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From the HSLDA E-lert Service...
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August 28, 2008
Wyoming: More Action to Oppose Daytime
Curfew--Third Reading Scheduled
Dear HSLDA Members and Friends:
Your help is needed on Tuesday, September 2, 2008 at the City Council
meeting in Rock Springs, Wyoming to defeat a proposed daytime curfew.
At the last public meeting sponsored by the mayor and police chief, it
became clear that opposition to the ordinance was growing and the need
for it was becoming less clear.
However, despite the growing confusion, it is still possible that the
city council will approve the ordinance after its third reading next
Tuesday. Unfortunately the mayor, city attorney and others fail to
recognize that this curfew is a threat to the civil liberties of
citizens in Rock Springs and a threat to the freedom of homeschoolers.
At the meeting, the city attorney and mayor reportedly stated that
their interpretation of Wyoming homeschool law requires homeschooled
students to be at home during the same hours and days as the public
schools are in session. This is an incorrect interpretation of Wyoming
law, which HSLDA Staff Attorney Michael Donnelly plans to correct in a
letter to the mayor and city attorney.
We are asking all homeschoolers in Rock Springs and the surrounding
area to reach out to their neighbors and bring a large number of
people to the next council meeting. Homeschoolers must ask the council
to reject the ordinance or at most refer the matter to a sub-committee
for further study.
ACTION REQUESTED
If you live in Rock Springs or the surrounding area, please attend the
city council meeting on Tuesday September 2, 2008 to oppose the
ordinance. While HSLDA will not be present, a local representative of
the ACLU, who is also working to defeat this ordinance, will be
present.
If you haven't yet, please contact the mayor and city council by email
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: "It is becoming increasingly clear that
this daytime curfew is unnecessary. The changes made by the school
district in Rock Springs should be given more time to work before
passing a curfew. Furthermore, the curfew is unnecessary because
police already have the authority they need to deal with crime issues
in Rock Springs. A curfew will unreasonably restrain my family's
freedom and subject my children to unreasonable and unconstitutional
restraint." 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/docs/nche/Issues/D/Daytime_Curfews.asp
Thank you for standing with us for freedom!
Sincerely,
Michael P. Donnelly, Esq.
HSLDA Staff Attorney
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-> How long are you in for?
Some families are facing what seems like a lifelong commitment to
homeschooling, with children at both ends of the spectrum -- some
graduating and some just reaching school age. If you're going to
be "in" for a while, consider a lifetime membership with HSLDA.
It's a good deal for families with more than 10 years of
homeschooling ahead.
More reasons to join HSLDA...
http://www.hslda.org/elink.asp?id=1936
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Home School Legal Defense Association
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Fax: (540) 338-2733
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