| From the HSLDA E-lert Service: |
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| Date: From: Subject: | 8/30/2012 4:25:21 PM Scott Woodruff--HSLDA Missouri--Urgent Action Needed to Stop Raytown Daytime Curfew |
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====================================================================== From the HSLDA E-lert Service... ====================================================================== Missouri--Urgent Action Needed to Stop Raytown Daytime Curfew Dear HSLDA Members and Friends, Your help is urgently needed to block an effort in Raytown, MO, to pass an ordinance that would make it a crime for young people to be in a public place during public school hours. The city's Board of Aldermen may vote on the ordinance on Tuesday. Time is short! All members of the board need to hear about your opposition. Daytime curfews do not accomplish what the proponents claim. They 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. Some have even been arrested and taken against their will to a police facility. ACTION REQUESTED 1. If you live in Raytown or might ever visit there, please stand up for freedom by immediately calling to express your opposition to the daytime curfew. Your message can be as simple as: "Please vote NO on Bill No. 6296-12, daytime curfew. It will reduce freedom, but it will not reduce crime or truancy." Or you can express your opposition in your own words. 2. If you are not a resident of Raytown but might visit, call one or more of the aldermen listed below. 3. If you live in Raytown, click on this map to find out which ward you live in, and then call the two aldermen for your ward. http://www.hslda.org/elink.asp?id=15578 . 4. Please attend the meeting of the Board of Alderman this Tuesday, September 4. There is a work session at 6 p.m. and a regular meeting at 7 p.m. A big crowd will send a powerful message! Consider speaking against the proposal during the public comment period shortly after 7 p.m. (as you enter the room, sign up to make a public comment.) Well-behaved children are welcome! The address is Raytown City Hall, 10000 East 59th St., Raytown, MO. 5. Since this is a holiday weekend, some folks may not get the word in time. Please help by passing this on to other families as well! CONTACT INFORMATION Ward 1 Joe Creamer, Alderman 816-517-4773 (Cell) alderman_joe_creamer@raytown.mo.us Shane Par-Due, Alderman 816-398-8053 (Cell) aldermanshanepardue@raytown.mo.us Ward 2 Jim Aziere, Alderman 816-358-8375 (Home) alderman_jim_aziere@raytown.mo.us Jim Hamilton, Alderman 816-737-6003 (Office) alderman_jim_hamilton@raytown.mo.us Ward 3 Christine White, Alderman 816-213-0196 alderman_christine_white@raytown.mo.us Charlotte Melson, Alderman 816-737-6003 (Office) alderman_charlotte_melson@raytown.mo.us Ward 4 Bill Van Buskirk, Alderman 816-737-2799 (Home) Alderman_bill_van_buskirk@raytown.mo.us Pat Ertz, Alderman 816-356-8233 (Home) alderman_pat_ertz@raytown.mo.us Ward 5 Michael Lightfoot, Alderman 816-686-8213 (Cell) alderman_michael_lightfoot@raytown.mo.us Steve Mock, Alderman 816-358-6283 (Home) 816-225-3217 (Cell) alderman_steve_mock@raytown.mo.us David W. Bower, Mayor 816-737-6003 mayor_david_bower@raytown.mo.us 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 proved their innocence. 4. The ordinance contains 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 of fear. 5. There is no exception for homeschooled children. There is an exception for children who are "exempted" or "excluded" from compulsory education or who are attending their own school or "authorized to be absent." But a homeschooled child does not fall into any of those categories if he is simply enjoying his liberty because his homeschool program is over for the day or year. However, even if a homeschool exception is added, the proposal would still be totally unacceptable. 6. The ordinance pressures homeschool families to take the time and trouble to find out exactly what days and hours public schools are in session. Parents who dismiss their homeschooled kids on days when public schools are in session could be arrested and prosecuted. 7. The Ratyown school system is pushing this, ostensibly to reduce truancy. But Belvidere school district (Illinois) enacted a daytime curfew in June, 1996, and over the next 10 years chronic truancy increased by 73%! (Based on Illinois State Board of Education statistics.) 8. Journalist Stephen Mayer with KCTV reported earlier this week that Kansas City has a daytime curfew. http://www.hslda.org/elink.asp?id=15579 This is an error. A daytime curfew and changes to truancy enforcement were proposed in a bill in early 2012. The bill was amended to remove the daytime curfew and then enacted with changes to truancy procedures. 9. Families for Home Education (FHE) representatives plan to meet with Raytown representatives and explain that the Kansas City ordinance (as actually passed) is acceptable, but the proposed Raytown ordinance is not. 10. HSLDA and FHE are united in opposing this ordinance. Thank you for standing with us for freedom in Missouri! Sincerely, Scott A. Woodruff HSLDA Staff Attorney ---------------------------------------------------------------------- -> Can you look at the clouds and tell the direction of the wind? An interesting phenomenon of wind is that it can blow in multiple directions at the same time, at different heights from the ground. But usually there is a prevailing wind. HSLDA watches the gusts and monitors the prevailing trends of change in the legal climate of home education. So no matter which way the wind is blowing, we're there to protect your family. More reasons to join HSLDA... http://www.hslda.org/elink.asp?id=1938 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ====================================================================== The HSLDA E-lert Service is a service of: Home School Legal Defense Association P.O. 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