We are rapidly approaching one of the best excuses to have candy around the house. In the spirit of the times, I went to Sam’s Friday night and got three large assorted bags of miniature candies for the kids who are planning on trick or treating in the Greenbriar neighborhood this year.
Not being much of a child person myself, I don’t usually open the door. I just leave buckets of candy outside the house with a note to be considerate of others in the hope that the kids who venture up to the porch will be satisfied with only taking one or two pieces. That way the dogs don’t get too upset and I can make adult plans for the evening.
This year that magic date will occur on a Friday. It will also be the weekend of a home game for the current #1 DAWGS against Arkansas and so it has the potential to be one “Helloween” of a weekend.
Perhaps that was what Alderman Little was considering when he proposed the city of Starkville enter into the dubious practice of determining what hours are deemed acceptable for “trick or treating.”
In the years I served as CAO for Starkville it would happen that generally on the day of or the day before Halloween I would get a couple of calls asking what the hours were for trick or treating. My standard response to the caller was that the city didn’t get involved in the setting of Halloween hours and it was up to the good judgment of the parents and the neighborhood homeowners. So I am fascinated by the supposed need for city intervention setting Halloween hours. It is all the more interesting because this board, as opposed to the two previous boards, is the most aligned with the conservative “tea party” advocates. They are all about keeping the government out of our business (except, of course, bedroom business). Setting guidelines for trick-or-treating seems to be out of character with that approach to personal responsibility and accountability.
Yet here we see the local government telling parents when they should take their children trick or treating in the neighborhoods. Have we now determined parents and residents haven’t the good judgment to monitor their children? I have faith that we, as neighbors, have the basic sense to turn out the porch light when we no longer have candy or the desire to ooh and aah over the costumes. But that is just me.
Apparently the board is not so convinced of the community’s good sense. The idea passed without controversy. Considering they have now set hours, what does that mean? Are the police going to monitor the residents for door bells ringing at 8:05? I was hoping that better judgment would prevail and there would be a discussion and no action. Unfortunately government intervention prevailed and we have directives on when our neighbors can give children candy on Oct. 31, 2014.
Supposedly the great hue and cry came from a public safety concern. Really?!?! We are afraid that those pesky Arkansan Razorbacks are going to be wandering around our residential neighborhoods wreaking havoc with the young Bulldog ghosts, goblins, witches and superheroes out searching for candy.
When you want something to happen for which the real reason is less than admirable then use public safety as the backdrop and with a wink and a nod, presto it happens.
My first guess is that the neighborhoods are leery of the local neighborhood outsiders trampling their rose bushes going from door to door collecting treats or delivering tricks. So we shorten the hours (5:30 to 8:00) and that ought to deter the non-neighborhood invaders from swarming our streets.
If that isn’t the reason, then my second guess is that it gives the parents the opportunity to blame the city for setting hours and they can tell their children who are clamoring to go to “just one more house” that their time is up. Another parental abdication in process; it isn’t my choice the government says we can’t.
The good news is you can’t really get in trouble if you ignore the set times because it isn’t an ordinance so it is unenforceable. It is a recommendation and is worth less than the paper it is written on, which won’t be available since the minutes won’t be approved until later in November. Halloween will be in the history books by then and it just won’t matter.
The real problem is going to be for me to stand up to the temptation of all that extra candy in the house since I know I bought enough to last me through to 9 o’clock. I guess I will just consider it my sacrifice for good government.
The Dispatch Editorial Board is made up of publisher Peter Imes, columnist Slim Smith, managing editor Zack Plair and senior newsroom staff.
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