PRECEDENT FOUND FOR JACKSON CURFEW

JACKSON -- City officials have found a historical precedent for establishing a citywide curfew.

But Mayor Paul Sander says residents won't be too thrilled if aldermen decide to follow that model.

A 1908 curfew ordinance required residents 18 and younger to be off the streets by 9 p.m., unless they were working or at a school event.

"I don't think the people will be too pleased with that precedent," Sander said. "I know I would never approve something that strict."

Aldermen have been considering whether or not to establish a curfew for juveniles in the city.

A proposal from the Jackson Noon Optimist Club calls for establish a curfew from midnight to 6 a.m.

Police Chief Marvin Sides hasn't objected to the proposal, Sander said.

Any curfew that might be established would be more lenient than the 1908 ordinance, Sander said.

Under the old ordinance, he said, a siren would sound in 15 second blasts at 9 p.m. "to tell everybody that it was time to go where they needed to go."

Anyone in violation of the curfew could be fined from $1 to $5.

"The council and the mayor in 1956 repealed this curfew," Sander said. "I don't think it had been observed for quite a number of years."

The Optimist Club proposal includes some penalties for parents whose children are in violation of the curfew, and Sander said he thinks those penalties are important.

"I don't think we should pass any curfew without holding the parents responsible" for their children's actions, he said.

The proposal allows exceptions for teens returning from work or school events, he said.

If approved, a curfew would not stop all juvenile crime that might occur, but it would give police "a tool" to discourage offenders, Sander said.

He said he has "mixed feelings" about establishing a curfew in the city, and expects many residents feel the same.

Sander said "99 percent" of the city's teens aren't up to any mischief at night. "Do you create an ordinance for the other 1 percent, I guess is my question."

Curfew ordinances from several other cities have been collected, he said.

"We find from our research that a large majority of other towns in the area about the size of Jackson do have some type of curfew standard, some more stringent than others," Sander said.

Aldermen should vote on the issue next month, he said.