Now that we have learned that last Saturday night's teen "riots" were manufactured by Mayor Robbie Perkins, Downtown Greensboro Inc. and a local media all too willing to do their bidding I'd like to point out the downtown teen events sponsored by DGI and the City of Greensboro and open to residents from all of Guilford County, are advertised as ending at 11:00 PM. Any curfew that begins before Midnight or 1:00 AM would be absurd considering that many of these teens are walking home.
And might I remind city "leaders" that North Carolina law does not require anyone to carry an identification card of any kind so a curfew becomes impossible to enforce on legal grounds. Let one pissed off parent hire a lawyer and the City is back in court. Three pissed off parents hire the same lawyer and we're talking class action. Fix the problem, not the symptoms you bunch of freaking morons.
Adults aren't thrown out and forced to leave the minute an event ends, are our children not afforded the same? And yet I'm being told that's where the problems began on Saturday night until finally, someone got tired of being pushed and found someone he could push. You see, angry teens don't always retaliate against the source of their anger, often they simply take it out on another, perhaps easier target.
When the City of Greensboro and DGI are prepared to provide free transportation to and from their own events then curfews will be in order. Until then you have created a monster you are forced to feed. You see, the issue is nothing new but like all things Greensboro, nothing gets done until it's in your face.
