Wednesday, May 22, 2002
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Wednesday, May 22, 2002 |
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No candy ban for PTC July 4th Parade; walking spotters to be required for floats
By JOHN
MUNFORD
Freedom will ring and the candy will fly this year at Peachtree City's annual July 4th Parade. The City Council has declined a suggestion to ban the throwing of candy from floats as a safety precaution. Instead, council suggested to city staff that large floats be required to use walking escorts to make sure kids who run in the parade route for candy and other freebies don't get hurt. A host of options were considered at a workshop before last Thursday's council meeting. But the easiest solution better parental supervision of children during the parade can't be legislated, council decided. The idea to possibly ban candy throwing from floats came from city staff who noted several "close calls" in last year's parade where youngsters chasing onto the parade route for candy were almost run over by floats. The possibility didn't ring true with eighth-grade students at Booth Middle School, who debated the issue as part of their recent mock council meeting with Councilwoman Annie McMenamin. The students said they wouldn't attend the parade if candy wasn't thrown, McMenamin said. Local resident Kim Morrison had suggested the city support a movement for parade participants to donate the money they would have spent on candy to a charity instead, in light of the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11
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