MULTIPLE COUNCIL MEMBERS HAVE THEIR CONCERNS
A new under-16 curfew ordinance seemed on pace to pass leading up to Tuesday’s City Council regular meeting.
Mayor Mary Parham Copelan and Milledgeville Police Chief Dray Swicord held a press conference the day before, touting the benefits of the curfew. The issue has been a popular topic on Milledgeville Facebook, where the comments were overwhelmingly in support of the curfew.
When it came time to vote, however, the City Council decided to table the issue and take it up at a future meeting.
Community activist Gregory Barnes signed up to speak at the meeting, telling council members that the curfew “will disproportionately affect black and brown teens.”
“One of my greatest concerns – I’m from Milledgeville but I used to to live in New York – this is too closely related to stop and frisk,” Barnes said.
Barnes is no stranger to City Hall. In 2020, he accused African-American City Council members of “acting like house negros,” while referring to City Attorney Jimmy Jordan as “a Karen.” Later in the meeting, District 2 Councilwoman Arlene Simmons, who was sworn into office earlier this year, also made several references to stop and frisk.
“There are some valid concerns. Mr. Gregory Barnes brought up a few that I wanted to question, as well, relating to the underserved community and how that will affect people of color,” she said. “Will this be a mirror to the stop-and-frisk issue?”
Simmons then asked Jordan how the curfew “could reflect stop and frisk.”
Jordan explained how, according to the proposed ordinance, an officer “would return the child to his or her home” if the child was out past curfew. In the process, this would require “a search of that child to make sure there was nothing to endanger the officer and, quite frankly, the child.”
Next up was District 3 Councilwoman Denese Shinholster, who had concerns about the “daytime curfew” section of the ordinance. The daytime curfew would be in effect during school days and not on weekends and school holidays.
“What about children who are homeschooled?” she said.
Jordan explained that homeschooled children would be exempt from the daytime curfew.
District 4 Councilwoman Morgan Pendergast, who speaks sparingly at City Council meetings, also voiced her concerns and made a reference to stop and frisk.
“I think that that can be an issue (children being out late at night) that we could address, rather than in a punitive manner, just by outreach and working with families,” she said.
According to the proposed ordinance, a parent or legal guardian would be fined $500 if their child is documented being out past curfew more than once.
The hours of Milledgeville’s proposed ordinance are 11 a.m. to 5 a.m. on weekdays and midnight to 5 a.m. on weekends. Keep in mind that the word “unsupervised” is in the first sentence of the proposed ordinance, and there’d be no citations issued if someone under the age 16 was out past curfew with a parent or legal guardian. Exceptions to the curfew would only be allowed in the case of “emergency errands,” which covers “an unforeseen combination of circumstances that call for immediate action.” Reads the ordinance: “A fire, natural disaster or automobile accident, or any situation requiring immediate action to prevent serious bodily injury or loss of life.”