BY DAVE PARRO
First, the arrest of an ice cream truck driver for allegedly exposing himself to a 3-year-old boy was cited as a reason to require fingerprints and background checks for the vendors. Now Sugar Grove might just say it's all too much trouble and ban them altogether.
The village does have the option of creating a permit system, which seems like a better idea; banning the trucks entirely is an overreaction to an isolated incident.
Under state law, Sugar Grove can ban vendors. But are the dangers so great that the village needs to take such a drastic step?
Perhaps there are traffic and noise concerns as well, but this indecent exposure incident is having far too much of an impact on our elected officials.
Some Sugar Grove trustees and the village president favor regulation, while others favor the ban because they don't think a permit system would work and children could still be at risk because of predators. While we should certainly know who's selling ice cream to our children, this is a knee-jerk reaction that will hurt law-abiding vendors and take away a piece of Americana.
Banning ice cream trucks is the easy solution. The more difficult and right thing to do is come up with a fair system that the village and police can enforce. One unfortunate incident shouldn't take away one of the joys of summer for all the kids in Sugar Grove.
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