(A) For the purpose of this section, the following definitions apply unless the context clearly indicates or requires a different meaning.
MINOR. Any person under 18 years of age.
PARENT. Any person having legal custody of a minor as a natural or adoptive parent, as a legal guardian, as a person who stands in loco, or as a person to whom legal custody has been given by order of the court.
PUBLIC PLACE. Any street, alley, highway, sidewalk, park, playground, or place to which the general public has access and a right to resort for business, entertainment, or other lawful purpose. A PUBLIC PLACE shall include, but not be limited to, any store, shop, restaurant, tavern, bowling alley, café, theater, drug store, pool room, shopping center, or any other place devoted to amusement or entertainment of the general public; it shall also include the front or immediate area of the above.
REMAIN. To stay behind, to tarry, and to stay unnecessarily upon the streets, including the congregating of groups (or of interacting minors) totaling four or more person in which any minor involved would not be using the streets, for ordinary or serious purposes, such as mere passage or going home.
STREET. A way or place, of whatsoever nature, open to the use of the public as a matter of right for purposes of vehicular travel, or in the case of a sidewalk thereof, for pedestrian travel; the term STREET includes the legal right-of-way, including, but not limited to, the cartway or traffic lanes, the curb, the sidewalks, whether paved or unpaved, and any grass plots or other grounds found within the legal right-of-way of a STREET.
TIME OF NIGHT. Based upon the prevailing standard of time, whether Central Standard Time or Central Daylight Savings Time, generally observed at that hour by the public.
TOWN. The Town of West Siloam Springs, Delaware County, State of Oklahoma.
YEARS OF AGE. Shall continue from one birthday, such as seventeenth to (but not including the day of) the next, such as the eighteenth birthday, making it clear that 17 or less years of age is herein treated as equivalent to the phrase “under 18 years of age.”
(B) It shall be unlawful for any person 17 or less years of age (under 18) to be or remain in or upon the streets within the town, at night during the period ending at 6:00 a.m. and beginning:
(1) At 11:00 p.m. on Sunday morning through Thursday; and
(2) At 1:00 a.m. on Saturday morning and Sunday morning.
(C) In the following exceptional cases, a minor on a public street, during the nocturnal hours for which division (B) above is intended to provide the maximum limits of regulation, shall not, however, be considered in violation:
(1) When accompanied by a parent of such minor;
(2) When accompanied by an adult authorized by a parent of such minor to take said parent’s place in accompanying said minor for a designated period of time and purpose within a specified area;
(3) When exercising First Amendment rights protected by the United States Constitution, such as the free exercise of religion, freedom of speech, and the right of assembly; such minor shall evidence the bona fides of such exercise by processing a written communication, signed by such minor and countersigned by a parent of such minor, with their home address and telephone number, specifying when, where, and in what manner said minor will be on the streets at night in the exercise of a First Amendment right specified in such communication;
(4) In case of reasonable necessity, but only if the minor has, in said minor’s possession, a written communication signed by the minor, countersigned by a parent of such minor, evidencing their home address and telephone number, and establishing such reasonable necessity relating to specified streets, at a designated time, for a described purpose, including points of origin and destination;
(5) When the minor is on the sidewalk of the place where such minor resides, or on the sidewalk of either next-door neighbor but communicating an objection to the police officer;
(6) When returning home, by a direct route from school activity, or an activity of a religious or voluntary association;
(7) When authorized, by a regulation issued by the Town Board of Trustees, in other similar cases of reasonable necessity, similarly handled, but adapted to necessary nighttime activities, or more minors than can readily be dealt with on an individual special permit basis; normally such regulation by the Town Board permitting use of the streets should be issued sufficiently in advance to permit appropriate publicity through news media and through other agencies, such as the schools, and shall define the activity, the scope of the use of the streets permitted, the period of time involved (not to extend more than 30 minutes beyond the time for termination of such activity), and the reason for finding that such regulation is reasonably necessary and consistent with the public interest and the purposes of this section; and/or
(8) When the minor carries a certified card of employment, briefly identifying the minor, the addresses of his or her home and his or her place of employment, and his or her hours of employment, or carries a valid proof of employment which may include the latest payroll receipt, not over 30 days old;
(9) When the minor is, with parental consent, in a motor vehicle; this contemplates normal travel and clearly exempts bona fide interstate movement through the town, particularly on normal routes.
(D) It shall be unlawful for a parent, having legal custody of a minor, to knowingly permit or, by inefficient control, to allow such minor to be, or remain upon, any public street under circumstances not constituting an exception to, or otherwise beyond the scope of, this section. The term KNOWINGLY includes knowledge which a parent should reasonably be expected to have concerning the whereabouts of a minor in that parent’s legal custody. It is intended to continue to keep neglectful or careless parents up to a reasonable community standard of parental responsibility through an objective test. It shall, a fortiori, be no defense that a parent was completely indifferent to the activities, or conduct, or whereabouts of such minor.
(E) A police officer of the town, upon finding or having attention called to any minor or the streets in prima facie violation of this section normally shall take the minor to the Town Police Station, or other place designated by the Chief of Police, where a parent shall immediately be notified to come for such minor, whereupon they shall be interrogated. This is intended to permit ascertainment, under constitutional safeguards, of relevant facts, and to centralize responsibility in the personnel then on duty for accurate, effective, fair, impartial, and uniform enforcement and recording, thus making available to experienced supervisory personnel, the best of facilities and access to information and records. In the absence of convincing evidence such as a birth certificate, a police officer on the street shall, in the first instance, use his or her best judgment in determining age.
(F) Police procedures shall constantly be refined in the light of experience, and may provide, inter alia, that the police officer may deliver to a parent thereof a minor under appropriate circumstances; for example, a minor of tender age, near home, whose identity may readily be ascertained or are known.
(G) In any event, such police officer shall, within 24 hours, file a written report with the Chief of Police, or shall participate to the extent of the information for which he or she is responsible; said report shall be treated for purposes of juvenile records in accordance with state statutes.
(H) When a parent, immediately called, has come to take charge of the minor, and the appropriate information has been recorded, the minor shall be released to the custody of such parent. If the parent cannot be located, or fails to take charge of the minor, then the minor shall be released to the juvenile authorities, except to the extent that in accordance with police regulations, approved in advance by juvenile authorities, the minor may temporarily be entrusted to a relative, neighbor, or other person who will, on behalf of a parent, assume the responsibility of caring for the minor pending the availability or arrival of a parent.
(Prior Code, Ch. 14, Art. 2, § 23) Penalty, see § 131.99