Curtain call for the spirit of the Glorious Fourth

BY STEVE JANOSKI
Wednesday, July 13

It was a bit ironic that I read the story on the Fourth of July, as the crackle and boom of fireworks thundered through the night and citizens of the republic celebrated not only the birth of America, but of democracy itself.

Entitled "Saddle Brook joins other North Jersey towns by approving a teen curfew," it was written by Suburban Trends sister paper The Record, and chronicled the difficulty that township seems to be having with its youth gone wild.

The story said that residents packed a recent Township Council meeting, spreading abhorrent stories about teens drinking after dark, vandalizing property and — if you can believe this, being disrespectful while riding mopeds (have they no shame?)

The council responded to these shocking allegations of human indecency by quickly forgetting what country it lives in, and voted 3-1 to institute a teen curfew limit of 10 p.m. for all youths under age 17, set to go into effect on July 25.

Council members pointed out that neighboring towns like Lodi and Garfield have them, and because Saddle Brook doesn’t, it becomes a "hang out zone."

As a consequence, according to the story, unaccompanied teens found breaking the curfew will be "subject to a fine of $100 to $500, and two to eight hours of community service per offense."

While I am sure that these roving gangs of disrespectful moped riders are truly wreaking havoc on the lovely Saddle Brook neighborhoods, is that reason enough to paint all teenagers with one broad brush?

Forget the girl who works at a restaurant and doesn’t finish up until after 10 p.m. — no more walking home for her.

Forget the kid whose old man is a violent drunk, and his only respite was going for a walk in an attempt to hide from his own bleak reality; no, the two-stroke highwaymen have ruined that.

And, on a grander scale, how dare a governing body in the United States of America even consider banning any of its citizens from the streets?

While curfews are not a new thing, typically they are instituted in either times of extraordinary civil unrest, or to blatantly discriminate against a specific group, such as Japanese-Americans students during World War II or Jim Crow-era blacks in the South.

The resurgence of these laws directed against teenagers is punishing all the kids for the sins of a few, and the idea that any parent, or any American for that matter, is OK with the idea of a policemen stopping a person, even a minor, and telling them that the law says you can’t be out right now, is appalling.

If there is a crime issue, and residents are really frightened of the youth who hang out in the township’s darkened corners, then it must be addressed in the way that all problems should be addressed: through education, more parental involvement, and more sports.

These are things that will turn the teenagers away from the shadows, not some stopgap law that casts a much too wide a net in order to catch a couple sharks.

This law must be fought without hesitation and with ceaseless, brutal intensity, and the citizens of Saddle Brook should remind their council that telling any American citizen, regardless of age or color or creed, that they have a curfew, is taking a sledgehammer to the freedoms that were built with bricks molded from the ideas of the greatest minds of history and sealed with the blood of every American patriot.

Even more frightening is the idea that those raised with a government installed curfew will come to believe that such a thing is neither evil nor immoral — and they are the ones who will make the laws in the future.

I urge you people of Saddle Brook to take to the next council meeting, and tell these politicians that they have no right to legislate a curfew for any American except in a time of extraordinary civil strife, and that this blatant attempt to snuff out the freedoms of the youngest of this country’s citizens will not be tolerated.

E-mail: janoski@northjersey.com



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