El Dorado looks into city curfew for youth

August 21, 2011|By Melody Pettit | KWCH 12 Eyewitness News

(EL DORADO, Kan.) — Members of the El Dorado Presbyterian Youth Group don't usually have problems with the law but they have friends who like to stay out late and cause mischief.

"Yeah some of my friends stay out way late...they loop around Main Street and central just to kill time," said 16-year-old Meghan Rhodes.

That's part of the reason why the City Commission discussed the possibility of a curfew for El Dorado youth at their last meeting.

"It can be used as a tool but is has to be narrowly defined and address a pervasive problem," said City Manager Herb Llewellyn.

City officials say the whole issue came up after one incident where a bike was stolen from a kid. It prompted parents to ask commissioners for a curfew. After some study and discussions with police, the City decided it was an isolated problem and a curfew isn't needed.

"We are lucky here we don't have a lot of problems so we don't think it's an appropriate response," Llewellyn said.

A curfew raises an interesting point, especially for the kids of the youth group who say it may not be a bad thing.

"It could be a good thing to have just to keep kids out of trouble and keep things under control," Rhodes said.

But others say if kids want to find trouble they will, curfew or not.

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