City Bans Trick or Treating; Creates Online Alternative
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Columbus, NE The Columbus, Nebraska city council voted 6-1 yesterday to ban outdoor trick-or-treating on Halloween citing "health and safety" concerns. The council set aside funds to set up an online alternative to trick-or-treating where children can do Halloween puzzles and download pictures of candy.
"Kids can still dress up in costumes, they just can't go outside," said Mayor Edward Bradley. He added that local business would also take part putting treats on their websites for kids to find. "It's like a combination of Easter egg hunting and Halloween, but without the rotting teeth."
The lone dissenting vote cast by councilmember Tom Hawkins of the Third Ward said, "This is another case of the government interfering where it's not wanted. If kids want to wander around the city dressed as commercials for movies and rot their teeth and clog their arteries then they should have that right."
Children without computers or internet access could also take part in the celebration by submitting a form online and pictures of candy would be printed out and mailed to them.
Many parents applauded the move. Sally Veritek of Concerned Parents of Columbus said, "We've been lobbying hard for this change. I don't let my kids go out on Halloween, so I don't see why other kids should be allowed to either."
The move comes a year after Chelsea Sommerlin broke a tooth on a Zagnut candy bar last Halloween. While some council members cited the Sommerlin case as a reason for voting for the measure, most said it wasn't their only reason.
Halley Westerman of the Fifth Ward said, "Studies show that more kids are killed or injured trick-or-treating than sitting at home surfing the Internet. That made my decision easy."
Mayor Bradley added that steps would be taken to prevent hackers from using steganography to hide razor blades in JPGs of apples, but parents should inspect images anyway before letting their kids print them out.
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Despite this not being real, there is truth about it. schools, cities, even countries are banning the now favorite holiday as we speak, ever since Christmas and Easter was abolished in a similar fashion. See for yourself:
http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/1031/p02s01-ussc.html
http://www.manchestereveningnews.com...acing_egg_ban_.html
http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2005/10/28/student_ghosts_unmasked_in_newton/
http://www.torontodailynews.com/index.php/PeopleEvents/2006101404halloween-food-aller <--this not so much
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/4391166.stm
DAMN YOU GOVERNMENT! YOU'RE RUINING CHILDREN'S FUN!
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Many parents applauded the move. Sally Veritek of Concerned Parents of Columbus said, "We've been lobbying hard for this change. I don't let my kids go out on Halloween, so I don't see why other kids should be allowed to either."
Maybe other parents want their children too. Have you ever thought of that?
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Halley Westerman of the Fifth Ward said, "Studies show that more kids are killed or injured trick-or-treating than sitting at home surfing the Internet. That made my decision easy."
Really? I never thought of that. But then again, parental supervision can change that. Besides, 2/3 of fatal accidents happens in the home.
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Despite this not being real,
Way to not get the joke, mang. I'd have figured that if you hadn't been tipped off by the 'razor blade' part you'd have figured it out when you saw that n___N
*hangs self*
What is steganography?? 
as halloween isn't such a big deal over here as it is in america, i don't see what the fuss is about. ^^; any real meaning has been lost behind silly costumes, people's property getting wreaked and tons of candy.
nah Halloween's just an excuse to have sexy parties and get absolutely smashed. At least if you're in college.
I never understood trick or treating though.
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people's property getting wreaked
I thought that was predominantly Cabbage Night.
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BOISE, Idaho (Oct. 2
- A black cat won't cross your path this Halloween, not if a northern Idaho animal shelter can help it. Like many shelters around the country, the Kootenai Humane Society in Coeur d'Alene is prohibiting black cat adoptions from now to Nov. 2, fearing the animals could be mistreated in Halloween pranks - or worse, sacrificed in some satanic ritual.
       
Updated: 10:03 PM EDT
IM This E-mail ThisBan on Black Cat Adoptions Questioned
By REBECCA BOONE, APBOISE, Idaho (Oct. 2
               
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               The shelter's executive director, Phil Morgan, said that while the risk may be remote, the policy will remain just in case.
"It's kind of an urban legend. But in the humane industry it's pretty typical that shelters don't do adoptions of black cats or white bunnies because of the whole satanic sacrificial thing," Morgan said. "If we prevent one animal from getting hurt, then it serves its purpose."
Some animal experts, however, say the practice does more to hurt animals than protect them.
"Black cats already suffer a stigma because of their color," said Gail Buchwald, vice president of the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals shelter in New York City. "Why penalize them any more by limiting the times when they can be adopted?"
Idaho Humane Society spokeswoman Dee Fugit said that while the temporary adoption bans used to be more common, several years of working in Idaho has proven to her there's no need for such measures.
"If somebody comes in here and they're strange enough that we'd question why they're adopting a black cat on Halloween, then we're probably not going to adopt any animal to them," Fugit said from her Boise office. "It doesn't seem to be a justifiable reason for not adopting black cats. We are absolutely inundated with cats that need homes right now."
Black cats tend to be adopted less often than other felines, Buchwald said.
A study published in the Journal of Applied Animal Welfare Science in 2002 comparing coat color in shelter animals found that black or dark brown cats were much less likely to be adopted than white, gray or mixed-color cats, Buchwald said.
"Behaviorally, there's no difference from the color of the cat. It's tied into this whole mythology about the animal - don't let it cross your path or some foreboding or foreshadowing of evil - and that's an outdated superstition," she said.
It's not clear exactly how many shelters still seasonally ban black cat adoptions, said Kim Intino, the director of animal sheltering issues for The Humane Society of the United States, but it's a trend that seems to be fading - along with the once-common bans on bunny adoptions around Easter or puppy adoptions as Christmas gifts.
"If there were people out there performing rituals with animals, then I would think that Halloween would be a time for that, but a good adoption process would tend to weed that out," Intino said. "There's going to be incidents of weird abuse that happen no matter what. The remedy is not banning black cat adoptions."
As for pet-lovers dying to take home a feline in Kootenai County, the shelter is happy to adopt out animals, Morgan said. Would-be black-cat owners will simply have to wait a few days. There are plenty to choose from - out of 97 cats at the shelter, 28 are black, he said.
If nothing else, he said, the ban gives the shelter a chance to educate the public about other dangers pets may face during the Halloween season.
"It gives us a chance to remind people about safety and their pets. Always make sure that you keep Halloween candy out of the reach of pets, and if you own any cat I would make sure it stays inside. Dogs can get frightened by all the kids in costume, and the constant door opening of trick-or-treating gives animals a chance to run away," he said.
Personally, I seem to be a bit of an oddity over here in that I really like halloween. I think that trick or treating is stupid at any age, and the vandalism moreso, and all the pumpkin posters and "spooky" specials get on my nerves. But any excuse for fancy dress brings joy to my heart, people seem a little more layed back, pumpkin carving is a nice creative outlet, and its the ONLY time of year I can find face paint easily =D
black cats sacrificed in a satanic ritual? Us Cthulhu-Worshipers worship them as you puny lesser-beings should.
You guys think that's bad? My local government has put a blanket ban on the sale, possession and use of fireworks of any kind. No longer are we able to get wasted and have an innocent Roman Candle war. All we really can do now without getting arrested is get wasted and watch movies, which is what we do every weekend. Laaaame!
i wouldn't mind a better enforced ban on setting off fireworks at 2am.
fly yourself over to the UK for fireworks night, cycle! all the gunpowder you can eat!
What they should do is make it mandatory for a parrent to be with them while they trick or treat (which happens around here anyway) and if they are older than say... 14, they can go in a group. a parrent should be at least 18 years old if they take their kids out though.
Halloween was a fun day, and being from new england (the us holloween capitol) it's a big tradition too. just because older teens want to go and smash pumpkins doesnt mean that they should be in toruble for sicko's that hurt kids or speeders that dont watch where they drive. parrents should be held accountable, but eliminating the fun and letting kids go outside (god forbit...) is totally ridiculous. lets make our kids grow up being more messed up by keeping them in the house on the only night where they can go out and have fun and get candy!
people's property getting wreaked
Man, in Andrewland, that's everyday.
