<< Back 10/9/02 Sylva youth curfew OK’d with little fanfare By Don Hendershot It’s midnight. Do you know where you’re children are? If you’re a Sylva resident and your child is 15 or younger, city officials believe you should. At least, you should know they’re not hanging out on the streets of Sylva. After an Oct. 3 public hearing where no one showed up to comment on a proposed “Youth Protection/Curfew” ordinance, Sylva aldermen passed the ordinance. The ordinance makes it illegal for anyone under 16 who is not married or emancipated to be at any public place in Sylva between the hours of midnight and 5 a.m. There are exceptions for minors accompanied by parents or guardians and minors traveling between home and work, place of worship, government buildings or any school sanctioned activity. Sylva Police Chief Jeff Jamison, has been urging the town to enact a curfew since July. “We have been finding more and more adolescents in parking lots with older kids, where alcohol and drugs are present. This ordinance is about the health and well being of these kids and it will hold parents responsible,” Jamison said. According to Jamison, juveniles found in violation of the ordinance will be transported to the police department. First offenders and their parents will be given a warning. Repeat juvenile offenders will be subject to having a juvenile petition filed against him/her and parents of repeat offenders will be subject to a criminal citation. Jamison told Sylva Mayor Brenda Oliver he was meeting with Department of Social Services to clarify their role in the ordinance. The ordinance calls for DSS to be contacted if parents and/or guardians fail to take custody of the juvenile or if a child, in the opinion of the apprehending officer, is an abused, neglected or dependent juvenile as defined by N.C. General Statute 7A-517. Also at the Oct. 3 meeting, alderman and solid waste committee member Eldon Cabe told town council that the committee recommended invoking a 90-day notice for termination of a commercial recycling contract with Country Collections. Town Manager Richard McHargue said the town had received 36 complaints in September, mostly from businesses and a couple of residential calls in the past week. After some discussion, the board decided to include Country Collections residential contract in the recommendation and passed a resolution giving the waste hauler 90 days to remedy the situation.