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Curfew ordinances reviewed
By Mary Madewell
The Paris News
Published March 13, 2007
Several home school parents challenged the constitutionality of the daytime section of the City of Paris youth curfew law at a city council meeting Monday.
The curfew ordinance, passed in 1994, is up for a required three-year review. Discussion came during the first public hearing in the review process.
Phillip Hamilton, representing Texas Home School Coalition, a group of about 70,000 home school families, urged council to repeal the daytime section of the law that forbids children 16 years old and younger from being in public places between the hours of 9 a.m. and 2:30 p.m. weekdays.
“There are portions of this ordinance that cannot withstand constitution muster and therefore should be removed,” Hamilton said.
He emphasized the group had no problem with the night curfew that requires children to be off the streets by 11 p.m. weekdays and by midnight on Fridays and Saturdays.
Hamilton cited a December 2005 incident involving a Paris home-schooled student who received a citation while riding her bicycle to a pharmacy to pick up medicine for her ill mother.
On the citation, the officer wrote, “home-schooled,” Hamilton said.
“The girl and her parents went to court, and the case was dismissed,” Hamilton said. “She was presumed guilty until proven innocent.”
Hamilton argued the daytime curfew is not needed because of state truancy laws, but Paris Police Chief Karl Louis said state law does not cover students who have been expelled from school.
Louis said the ordinance as written provides for exceptions, something he called “affirmative defenses.” He said citations are automatically dismissed in court when one of these defenses is used.
Among others, exceptions to the ordinance include school and church related events, emergencies, employment and activities with written parent permission.
“We have had a really good run with this thing since 1994,” Louis said. “Constitutionally, you may want to review it.”
David Jones of Powderly also asked that the daytime curfew be removed to make the ordinance more “palatable to the home school community.”
“I don’t mind police stopping my children, but I draw the line at issuing a citation,” Jones said.
Diana Manley, also of Powderly, suggested the city issue an identification card for home school students.
After the meeting, other home school families said they would oppose registration, and Manley said she had not said what she intended. She, too, opposes registration of home school students.
Following the public hearing, City Attorney Kent MIlyar asked for time to review the ordinance before he brings back information and a recommendation at a future council meeting.
Not related to the discussion about curfews, civic leader Marva Joe informed council during Citizens Forum that she believes something needs to be done about youth fighting and congregating in large groups throughout the city.
In particular, she addressed Johnson Street Park where she said recently between 200 and 300 youth gathered to watch a fight.
“This fighting has been going over for a little more than a year, and it seems to me it is getting worse,” Joe said. “We have had a meeting with ministers in our community to get a handle on it and to help the schools, both Paris and North Lamar.”
Joe expressed concern the gatherings could escalate “into something worse.”
“I am told we have two (gangs),” Joe said. “I don’t know if there are ‘wannabe’ or actual gangs here,” Joe said. “We don’t want to keep our youth out of the parks, but we don’t want them fighting there or any other part of Paris.”
In other action, the council received a perfect racial profiling report for 2006. The report included 39,000 answered calls and 3,000 arrests with no racial profiling report filed.
“We are fortunate we have an outstanding report and a testament to our citizens and our law enforcement officers that we work together,” Louis said.
In a report from Finance Director Gene Anderson, council learned that $9,007.50 has been spent to date defending the city in the Jim Bell lawsuit filed last year involving recall provisions.
The city paid a Dallas firm $19,801.18 during dismissal proceedings of former City Manager Tony Williams and $15,928.70 to date for a consultant to assist in the charter revision process.
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