of Columbia's congresswoman said on Tuesday.
Representative Eleanor Holmes Norton made the request to U.S. Capitol Police following news reports that officers, citing security issues, shooed away would-be sledders last week after a snowfall in the U.S. capital.
"Americans should be able to sled on 'America's front lawn,'" Norton, the city's non-voting representative in Congress, said in the letter to U.S. Capitol Police Board Chair Frank Larkin.
Although sledding was prohibited after the Sept. 11, 2001, extremist attacks on the United States, "what I do not understand is why the U.S. Capitol Police have recently decided to enforce this Scrooge-like ban," she said.
Before the ban, the Capitol grounds had been a traditional site for sledding. "The grounds of the U.S. Capitol – the Hill – provide a perfect sledding venue," Norton said.
Norton asked that Larkin respond within 30 days. A Capitol Police spokeswoman had no immediate comment on Norton's request.