"Curfew question": Was the Greensboro News & Record's Editorial Board for the curfew before being against it?

Obviously, the first thing you do to address a growing problem of adults behaving badly in downtown Greensboro is ... to restrict their kids?

That seems to be the message from the City Council, which last week voted to impose a new curfew in the center city for teens younger than 18, effective on Jan. 1. ...the curfew, in particular, seems an odd place to begin.

The new measures have drawn support from Downtown Greensboro Inc...

Some ideas are solid, including an 11 p.m. downtown curfew for anyone under 18.

Greensboro News & Record Editorial Board, Friday, November 12, 2010

The Winston-Salem man ...was 22 years old. The man who waved a gun ...was 23. The man who seriously wounded another man ...was 37. The man fatally shot ...was 31.

...local teens have not been shooting up the center city, they are not old enough to drink or to enter many of the establishments that do business there between 11 p.m. and 6 a.m., the hours the curfew will cover.

...teens rank low on the list of threats to downtown safety in Greensboro, police say.

How good is any adult in distinguishing a 16-year-old from an 18-year-old?

Should the Editorial Board have asked about enforcement
before endorsing and promoting the curfew nine days ago,
before Greensboro's City Council voted for the curfew?

Then there are the numerous loopholes in the ordinance, whose exceptions include a minor:

...Who is exercising his or her First Amendment rights, such as freedom of religion, speech or right of assembly

(how in the world is a cop on the beat supposed to interpret that one?).

Should the Editorial Board have asked about enforcement
before endorsing the curfew nine days ago,
before Greensboro's City Council voted for the curfew?

Parents and guardians who allow their children to break the curfew would be charged with a misdemeanor and face fines up to $200, as would any business owner who admits minors during curfew hours.

Businesses are going to get fined
if a customer of unknown age buys some chicken wings
who then gets cought above ground?

...the curfew seems to have been concocted out of a desire to do something, anything, fast, regardless of whether it actually will solve any problems. When asked his opinion, police Chief Ken Miller said ...“I’m not comfortable with the process we went through to get there,” he said, adding that the process to impose it seemed to lack “thoughtful analysis.”

Some ideas are solid,
including an 11 p.m. downtown curfew
for anyone under 18.
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Greensboro News & Record Editorial Board
Friday, November 12, 2010

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More critical to downtown safety, obviously, is not teens but the 14 nightclubs in the center city and their patrons.

If it's not really about all 14 night clubs,
but the nightclubs catering to populations that create a poor "perception,"
why can't the Editorial Board say it?

More substantive measures have been proposed to directly govern how they conduct business and how they protect their customers. They include requiring an entertainment permit for clubs and city-mandated rules for the hiring, training and conduct of club security personnel.

And, ultimately, rethinking where clubs should be located.

Should government determine where some entrepreneurs should run businesses,
after coaxing them to locate downtown in the first place?

Only when these ideas are considered urgently and carefully will the rubber truly hit the road in the quest for safer downtown streets.

"urgently and carefully"?

Greensboro News & Record Editorial Board, Sunday, November 21, 2010

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If the Editorial Board backtracks after supporting the curfew,
should they acknoledge the flip?

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Could many believe some relatively affluent “stakeholders”

are trying to get government to discourage young minorities

away from Downtown Greensboro?

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Should the Editorial Board disclose the News & Record's proximity to downtown

as well as their status as a "downtown stakeholder?

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"...To ensure that our credibility is not damaged,

staff members have a special responsibility to avoid conflicts of interest

or any activity that would compromise their journalistic integrity."

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CODE OF ETHICS AND PROFESSIONALISMLANDMARK NEWSPAPERS

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Our news reports should never be influenced

by the private interests of the owners

or of any other group.

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Frank BattenFormer Chairman of Landmark Communications