The councilman zipped through explanations of the anthem bill and a dozen others at a council lunch yesterday, with few colleagues objecting to the ideas. Councilman Robert W. Curran, the former chair of the Judiciary Committee, sounded upbeat afterward, saying, "I applaud his effort."
Another Kraft bill introduced yesterday would lift a ban on the sale of condoms to people younger than 16, which is punishable by a fine of between $10 and $100.
The ban was passed in 1946, along with another measure prohibiting children from entering a "place of amusement during school hours," according to story in the Baltimore Afro-American. An Afro editorial warned that the pair of rules would be unenforceable, opining that: "An unforced law is sometimes worse than no law."
The contraception sale ban was effectively knocked down by a 1977 Supreme Court decision that found a similar New York law unconstitutional.
Despite the local rule, Baltimore's school-based health clinics make contraceptives available at no cost with parental consent, said city Health Commissioner Dr. Joshua M. Sharfstein. The practice is considered an "accepted part of adolescent health care" nationwide, he said.
Kraft quipped yesterday that sexually active 14- and 15-year-olds need contraception more then anyone.
Another bill would remove an 1885 ordinance that requires police officers to force Department of Public Works employees to clear snow after a storm. Kraft also seeks to repeal a measure that prevents people from selling portions of their train tickets. "Nobody does that," he said.
Kraft chuckled when discussing his quest to remove 1858 language specifying that "any barrel, hogshead, box, [or] crate" must be cleared from the street. A hogshead, defined as a "large cask or barrel" by Webster's Third New International Dictionary, has fallen out of common use.
In 1888, the City Council determined that citizens needed to get permission from the mayor if they wanted to have a "parade of drum corps, bands, or other bodies blowing horns and beating drums through the streets between the hours of 6 p.m. and 6 a.m." That was updated in 1891 to include "political organizations." Violating the rule can be penalized by a $25 fine.
Kraft wants to shift parade permit responsibility to the Department of General Services, with violators facing a $500 fine.
