Deviant

Ok this is something going on the next town over from me. While this doesn't affect me, as I'm 32 years old, I have some older friends with teenagers and I have some problems with the way this is being handled.

First to explain. The city has created a curfew from 8pm to 5am year round for kids under the age of 18 in a large part of the city. This is due to a public event called "Rocking on the River" which is live bands and is free to participate in. The event is outdoors, and is highly geared towards drinking and food. The "exclusion zone" is a large area, which includes homes not just the event area. If a kid under 18 is found without parent supervision, he/she will be taken to the police station, detained and the parent will pay a $50.00 fine. The youth may not drive through this exclusion area, they must drive around it (even on days this public event is not going on), and this was recently confirmed from a parent whose children were pulled over due to driving home from the mall.

Now the reasoning behind this curfew is a little sketchy. The police are saying it's due to out of city kids from Akron, the neighboring city of Cuyahoga Falls, creating "havoc", drug deals, violence. However the Mayor (I will not capitalize his name) "don robart" has said something completely off base when a meeting was going on regarding whether or not to create this curfew. Here is the mayors quote, pay very close attention to the first 5 or 6 words.


Personally, people who look different don't scare me, as I'm not a fucking bigot.

This is a video of the quote and police talking about it in their terms.(it is dated, the curfew has been permanently enacted since this was posted) This should make it more clear...

http://cuyahogafalls.patch.com/artic...#video-5522371

Now, here's my view on it. This is a huge event every Friday from 5-11pm in the summer. We're talking around 30,000 people on a good day. Every Friday I see drunken adults slugging it out, beer being spilled on people, people puking and pissing in corners, and people on the roads so fucking drunk they are all over the double yellow lines. So bad in fact, I quit riding my motorcycle down there due to a couple close calls. Apparently though, to the Mayor this is about "people who look different may be trouble", and to the police it is about out-of-town inner-city gangs causing trouble.

So, why not ban the drinking if its causing problems as well? Why are "goths" being brought into this when the real problem (they say anyways) is out of town inner-city gangs? If it's really people from Akron causing trouble, why not limit the event to only residents of Cuyahoga Falls? This whole thing reeks in my opinion, and I just wanted to hear some others opinions on this.

fattrav

100 a 150 a year here in aussie, driving in the mines Snowolf...

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HoboMaster

Obviously it's a pile of bullshit because they're using the police force to bully innocent kids - when that police force should be used at the actual location of the event to keep things from getting out of hand. Fact of the matter is, whitebread-bible-belters love to blame everything on anyone who's different. It allows them to legitimize their bad behavior and spread hate and discrimination. It's no different from how they persecute people they (personally) hate in the name of "God".

Simpletons hate anything new or different because it causes them to have to reevaluate their world-view. If you refuse to think for yourself, doing that is hard, and therefor it is much easier to just hide in your little square box and deny anything that makes you question yourself.

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Deviant

Yeah I agree with you on almost everything there. The only thing is that we are north of the Ohio Bible Belt so I don't have to hear that everyday. The roads suck, people drive like idiots, the police are corrupt, but the Cuyahoga Valley National Park here is amazing and worth a stop if you ever come through.

What pisses me off the most is that the Mayor can say that about people in "gothic garb" as he says, however if this comment was made about African-Americans, Mexicans, or any other people, ACLU would be up that mayors ass in a heartbeat. I personally grew up in Cuyahoga Falls (or as it's commonly known, Caucasian Falls) but was lucky enough to have a good upbringing and not the 50's and 60's bullshit mentality.

You mentioned football practice. It's sadly funny but the area that is included in the "exclusion zone" also includes the area very close to the football stadium for the high school, and a public aquatic center that has teen dances that last until after 10pm. Like I said, it fucking reeks and I'm glad I don't have to pay city taxes to their fucked up leaders. I didn't mention but the kids under 18 are allowed in the area with adult supervision at all times, if they need to go get food adults must be with them, if they walk down to the bathrooms, adults must follow them and wait....Which is even more stupid considering the kids parents are probably drinking at the event and driving the kids home.

Flick Montana

Those weird-ass goth kids were some of the nicest people I knew in High School. It was the dicks with polo shirts and popped collars you had to watch out for.

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CheeseForSteeze

While I personally find this policy abhorrable, its certainly a private communities right and perogative to set a curfew. I see it no different from a parent choosing to raise his child under given dogma (atheist, agnostic, monotheism, pantheism, whatever) only it's for a city.

I sure know I'd voice my opinion and move the hell out of such a shithole. No offense. If the common view of my fellow townsfolk is one of bigotry (particularly the elected mayor), it's not a town I belong in. Let the bigots be bigots as is their right but I shan't be counted among them.

Donutz

couple of things:
1- I agree that it's a crappy idea.
2- I like "abhorrable". Is that a combi of abhorrent and deplorable?
3- Can't agree on the simile. Public officials and government bodies have far more restrictions on them than individuals. Try passing an ordinance requiring people to say grace before eating in a public place, then stand back! Don't know how things run in the US on this subject, but in Canada this kind of law would be challenged on a Human Rights basis -- and successfully, I'm pretty sure.

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CheeseForSteeze

It's analgous in the fact that local ordinance is not bound by The Constitutional restrains associated with Federal Government, unless the restrains specifically address The States as well. It is the right of a community to legislate morality in the sense that The Constitution (through the Ninth and Tenth amendments, and through the concept that it is a docuemnt of positive rights applicable to The Federal Government) affords The States rights such that they are limited by The Constitution rather than empowered.

In this vein, public officials and governemnt bodies (of The States) have the same rights as the individual. The Constitution specifically says they do.

CheeseForSteeze

I can't take credit for "abhorrable". It's from another messageboard. It's like terribad, only terribad is abhorrable and abhorrable is awesome.

Deviant

This is true where I went to school as well, which was in this city of discussion. I know for a fact this mayor walks the boardwalk with his hillbilly wife and that's where most of the goths hang out.

Thankfully, I did move out of said shithole about 12 years ago. Unfortunately however, there are bigots everywhere. I think (hope) as more of the young become adults and the bigoted mindset literally dies off we'll see less of the bigotry in this country.

I just don't get it I guess, the mayor making a comment of "what we are trying to rid ourselves of..." and people not being outraged. Shame on these people, but half the country is this anyways