HomeMy WebLinkAbout08-05-08 (excerpt) Transcription of excerpt from 8-5-08 Council minutes as requested by Melinda Williams, Southwest Times.
Background: Councilman Welker brought up the Ordinance regarding curfews in the Town, suggesting that Council review the Ordinance and possibly repeal it.
The portion of the tape that I have been asked to transcribe begins with a question by Mayor Worrell and answered by Chief Roche.
Mayor Worrell: The Chief is here.. As far as enforcement, are they, are you picking people up for this?
Chief Roche: No. It’s a
John Hawley: Loitering is the key word, I think.
Chief Roche: It’s an Ordinance like any other Ordinance and they have discretion in enforcing it… whether they do it officially or unofficially. And the problem with juveniles running
around at night after those hours… they may get into trouble and they may commit something more serious. So the idea is to keep them from getting there. And.. it was 16 before and
it’s under 18 now… that’s just one year. And we’ve had a lot of… we’ve run into walkers all hours of the night in Town. And we get these 2, 3, 4 and the more there are, the more likely
they are that something is going to happen. And it’s a tool amongst other tools that is used to try to keep these kids from making.. doing those other crimes.
Councilman Welker: Well, why isn’t it three o’clock in the morning instead of ten o’clock at night? Especially during the summer, it just seems very unreasonable. And, you know, I’m
here to give the youth perspective on things and that’s my perspective. I think we should repeal it and I think we should put it as an agenda item and do that. At least go back to
the 16.
Mayor Worrell: What about … if I may make a suggestion? Of course, we’ll do whatever Council decides… We could review the Ordinance… we could all get a copy of it.. I’m sure we all should
have it, but… take another look at it and maybe we could put it on the agenda for the Work Session?
Mr. Hawley: I think one thing that came about is working with one of the judges too. I think he made a request … I think actually the initial request probably came from me and the Chief
and we had worked on that for several months and came forward with that. But, you know, we could get copies and we could put it on the agenda for the 19th if you all would like to do
that as a review.
Councilman Welker: I think we should. And like I said, if you think they’re being treated as a problem and not people… they’re not going to forget it when they turn 18. That’s all
I have. Thank you.