[HISTORY: Adopted by the Mayor and Council of the Town of Rock Hall 8-6-1981
by Ord. No. 81-8; amended in its entirety 6-8-2000
by Ord. No. 00-02. Amendments noted where applicable.]
It shall be unlawful for any minor under the age of 16 years to loiter,
idle, wander, stroll or play in or upon the public streets, highways, roads,
alleys, parks, playgrounds, public places and public buildings, places of
amusement and entertainment, vacant lots or other unsupervised places between
the following hours:
A.
It shall be unlawful for the parent, guardian or other responsible adult person having the duly authorized care and custody of a minor under the age of 16 years to knowingly permit or by insufficient control allow a minor to violate curfew in or upon the public places defined and enumerated in § 89-1 of this chapter.
B.
The provisions of this chapter do not apply to:
(1)
A minor accompanied by a parent, guardian or other responsible
adult person having the duly authorized care and custody of the minor; or
(2)
A minor while on an emergency errand or legitimate business
or activity directed or permitted by the parent, guardian or other responsible
adult person having the duly authorized care and custody of the minor.
Any parent, guardian or other responsible adult in violation of this
chapter shall be guilty of a municipal infraction and subject to the following
fine:
This chapter shall be known and may be cited as "The Town of Rock Hall
Curfew Ordinance."
The Recitals to this Ordinance No. 00-02 are incorporated herein and
deemed a substantive part of this chapter, as follows:
WHEREAS, Ordinance No. 81-08, adopted on August 6, 1981, by the Mayor
and Council of the Town of Rock Hall established Chapter 39 (the "Curfew Ordinance")
of the Code of the Town of Rock Hall; and
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WHEREAS, the purpose of the Curfew Ordinance is to protect minors from
each other and other persons during nocturnal hours, to assist law enforcement
personnel in crime prevention, to promote parental supervision and authority
over minors, to protect the public from nocturnal crime and mischief by unsupervised
minors, and to promote the furtherance of family responsibility and for the
public good, safety and welfare; and
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WHEREAS, in 1999, a joint committee of representatives from the five
incorporated towns of Kent County, the Sheriff's Office of Kent County
and the State's Attorney's Office of Kent County was established
(the "Joint Committee"). The Joint Committee was charged with reviewing certain
common municipal ordinances (i.e., alcoholic beverages, curfew, firearms,
skateboards, noise and animals) with the objective of standardizing, to the
extent possible, such ordinances in an effort to facilitate their enforcement
by the Kent County Sheriff's Office and the Kent County State's
Attorney's Office; and
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WHEREAS, the Joint Committee recommended a model curfew ordinance and
the Mayor and Council of Rock Hall, at the recommendation of the Chief of
Police, have agreed to amend the Curfew Ordinance to conform, in substantive
part, to the Joint Committee's model curfew ordinance; and
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WHEREAS, the Mayor and Council of the Town of Rock Hall, for the good
and welfare of the community, deem it necessary and appropriate to repeal
and reenact Chapter 39[1] of the Code of the Town of Rock Hall for the purposes of restating
the legislative intent of the Curfew Ordinance and streamlining the enforceability
of the Curfew Ordinance.
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