The City Council on Monday gave preliminary- John C.L. Morgan
approval to a measure that would extend the city's 9 p.m. curfew for underage
residents by 90 minutes. Police said the curfew helps them thwart vandals and
thieves and should not be changed. Councilors called the 9 p.m. curfew "too
restrictive," saying it punishes good children for the behavior of their
delinquent peers. "I just think that's too restrictive," City Councilor Lyle
Cramer said of the 9 p.m. curfew. "We're punishing the majority of nice kids
simply because we can't get a handle on the minority."
Tuesday, June 2, 2009
City Council Looks to Extend Underage Curfew to 10:30p
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5 comments:
Did you miss the part of property taxes going up 3%?
James - I didn't miss it. But surely we knew it had to happen sometime soon.
About the curfew, why not just leave it alone? There are already exceptions made for kids who are on the way home from school functions/work/etc. I don't think the good kids are hanging out in groups that late at night, anyway, or they shouldn't be - mine will not be, since they can bring their friends here and have fun safely.
If they're going to change the curfew, the police should have carte blanche to stop kids and talk to them, then make a judgment call. If the kids have nothing to hide, they'd have no reason to worry about it. And if they were thinking about getting into mischief they'd know they were still being watched. But then, probably someone(or his/her parents) would scream "profiling!" *sigh*
Out past 9:00 pm walking the street in the summertime, unsupervised is a bad formula. The truth is the 16 to 18 year old "good kids" have jobs, sports and safe houses with parental support. This law was for the kids who are 12 and hanging out with 16 year olds at night, well you just gave them a 1.5 hours in the dark to cause trouble.
I sit on the board of Mission Possible and the work that organization is trying to do is put into jeopardy by this change. When we close our doors at 7:00 pm it gives the police 2 hours to watch the streets; now it is 3.5 hours. City Councilor Brendan Rielly recently said, he wouldn't trust the Pope to run a certain bar in this town but he expects a bunch of teens to police themselves in the dark? Our teens are more mobile then most realize with cars, bike and skateboards mixed that with texting and cell phones it can add up to a lot of problems.
There is more going on at the old railroad bridge the most residents even realize right now. It is not just about vandalisms. It is about drug use, fights and other poor decisions young mind’s make. These mistakes are easier in the dark. Our police force, some of the best, spends it time in cars not out walking or on bikes which makes it harder for them to prevent, chase or stop pedestrians.
Growing up in Sanford and remembering my teen days there is nothing but trouble to get into between 9 and midnight.
Property taxes don't have to increase, its choice by the council to not find other solutions.
James T good point, grown adults can’t drink in a licensed bar until 11 or 12 but teens can run around doing whatever they want vandalizing, drinking and drugs until 10:30? This doesn’t make sense, you ask most people in our neighborhood and they say the teenagers are the problem. I know some people who won’t even walk across that bridge after dark due to the teenagers that hang out there. I’ve heard of a few people getting jumped right in the Frenchtown area by teens when the Skybox was closed last summer. I have a 16 YO and she doesn’t run the streets ever, because I know from my own experience what goes on. If the law is used fairly and not abused I’m all for a 9pm curfew.
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