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| Date: From: Subject: | 12/18/2008 4:49:14 PM Home School Legal Defense Association Ohio--Your Help Needed to Defeat Proposed Daytime Curfew in Lakewood |
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====================================================================== From the HSLDA E-lert Service... ====================================================================== December 18, 2008 Ohio--Your Help Needed to Defeat Proposed Daytime Curfew in Lakewood Dear HSLDA Members and Friends: A daytime curfew has been proposed in Lakewood, Ohio. This legislation undermines the freedom and liberty we enjoy in the United States. On Monday, December 15, 2008, Lakewood Mayor Ed FitzGerald proposed a daytime curfew ordinance, which would affect all minors who are in public places during public school hours on a school day. The following exceptions would exempt a minor from the curfew: * The minor has written proof from school authorities that he or she is excused from school attendance at that particular time; * The minor is accompanied by his or her parent/guardian or a responsible adult selected by the parent/guardian to supervise the child; * The minor is participating in an approved work-study program, during the hours of such work-study assignment; or * The minor is on an emergency errand or conducting some other legitimate business. The ordinance also states that, "It shall be an affirmative defense to this division that the minor is not required by state law to be in attendance at school." For more information about the proposed curfew, see http://hslda.org/elink.asp?ID=5936 To view the text of the proposed ordinance click on the following link: http://hslda.org/elink.asp?ID=5937 With this curfew in place, your children could be accosted by police and potentially taken to the local police station to verify who they are and that they have a valid excuse to be in a public place. And even if they have a valid excuse they still may be stopped and questioned by local authorities. Any parent or legal guardian who violates the ordinance could be found guilty of a misdemeanor. ACTION REQUESTED If you live in the Lakewood area we encourage you to get involved and oppose this intrusive and unnecessary legislation. HSLDA Staff Attorney Michael Donnelly is available to discuss strategy and tactics with anyone interested in opposing this curfew. HSLDA has found that an organized coalition is often helpful in defeating this legislation. HSLDA is following this legislation and will inform you of further developments as hearings are scheduled. BACKGROUND This problem is more than hypothetical. Even when exceptions for homeschoolers are written into the curfew law, police officers frequently presume that any school age child is truant, regardless of whether they are homeschooled. > Earlier this year, Tasha* and Brian*, 14- and 16-yr-old sister and brother, were stopped by Cleveland, Ohio, police. The siblings, with schoolbooks in tow, were on their way to the library. The officer who stopped them was skeptical when they told him they are homeschooled, but he let them go with a warning that next time, they would have to prove their story in court. > Kyle* and Amy* are California homeschooled students who were out during public school hours. Both were accosted by the police. Kyle was transported to the local truancy center Amy was ticketed. > Jacob,* another 12-year-old California homeschooler, went to the store one block from his home on February 2, 2006, to buy paper for his homeschool program. A police officer picked him up, brought him home, and cited him for violation of the daytime curfew. *Not their real names. 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 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. These 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 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 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 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 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 identities, 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. Daytime curfews will likely result in registration of privately educated students with police departments with the attendant issuance of ID cards and badges. 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 law-breaker 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. For more information on daytime curfews, please see our analysis of this issue at: http://hslda.org/elink.asp?ID=2102 A strategy packet for defeating daytime curfews can be found at: http://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 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- -> Remember the last time you wrote a term paper? Research can be grueling-digging through archives, wading through articles, conducting interviews. But if it's related to homeschooling, you can relax a little. There's a good chance that you'll find what you're looking for in HSLDA's bimonthly Home School Court Report. Providing in-depth, insightful articles on much of what affects the world of homeschoolers, the Court Report is a must-read for the serious homeschooler. This publication is provided free to each HSLDA member. More reasons to join HSLDA... http://www.hslda.org/elink.asp?id=1933 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ====================================================================== 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. ====================================================================== | |
