I saw six cars overturned in three heats! Firemen raced out to extinguish gasoline fires three times! How no one was killed is a mystery. Hundreds of U.S. citizens reveled in the freedom that is our annual demolition derby.
We are surely a state that knows what freedom means and values it. In the state of Utah now, as in the past, freedom means being able to call our own shots, even if they might seem reckless to some, foolhardy to others, or even downright stupid to a few.
Let me say right here that if anyone in our state Legislature was to propose a bill that infringed on our freedoms to watch or participate in our annual demolition derbies (which truly are dangerous), he or she would find that the phone would not stop ringing with complaints.
We of Utah love our freedom.
So how is it that we now cannot legally keep our children out of school for the day to go fishing? How is it that we cannot say, "You know, boy, you've been hitting those books pretty hard lately! I say we go play hooky and nab some brookies!"
Well, citizens, we have fallen asleep at the switch and the train has left the station of liberty because I can assure you that Utah now sleeps under a law that says the following:
The state will define for you what is an acceptable reason to miss a day of school.
The school district can have you cited with a violation of a Class B misdemeanor for your fifth "invalid" excuse.
The principal of your local elementary school has the legal right to request formal documentation from you that proves your child actually did visit the doctor!
The new Compulsory Attendance Law comes out of House Bill 207. Introduced in the Utah Senate Jan. 24, 2007, it was signed by Gov. Jon Huntsman on March 8. Forty-three days. Maybe our Legislature is just really efficient. All I know is that no one ever asked me if I wanted my local principal to have more say over my kids' lives than I get.
I am aware that House Bill 207 is well intentioned. I know we have some parents out there that are hardly acting like parents at all. The fact that we have a few people in our state who don't know how to be parents does not give the government the right to steal my liberty while it tries to clean up a mess that I did not create.
Parents, we let them slip by a piece of legislation on us that puts our local school principals in a higher position of authority over our children than we are. Principals can have you assigned with a "mentor" who has the right to "establish the paternity of a minor child."
Read the legislation. Got DNA? This "mentor" has the right to "assess" your "family circumstances," your "education," "work history" and "skills."
This law goes way too far. Look it up. We have to call our state legislators and demand that they overturn this legislation.
If derby drivers have the right to risk their lives at the demolition derby, trust me, I have the right to take my boy fishing with me any darn day I please.
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* CHRIS RISELEY is a parent, editorial cartoonist and a writing instructor at Snow College in Ephraim.
