http://www.thetowntalk.com/html/499F32E2-51FD-4A8E-8D9B-6A669307AA5A.shtmlLouisiana teens getting driver's license also register for selective service
There may be no "plans" for a national military draft, but that hasn't kept Louisiana from registering teenagers too young to serve in case conditions change.
During the recently concluded presidential campaigns, the major candidates repeatedly said they had no plans to resume compulsory military service.
Their promises were not reassuring, however, to Larry Chevalier of Glenmora who was alarmed when his 16-year-old son Nathan had to register with the Selective Service System in order to get a driver's license.
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And neither he nor his son knew before going to the Office of Motor Vehicles that Natan would be required to pre-register for the draft in order to get his first driver's license, he said.
After questioning the early registration, Chevalier researched the issue and learned the Legislature passed Act 373 in the 2003 session dictating that all males aged 15 up to 18 seeking a first-time driver's license or an OMV identification card must register with Selective Service.
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Rudy Sanchez, general counsel for the federal Selective Service System, said, "I don't know the rationale for that. Louisiana shouldn't be registering 15-year-olds. We don't even register 16-year-olds."
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He said there is no mechanism for collecting data on males younger than 17 years and three months.
That claim was disputed by Everett Bonner, state director of Selective Service.
"They do accept it. I can promise you. They do not process it until the young man turns 18," Bonner said, adding information collected by OMV is forwarded to a federal data management center in Chicago.
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