Welcome
Welcome to StopRecruitingKids.org, the online home of the Arcata and Eureka Youth Protection Acts.
Our goal is to protect young people by prohibiting military recruitment activities targeting those under the age of 18 everywhere within the Arcata and Eureka city limits.
Short text of the ordinance:
The People of Arcata Ordain as Follows:
No person who is employed by or an agent of the United States government shall, within the City of Arcata in the execution of his or her job duties, recruit, initiate contact with for the purpose of recruiting, or promote the future enlistment of any person under the age of eighteen into any branch of the United States Armed Forces.
The Arcata Youth Protection Act and the Eureka Youth Protection Act have both qualified for the November 2008 ballot.
In Arcata, look for "Measure F." In Eureka, a measure letter will be assigned soon.
Thank you to all the volunteers in both cities who collected signatures and to the more that 4000 people who signed petitions to place the measures on the ballot.
Below is the Argument in Favor of Measure F that will appear on the Arcata Ballot:
Arcata Youth Protection Act
Argument in favor of Measure
Argument in favor of Measure
This measure will enact an ordinance to prohibit military recruiters from initiating contact with any person under eighteen for the purpose of recruiting.
The law in no way prevents anyone from choosing to talk with a recruiter if he or she wants to do so.
Military recruiters target teens through ad campaigns, mailings, telephone calls, e-mail, and direct personal contact. Wartime troop levels increase the pressure on military recruiters to fill the ranks of the armed forces. Recruiters are rewarded for meeting enlistment quotas and risk reassignment if quotas are not met. They glorify military service, exaggerate the educational and career benefits, and minimize the dangers of serving in the military.
The U.S. military aggressively recruits on high school campuses and throughout the City of Arcata, targeting kids at as early an age as possible. According to a 2006 Department of Defense Youth Poll, younger kids are more likely to have a positive view of the military than their older peers. The Army's School Recruiting Program Handbook instructs recruiters to initiate contact with younger students, advising: "If you wait until they're seniors, it's probably too late."
As a society, we believe that people under eighteen lack the life experience to make informed choices. They cannot vote or sign contracts. Although no one under eighteen can enlist in the military without parental consent, recruiters routinely urge sixteen- and seventeen-year-olds to commit themselves to future enlistment after their eighteenth birthdays.
If we believe that kids under the age of eighteen lack the experience and maturity necessary for voting, then they should not be subjected to the highly sophisticated and well-funded efforts of military recruiters to enlist them in the armed forces.
Vote yes. Stop recruiters from targeting kids.
Signed:
Cathi Bettinger, Kathy Marshall, David Meserve, James Sorter, Sara Sunstein