Halloween is October 31. It is has been celebrated on that day for years and years. This years, Americans will be celebrating on a Saturday night and no one seems to mind. Well, except one parish in Louisiana that is arguing it would be a good idea to move the celebrations to Friday. Apparently the sheriff’s office was flooded with calls from concerned citizens asking if Halloween had been moved. St. Charles Parish Sheriff Greg Champagne was fed up.
Despite a few other parishes moving the holiday, Champagne wasn’t having it. He went to Facebook to response to all of the pesky questions:
“The St. Charles Parish Sheriff’s Office as well as other governmental offices have been inundated with calls wanting to know whether Halloween or “Trick or Treating” for the kids will be moved from Saturday to Friday. I have seen where some other parishes/municipalities have declared “trick or treating” to be moved due to possible pending weather.
First, I would like to clarify that Halloween is not a legal holiday nor a government sanctioned event. It is a “custom” observed by most (but not all people). There are no state laws nor local ordinances regulating Halloween customs including “trick or treating” in St. Charles Parish. The only exception to this is a statute prohibiting certain convicted sex offenders from participating.
My office does employ certain actions in anticipation of the Halloween “customs” such as deploying additional personnel on the streets.
Without getting overly technical, I do not feel that government has the legal authority to officially “move” what is only a customary event. At most, government officials such as myself can only “recommend” or “suggest” that the Halloween custom of kids’ “trick or treating” be moved.
We have consulted with the parish president’s office, and decided to wait until tomorrow (watching the weather forecasts carefully) before we decide to issue a “recommendation” urging residents to engage in “trick or treating” or other Halloween traditions on Friday evening October 30th, 2015. No matter what we decide to suggest, citizens are free as always to participate or not with the Halloween traditions.”
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=1070920442927501&set=a.102580276428194.5786.100000286663702&type=3
Now Champagne understands people’s safety concerns and promises to have officers carefully patrolling the area. While St. Charles Parish is allowing citizens to choose, other cities and parishes in the area are participating. Ponchatoula, St. John the Baptist Parish and Lafourche Parish have moved trick-or-treating hours to today.
OH, BUT WAIT! Apparently, Champagne woke up with a change of heart. The parish has decided to celebrate on Friday. His reasoning? “While the weather is nice.” It is predicted to rain on Saturday.
Do you think the government has the say in non-official holidays?
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