Again, I disagree with Roy. Now on the Mobile, Ala. daytime curfew issue. I agree more with Mrs. Holbrook, a Mobile resident and home-schooler herself, who spoke out against the issue of a daytime curfew in 2011. She stated: Daytime curfews do not curb teen crime and truancy. She said the real problems are kids who have been suspended, expelled from school or have dropped out.
When you have children getting suspended for wearing the wrong colored shirt on a certain day or the wrong style of shoes, or the length of their skirt from hem to knee doesn't measure up to school requirement rules on dress policy, then you're going to have more kids out of school than in. Overtime, with such strict rules, inconsistent and confusing punishment and constant discipline, you're simply going to have children who just frankly don't want to be in school in the first place.
Involving police in every aspect of our lives only leads to more abuse that will be inflicted, and now upon our young. A tragic and disturbing example of such abuse is that of the young teenage girl in Jackson County Missouri, caught after curfew in 2011 by a cop who forced her to perform oral sex on him in exchange for being taken to juvenile detention. Wherever there is unquestioned power and authority, there will always be abuse, especially of the sexual kind.
America's children are becoming so violent and anti-social because so much violence and anti-social behaviors have taken place against them at the hands of adults. Throw in adults with authority, and you create the perfect storm for guaranteeing America will produce more and more violent youth without a conscious.
Brenda Manghane-Washington
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Ms. Washington, both my wife and I were born and raised in Chattanooga and we currently live in Gulf Shores, Ala., across the Bay from Mobile on the Gulf. The mayor of Mobile, Sam Jones, who happens to be black, and a City Council, made up of a black majority, were the very ones who wanted and voted in the curfew program. They realized there was a serious problem and took action to correct the problem instead of using your old failed excuses.
In fact last night during the mayoral debate Mayor Jones pointed out the success of the curfew program and the reduction in crime in the city. Also truancy has been significantly reduced and graduation rates have risen. But Mobile took action for their youth and ignored the can't do attitude of some.
Ms. Washington it seems you feel you are the self-appointed expert on anything involving race relations and are armed with a whole load of excuses for bad and criminal behavior.
Oh, by the way, hemlines, wrong shoes, and wrong colors of clothing were not the reason for the children roaming the streets due to being expelled. Bottom line...this program works.
Chattanooga could embrace this program for the safety and success of the city's youth. But I won't hold my breath.
Michael McClure
Gulf Shores, Ala.
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Mr. Mcclure, you have stated that it seems Mrs. Washington feels that she is a "self appointed expert on anything involving race relations and is armed with a whole load of excuses for bad and criminal behavior." So, are you saying that bad and criminal behavior by truant teenagers is a black issue? I ask this because nowhere in Mrs Washington's comment did she say anything about race.
Dana Carroll
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Brenda, the curfew and what that officer did to that girl are about as far from a cause-and-effect relationship as any example you could have cited. Do you really think if the curfew didn't exist, that the cop wouldn't have done that? Curfews don't make cops commit crimes. This is just another example of you making things up about a policy you disagree with.
Forgive me for not seeing you as the expert on America's children and the sources of their problems.
Sam Horn
Chattanooga