8 p.m. curfew for minors in Abbeville?

With summer fast approaching and daylight lasting longer, children are expected play outside longer. On Tuesday, Abbeville Councilman Francis Touchet Jr. is looking to change the hours for the city’s curfew ordinance for minors, coupled with attaching a fine that the parents or legal guardian must pay if their child is caught breaking the curfew.
The curfew ordinance for minors states that minors under 17 have a curfew from Sunday through Thursday at 10 p.m. They have to be off the streets from 10 p.m. until 5 a.m.
On Friday and Saturday, the curfew for minors starts at midnight and ends at 5 a.m.
Because of the recent shootings involving minors and adults, Touchet would like to see the curfew for minors ordinance changed.
He wants to change the minors’ curfew time by at least two hours. Touchet would like to see the curfew for minors changed to 8 p.m. from Sunday to Thursday. On Friday and Saturday, the curfew for minors would be 10 p.m.
Also, he wants to put a minor under 18 and not 17 like the present ordinance states.
Touchet introduced his idea at Abbeville’s second Town Hall meeting, which focused on crime and public safety.
“When it gets dark, kids will be in the house, “said Touchet. “Eight o clock, you have to be at your house.”
If a minor is walking or riding a bike on the streets of Abbeville after curfew, it will not be the child that will receive a ticket from the city police; it will be the parent, under the new ordinance.
“This new ordinance will have parent accountability,” Touchet said. “We are fining the parents on the first, second, and third offense.”
Touchet said the change in curfew hours would help Abbeville Police Chief Mike Hardy and the department.
“I want to be able to allow our chief to enforce the curfew that is a law with these juveniles and to able to stop them and pick them up,” said Touchet. “Right now, he has no teeth because these times are not working for him.”
Touchet is expected to begin amending the curfew for minor ordinance at Tuesday’s city council meeting. If the new curfew ordinance for minors clears all the hurdles, it will go into effect in May, right before summer.