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Community Corner

Trick or Treating on Halloween

I was certainly glad to read on the Moon website that Trick or Treating will occur on Halloween this year. Now, this must become the new standard for the Township. I moved here four years ago, so i have only heard minor stories about the chaos that happened one Halloween night that led to the current precedent. That said, I do not believe it was enough to warrant this kind of a reaction on the part of the Township. I have three main points as to why the Precedent should be changed back to Halloween night for Trick or Treating.
1. This may be my weakest point in my argument, but Halloween was established as a religious holiday in the 9th Century by the Catholic Church as the precursor to All Saint's Day. With this fact in mind, Halloween can de jure, even if not de facto, be considered a religious holiday, making its regulation by any local, state, or even the Federal Government, highly illegal, due to precedents set under the First Amendment of the Constitution.
2. By forcing the activity to occur on a school night, rather then on the accepted date, the Township has prevented many children, certain years, from participating, due to school work that would otherwise not be a concern on a Friday or Saturday night.
3. While the government of Moon Township was dully elected by the citizens of the township, fairly and democratically, I see nothing in their charter which gives them the right to regulate the distribution of sugary treats, handed out by private individuals mind you, and call it protecting the common good. Nor do I see how it justifies the mobilizing of the entire police and fire departments, with all the costs associated with them, simply to prevent a few hooligans from staying out past ten. 

With all this in mind, should the voters of Moon Township approve a measure to put Halloween on a week night every year, I would not have an argument against it and my above contentions would no longer have merit. That being said, the present arrangement allows the township government to do as it pleases, since no educated voting block would ever vote out a politician or council over something as childish as Halloween. That being said, the township's number 1 lobbyist is the school board, another government which has all to clearly shown its true colors over the past few years, with brinkmanship and unregulated spending with no concern for the opinion of the voters or the needs of the students being taken into account.

With the facts laid before you, we can only hope that the township will do the right and honorable thing. Regardless of what course the township does take though, from now on their will always be Trick or Treaters welcome at my house on Halloween night, and that's for the record.

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