Last summer, stop signs were targeted.
This summer, people.
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The culprits who spurred an increase in complaints and 911 calls in July on Bald Head Island were not solely teenagers, but village officials are exploring ways in which juveniles — and their parents or guardians — might be held accountable for under-18’ers involved in unruly behavior.
Village officials have drafted an islandwide juvenile curfew, one that has been met with equal parts ire among property owners and longtime visitors who say a curfew unfairly targets teens and support from those who have been the brunt of the antics.
“It’s a safety issue,” Mayor Peter Quinn said during an Aug. 5 public hearing on the proposed curfew. “The idea of people acting up in the month of July is not new. It’s happened year after year. This year they’re throwing water balloons and egging. That’s why we’re looking for an answer.”
Admittedly, he said, they may not find one.
Some at the hearing suggested the village place cameras in areas of the island as a way to help capture the identities of anyone involved in unscrupulous or illegal acts.
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Several years ago, state lawmakers raised the age of juvenile jurisdiction for nonviolent crimes to 18.
“We can only take temporary custody (of a juvenile) for very limited circumstances, offenses and situations,” said Bald Head’s Public Safety Chief Josh Gibson.
The closest juvenile detention center is in Wilmington. The time it takes an officer to make the round-trip drive to the Port City and complete the booking process means the officer is off the island for hours, he said.
The process for filing a complaint against a teenager caught, say, throwing water balloons at passersby, entails a time-consuming process through the juvenile services system, one that is backlogged, Gibson said.
A curfew would give officers an option to address some of the problems without going through the courts, he said.
“Once they get to the age of 18, we have options,” he said. The proposed curfew is “a tool in the toolbelt. I think it’s to address activity in general. A curfew will not fix all the problems.”
Officers never caught the underage perpetrators who last summer ripped up nearly 50 stop signs throughout the island, Gibson said. The summer before that, juveniles were graffitiing, he said.
Under the draft ordinance, a curfew would be in effect between 11:30 p.m. and 5:30 a.m. During those times, anyone out under the age of 18 must be accompanied by an adult.
Village officials explained that the timeframe of the proposed curfew coincides with the ferry schedule to give anyone under 18 who works on the island and lives on the mainland a window of time in order to remain in compliance.
Parents or guardians of kids caught breaking the curfew would be cited a $250 fine.
“It would place the onus on the guardian,” Village Manager Chris McCall said.
Juvenile curfews are not a novel concept in North Carolina. Ahoskie and Kinston are among municipalities here in the state that have adopted curfews.
Opponents of Bald Head’s proposed curfew argue it would unfairly punish all juveniles because of the actions of a few, is bad PR for an island that touts itself as “family friendly,” and is government overreach.
Tom and Pam Schlosser said their 17-year-old son is a hard worker and good steward of the island who, from time to time, stays out past the proposed curfew to hang with friends on the beach or catch a movie at a friend’s house.
“This is a punishment,” Pam Schlosser said. “It is disappointing. This isn’t just adults being hit,” by water balloons. “These are teens. They work hard. This is a time for them to be teens.”
Tom Schlosser told village council members in the public hearing that the proposed curfew is crazy and undemocratic.
“The targeting of kids is crazy,” he said. “The island has always been a family-friendly place and it needs to stay a family-friendly place.”
Paul Brewer said the proposed curfew is “an overstep.”
“I think the adults here are probably more dangerous than the kids,” he said.
A curfew is no more of a punishment than having to wear a seatbelt in a moving car, Betsi Stephen said. Enforcing a juvenile curfew would send a message to parents and kids that public safety is taking bad behavior seriously, she said.
Gregg Thatcher, a self-described dedicated volunteer on the island, submitted a written comment to the village detailing a couple of “troubling incidents” he recently encountered one night. The first involved an inebriated, belligerent woman on the beach.
“The second occurred while I was driving between two beach accesses,” he wrote. “A water balloon was thrown at me while I was on my golf cart on Federal Road, striking me directly in the chest. This act was not only dangerous but also deeply concerning.”
Earlier that evening, another turtle nest monitor was egged, he said.
“If our volunteers and staff do not feel safe, they may no longer be willing to serve, which would be detrimental to our community,” Thatcher wrote. “These assaults must be addressed urgently.”
Councilman Scott Gardner categorized juveniles who live and visit the island into three groups: those who are well behaved and those who do typical, dumb things.
“And then there’s this other very, very small group who are above the law,” he said. “They don’t care. Their parents don’t care. Personally, I’m struggling with do we make things harder on the good to try and solve the problems with the really bad.”
The council did not take the matter to a vote.
