Ever since early February, The Dallas City Council has considered extending the Juvenile Curfew Ordinance -- which keeps 17-and-unders off the streets from 11 p.m. to 6 a.m. Sunday through Thursday and 12:01 a.m. till 6 a.m. Friday and Saturday -- to include the hours when, ya know, the 17-and-unders oughta be in school. The council was scheduled to vote on the extension yesterday, following a couple of public hearings on the subject, but voted unanimously to delay doing anything till May 13. On her Web site last night, Angela Hunt posted her reasons why she's against extending the curfew. An excerpt:
I cannot support a curfew that criminalizes children being in public places. I also cannot support an ordinance that will further burden our police when they are struggling to respond to serious 911 calls. Furthermore, because Dallas has dozens and dozens of private and public schools, all with their own calendars and holidays, imposing a juvenile daytime curfew will prove an administrative nightmare for police.
The daytime curfew is unnecessary. If the purpose is to get truants off the street, the police already have the authority to stop truants and taken them back to their schools.
