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| Date: From: Subject: | 9/8/2006 12:20:27 PM Home School Legal Defense Association Ohio--Calls Needed to Stop Daytime Curfew Ordinance |
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====================================================================== From the HSLDA E-lert Service... ====================================================================== September 7, 2006 Ohio--Calls Needed to Stop Daytime Curfew Ordinance Dear HSLDA members and friends: Amherst, Ohio is considering an ordinance which would enact a daytime curfew. The Amherst City Council will vote on this ordinance on Monday, September 11, 2006. If enacted it would prohibit any child between ages 6 and 18 from being in public between the hours of 8:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. on days when the Amherst Public Schools are in session, unless the child is accompanied by an adult, on an emergency errand, en route to his or her place of employment or is carrying written proof that he or she may be in public. This legislation undermines the freedom and liberty we enjoy in the United States. This same ordinance has been discussed by Amherst previously; this meeting will result in either an enactment or defeat of the ordinance. A good showing of people in opposition to the curfew will help to defeat this proposal. With a curfew in place, your children could be taken to the local police station to verify who they are and that they have a valid excuse to be in a public place. You would have less freedom to send your 15-year-old daughter to pick up some groceries or let your 16-year-old son go to music lessons across town. The Amherst City Council will vote on this ordinance on Monday, September 11, 2006, at 7:30 p.m. We need as many people as possible to attend the council meeting to express opposition to the curfew. ACTION REQUESTED 1) Attend the Amherst City Council meeting on Monday, September 11, 2006, at 7:30 p.m. The meeting will be at the Amherst City Hall, 206 Main Street, Amherst, Ohio 44001. Your message is simple; by being there you are showing your opposition to the un-American daytime curfews. 2) Please call homeschoolers and other freedom-loving citizens to alert them to this need as quickly as possible. Every person you can reach by telephone in the next few days is one person more likely to stop this un-American curfew. BACKGROUND > Daytime curfews violate a minor's fundamental constitutional right to freedom of movement as guaranteed by the Fourteenth Amendment on the public streets, highways and areas of the city without being subjected to prior governmental restraint. > Daytime curfews violate the fundamental legal principle of the presumption of innocence. This presumption is protected by the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth and Fifth Amendments to the United States Constitution. > Daytime curfews result in violations of the minors' Fourth Amendment rights to be secure against unreasonable searches and seizures. A policeman should not stop and question anyone unless there are actual facts that make it reasonable to suspect that a crime has occurred. If a policeman stops and questions a person without such facts, it is a violation of the citizen's rights under the Fourth Amendment. > Daytime curfews interfere with the parents' fundamental right to direct the upbringing and education of their children, especially for parents with children in small private schools who often work outside the classroom. > Daytime curfews are, in essence, beefed-up truancy ordinances. All states have already addressed the area of truancy in a comprehensive way. There is no need for new laws addressing the issue of truancy. The present laws addressing minors simply need to be enforced. > Daytime curfews will result in selective enforcement. Since officers will not be stopping every juvenile during school hours to check their ID, they will be selective. This opens up the extremely dangerous potential for unequal treatment of minors based upon race, appearance, dress, etc. This type of ordinance will simply divert attention from real crime prevention programs and interfere with effective police work. > There is no evidence that daytime curfews significantly reduce juvenile crime during curfew hours. Statistics demonstrate that there is very little juvenile crime during these hours even when there is no daytime curfew. Additionally, the serious juvenile lawbreaker will not be deterred by the daytime curfew. However, hundreds, if not thousands of innocent minors will suffer the inconvenience of unwarranted stops, detentions and harassment, not to mention the added cost for taxpayers for the enforcement of the curfew. > Daytime curfews dangerously train young citizens to accept, as normal, constraints that are inconsistent with the freedom they should be educated to enjoy and use responsibly in their adult years. > Daytime curfews send a message to self-disciplined and responsible young people that the community makes no distinction between them and irresponsible adults who abuse freedom in ways detrimental to the community. > Daytime curfews will likely result in registration of privately educated students with police departments with the attendant issuance of ID cards and badges. For more information on daytime curfews, please see our analysis of this issue at http://www.hslda.org/elink.asp?ID=2102 . We have a 19-page strategy packet for fighting daytime curfews at http://www.hslda.org/docs/nche/000010/200308130.pdf . Sincerely, Scott W. Somerville HSLDA Staff Attorney ---------------------------------------------------------------------- -> You can get a little latte or a lotta legal. With our new payment options, you can join HSLDA for as little as $8/month, less than the price of a cup of coffee a week. More reasons to join HSLDA... http://www.hslda.org/elink.asp?id=1109 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ====================================================================== The HSLDA E-lert Service is a service of: Home School Legal Defense Association P.O. 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Thank you for your cooperation. ====================================================================== | |
