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| Date: From: Subject: | 7/1/2010 10:34:29 AM Home School Legal Defense Association Ohio--Action Needed to Oppose Reynoldsburg Daytime Curfew |
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====================================================================== From the HSLDA E-lert Service... ====================================================================== Ohio--Action Needed to Oppose Reynoldsburg Daytime Curfew Dear HSLDA Members and Friends, The Reynoldsburg Safety Committee will continue discussion on a daytime curfew for children ages 6-18 at their meeting on Tuesday, July 6, at 7:30 p.m. We need you to act to oppose this legislation that undermines the freedom and liberty we enjoy in the United States. If passed, this curfew will affect the flexibility and freedom of homeschool students to be in public places during school hours. Homeschool children could potentially 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. Any person who violates the ordinance could be found guilty of a misdemeanor. 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. Please take action, as requested below, to defend your freedom. ACTION REQUESTED 1. Attend the Safety Committee meeting on Tuesday, July 6, at 7:30 p.m. (arrive before 7:15 if you wish to speak) The meeting will be held at the City Hall on Main Street. 2. If you can't attend the meeting, please contact the members of the Safety Committee and City Council to share your concerns about the proposed ordinance. Even if you aren't from Reynoldsburg, you can contact these councilmen about your concern since neighboring communities may get the same idea if the proposal passes in Reynoldsburg. Give them this message in your own words: "This curfew is unnecessary as there are already strict laws in place in the Ohio Administrative Code to deal with truancy. Police already have the authority they need to deal with crime when and where it is being committed. Their resources should not be wasted in dealing with this issue, which is a matter for school officials and parents--not the police. Furthermore, a curfew would unreasonably restrain my family's freedom and subject my children to unreasonable and unconstitutional restraint." There is no need for you to disclose that you are a homeschooler as this issue affects all parents with children. Contact information for members of the Safety Committee is as follows: Mel Clemens - Ward 4 614-866-5415 (home) Nathan Burd - At Large nathanburd1@yahoo.com 614-322-0061 (home) Chris Long - At Large chrislong@insight.rr.com 614-863-1886 (home) Contact information for other City Council Members: Fred Deskins - Ward 1 fdeskins@insight.rr.com 614-861-6764 (home) Leslie Kelly - Ward 2 lkellywd2@yahoo.com 614-402-3303 (cell) Doug Joseph - Ward 3 DougJoseph@juno.com Barth Cotner - At Large cotner57@aol.com 614-861-2775 (home) Bill Hills - Council President whills@insight.rr.com 614-868-5930 (home) 3. 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. For more information and to see the text of the proposed curfew, visit: http://www.hslda.org/elink.asp?ID=8604 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-year-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 were 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 and Amy was ticketed. > Jacob,* a 12-year-old California homeschooler, went to the store one block from his home 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 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://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=8605 Thank you for standing with us for freedom! Standing with you, Michael P. Donnelly, Esq. HSLDA Staff Attorney ---------------------------------------------------------------------- -> How many news articles did you read this morning over your oatmeal? We live in a world where concise information presented at the right time can make a big difference in the outcome of important legislative efforts. Yet it's tough to keep up with all the issues that affect you. HSLDA does this for you in the areas that affect your homeschool. 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