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From the HSLDA E-lert Service...
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August 22, 2008
Wyoming--More Action to Oppose Daytime Curfew
Dear HSLDA Members and Friends:
Your help is needed on Monday, August 25, 2008 at a public meeting in
Rock Springs, Wyoming to defeat a proposed daytime curfew.
Police Chief Mike Lowell and City Attorney Vince Crow are holding a
public meeting at 212 D Street to discuss the ordinance. Since this
ordinance was introduced, it has continued to attract more opposition,
but more help is needed.
At the last meeting, some councilors stated that they would be willing
to refer the bill to a committee after its third reading. Why
continue reading the ordinance if you're going to refer it to
committee? The council should either kill the ordinance or refer it a
sub-committee for more study. It has also been reported that the
police in Rock Springs are severely overloaded in handling their
current volume of calls. How can they possibly respond to now having
to police everyone who looks like they are under 18 out during the
day?
For some reason Chief Lowell and Attorney Crow fail to understand that
this is a matter of liberty. They claim that parents have asked them
for this new law. We need you to tell and show them that there are
far more parents who do not want or need this unwarranted and
un-American invasion of the civil liberties of their family and
children.
ACTION REQUESTED
If you live in Rock Springs, attend the public meeting hosted by Chief
Lowell and Attorney Crow.
If you haven't yet, please contact the Mayor and City Council to share
with them your concerns about the proposed ordinance. Take a moment
also to read the ordinance. Their contact information can be found at
http://www.hslda.org/elink.asp?ID=5448 .
Tell them in your own words: "This curfew is unnecessary (police
already have the authority they need to deal with truancy issues).
Furthermore, a curfew would unreasonably restrain my family's freedom
and subject my children to unreasonable and unconstitutional
restraint." You might also mention your concerns about selective
enforcement, profiling and the severity of the punishment. There is
no need to mention you are a homeschooler.
Please call homeschoolers and other freedom-loving citizens in your
area to alert them to this need as quickly as possible. Every person
you can reach by telephone is one person more likely to stop this
un-American curfew.
BACKGROUND
1. Daytime curfews do not deter juvenile crime.
A recent California study compared the juvenile crime rates of
counties that enforced curfew ordinances and counties that did not.
The crime rates were the same. The curfews had no effect on juvenile
crime.
2. Daytime curfews allow searches without probable cause.
The Fourth Amendment forbids any investigation of a citizen without a
"probable cause." The proposed ordinance allows policemen to stop and
interrogate a person merely because he looks young enough to be
violating the curfew. It is an invitation to harass homeschool
families.
3. Daytime curfews assume a person is guilty until proven innocent.
In several incidents where homeschool students were stopped by police,
they had done nothing to arouse suspicion. There was no evidence they
had committed a crime or intended to. Nonetheless, the police
interrogated them and treated them like criminals until they had
proven their innocence.
4. The ordinance allows some exceptions.
Unfortunately, the only way for a policeman to determine if an
exception applies is to stop and interrogate the frightened young
person. By then the damage has already been done. The child may be
afraid to go outdoors again. The right to homeschool includes the
right to be free from fear--especially for young people, who are most
vulnerable to feelings
For more information on daytime curfews, please see our analysis of
this issue at http://www.hslda.org/elink.asp?ID=2102 .
A strategy packet for defeating daytime curfews can be found at
http://www.hslda.org/elink.asp?ID=5449 .
Thank you for standing with us for freedom!
Sincerely,
Michael P. Donnelly, Esq.
HSLDA Staff Attorney
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-> Can you call your attorney at 2 a.m. on Sunday morning?
Our members can get in touch with their attorney even after
business hours, when they have a legal emergency. Wouldn't you
like this level of service?
More reasons to join HSLDA...
http://www.hslda.org/elink.asp?id=1100
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