When Vernon Township resident Cindy Allen went to a recent Meadville City Council study session, she was seeking help. She’s owner of Hair Haven Salon, which opened in January at the corner of Water and North streets, and her shop’s been vandalized twice recently — at night.

She wasn’t happy when the front window was shot out, she explained, but when she was told that two young girls were responsible for the second incident — stealing her sign and pulling out all the flowers planted in front of the shop — she knew she had to take action.

“I’m a grandmother,” she said Friday. “There were eyewitnesses. They were two little

girls, ages maybe 7 and 9. It just breaks my heart to think that they’re out that late.”

When Allen asked council to consider implementing a curfew, the first thing she found out is that the city already has one — but it isn’t widely enforced.

Council members were willing to consider Allen’s request. However, because all five sections of the current ordinance date back to either 1913 or 1938, the city’s attorney was asked to prepare a draft version of a new, updated ordinance.

The current curfew

According to the city’s current one-page curfew ordinance, no minor under the age of 16 is allowed on the city’s streets, alleys and public places between 9:30 p.m. and 5 a.m. unless accompanied by an adult with legal custody rights or carrying a written statement bearing the current date and signed by a parent, guardian or custodian declaring that the minor is on an emergency errand. The statement must describe the nature of the errand.

In addition, all police are authorized and directed “to apprehend on view all minors under 16 years of age” violating the ordinance. The fire alarm at Meadville Central Fire Station is to be tolled twice at 9:15 each night as a warning to the public that the time limit is approaching. The ordinance (in one of the sections that’s been in effect since 1913) also stipulates that parents, guardians or custodians violating the ordinance shall be fined $1 plus costs for the first offense; $2 plus costs for a second offense; and $5 plus costs for third and subsequent offenses, unless a claim is made that the minor is an incorrigible child.

According to Meadville Police Department Assistant Chief Tom Liscinski, the current ordinance is simply not being enforced. “We don’t receive a lot of calls on that,” he said Friday. “If we happen to come across kids who are out by themselves, we will inquire where they’re going and why they’re out. If need be, parents will be contacted.” However, he added, “You need to have a little bit of a probable cause. If they’re just walking down the street, we will not approach them.”

In the case of very young kids on the street late at night, however, officers do pick them up, take them to the station and try to find out why they’re out at that hour. If the police can’t contact the caretaker, Children and Youth Services will be called. “During just the past week,” he added, “we’ve had three calls about unattended children.”

A proposed

new curfew