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| Date: From: Subject: | 1/30/2012 4:31:58 PM Home School Legal Defense Association Chance to Repeal Cedar Park's Daytime Curfew |
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====================================================================== From the HSLDA E-lert Service... ====================================================================== Chance to Repeal Cedar Park's Daytime Curfew Dear HSLDA Members and Friends, The Cedar Park City Council is considering repealing the city's daytime curfew. We need you to act to support this move to get rid of an ordinance that undermines the freedom and liberty we enjoy in the United States. The curfew presently forbids children under seventeen from being in public places during curfew hours--9 a.m. to 2:30 when the public schools are in session. While homeschooling is a defense to being convicted, HSLDA has found that homeschool students can still be stopped and interrogated if out in public--even if their homeschool isn't in session that day! HSLDA recently settled a lawsuit against Los Angeles for false arrest of two homeschool students under a similar law. Please take action, as requested below, to defend your freedom. Action Requested 1) Pray that this move to get rid of the curfew will succeed. 2) 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 help repeal this un-American curfew. 3) This ordinance will be up for a public hearing at the City Council meeting at the Cedar Park Public Library on February 2, 6:30 p.m. We encourage homeschoolers to attend and testify in support of repealing the daytime curfew ordinance. Background This problem is more than hypothetical. Even in ordinances such as this one where exceptions for homeschoolers are written into the curfew law, police officers frequently presume that any school-age child is truant, regardless of whether he or she is homeschooled. HSLDA has had to defend numerous homeschoolers in court who have been cited for violation of daytime curfews. 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. 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 result in violations of 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 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 are, in essence, beefed-up truancy ordinances. Texas has 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. 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 a 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. 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 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. For more information on daytime curfews, please see our analysis of this issue. A strategy packet for defeating daytime curfews can be found online. Thank you for standing with us for freedom! Standing with you, Darren A. Jones, Esq. HSLDA Staff Attorney ---------------------------------------------------------------------- -> "I saved my entire membership fee with one discount" "We've been a Liberty Mutual customer for over 12 years. We called and asked about our HSLDA member discount and they lowered our premium by approx $95 per year...coincidentally the same amount as our HSLDA annual membership fee. Thought you'd want to know!!'" More reasons to join HSLDA... http://www.hslda.org/elink.asp?id=1107 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ====================================================================== 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. ====================================================================== | |
