| From the HSLDA E-lert Service: |
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| Date: From: Subject: | 1/14/2011 4:50:21 PM Home School Legal Defense Association Illinois--Act Now to Stop Proposed Daytime Curfew |
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====================================================================== From the HSLDA E-lert Service... ====================================================================== Illinois--Act Now to Stop Proposed Daytime Curfew Dear HSLDA Members and Friends in Carlinville: Your help is needed immediately to defeat a proposed Carlinville daytime curfew ordinance that would rob parents of the freedom to determine when their children can be in public, and rob young people of their right to be in public. Right now, parents alone have the authority to determine when and where their children can be in public during daytime hours. But the town council on Monday will vote on an ordinance which would, with few exceptions, make it a crime for a person under age 17 to be in public. This attempt to deprive parents of their right to govern their children, and to deprive young people of the right to move about freely, is an attack on every family's freedom. ACTION REQUESTED IF YOU LIVE IN CARLINVILLE 1. Attend the council meeting Monday at 7 p.m. and communicate your opposition to the proposed ordinance. We have been advised that the deadline for "signing up" for a slot to speak at the council meeting ended at noon on Friday. Even if you are not allowed to speak, your presence will send a powerful message. If someone asks "will all those who oppose the ordinance stand up?" hopefully the entire room will stand up, and the council will get the message. The address is 550 North Broad, Carlinville. 2. Visit or call all of the aldermen. Contact information is below. Respectfully ask them to vote "no" on this anti-freedom ordinance. Additional reasons to oppose the ordinance are listed below. 3. Consider other ways to quickly bring this into public view so the public can be informed that their rights are threatened. Contact Information for the Carlinville Aldermen: John Koster - 1st Ward 530 N. Charles Carlinville, IL 62626 (217) 854-3532 JR Levora - 1st Ward 421 Hillcrest Carlinville, IL 62626 Tim Coonrod - 2nd Ward 703 Mayo St Carlinville, IL 62626 (217) 854-8879 James Suter - 2nd Ward 218 Hoehn St. Carlinville, IL 62626 Wesley Loveless - 3rd Ward 418 S. Plum St. Carlinville, IL 62626 (217) 854-6021 Dave Steiner - 3rd Ward 46 White Tail Dr. Carlinville, IL 62626 (217) 854-8205 Sonny Albertine - 4th Ward 1050 W. Main St. Carlinville, IL 62626 (217) 854-3371 Brian Mitchell - 4th Ward 625 N. Oak St. Carlinville, IL 62626 (217) 854-3965 Randy Ober - 5th Ward 635 N. Charles St. Carlinville, IL 62626 (217) 854-8687 Joe Direso - 5th Ward 701 N. Charles St. Carlinville, IL 62626 (217) 854-3971 BACKGROUND: 1. Daytime curfews do not deter juvenile crime, as proponents usually claim. 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 proved their innocence. 4. Exceptions The exceptions are: (a) being accompanied by a parent; (b) public school not in session; (c) excused by school for lunch; (d) excused by public school superintendent for work; (e) court attendance; (f) doctor visits. Unfortunately, the only way for a policeman to determine if an exception applies in a particular situation 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 of fear. 5. Unconstitutionality The ordinance violates constitutional principles on its face. It irrationally forces children who do not attend public school to govern their entire lives according to a public school schedule. This chills the constitutional right of parents to choose any form of education other than public school. 6. Litigation Pending HSLDA is currently pursuing litigation against a California town that adopted a daytime curfew ordinance. Not every curfew situation is appropriate for litigation, but HSLDA is prepared to give careful attention to the Carlinville situation if the ordinance passes. 7. Disproportionate impact Daytime curfews have a disproportionate impact on homeschool families because we allow our children free time while public schools are in session. Homeschoolers have been harassed and made fearful by policemen who treat them like suspected criminals for doing nothing more than being in public. They have interrogated them and treated them like criminals until they proved their innocence. 8. Truancy If the motivation behind this proposal is to reduce truancy, the solution is to either change public schools to make them a place young people actually want to be, or enforce the existing laws. Passing a new law without changing enforcement will accomplish nothing. But if enforcement of existing law is changed, no new law would be needed in the first place! New laws can't fix bad enforcement. Thank you for standing with us for freedom! Sincerely, Scott Woodruff HSLDA Senior Counsel ---------------------------------------------------------------------- -> Who are the nation's best lobbyists? We don't know that this has ever been determined; but we do know that HSLDA's Federal Relations Department is the only national organization lobbying on behalf of homeschoolers on Capitol Hill. More reasons to join HSLDA... http://www.hslda.org/elink.asp?id=1102 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ====================================================================== 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. ====================================================================== | |
