HomeMy Public PortalAboutOrdinance No. 730-94 07-26-1994
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ORDINANCE NO. X30-94
AN ORDINANCE REPEALING AND REPLACING SECTION 6
"LOITERING BY MINORS" OF CHAPTER 7 "OFFENSES AND
NUISANCES" OF THE CODE OF ORDINANCES, CITY OF
RICHLAND HILLS, TEXAS, WITH A NEW SECTION 6
"CURFEW HOURS FOR MINORS' ; PROVIDING CERTAIN
DEFINITIONS; CREATING AN OFFENSE FOR VIOLATION OF
CURFEW HOURS BY MINORS; CREATING AN OFFENSE FOR
A PARENT OR GUARDIAN ALLOWING A MINOR TO
VIOLATE CURFEW HOURS; CREATING AN OFFENSE FOR
OWNERS, OPERATORS AND EMPLOYEES OF BUSINESS
ESTABLISHMENTS ALLOWING MINORS TO VIOLATE
CURFEW HOURS ON THE PREMISES; ESTABLLSHING
CERTAIN DEFENSES; PROVIDING A PENALTY OF UP TO
$500.00 PER DAY FOR EACH VIOLATION; PROVIDING A
SEVERABILITY CLAUSE; PROVIDING A SAVING CLAUSE;
AND PROVIDING AN EFFECTIVE DATE.
WHEREAS, the City Council has determined that there has been an increase in
juvenile violence, juvenile gang activity, and crime by persons under the age of 17
years in the City of Richland Hills;
• WHEREAS, persons under the age of 17 years are particularly susceptible by
their lack of maturity and experience to participate in unlawful and gang-related
activities and to be victims of older perpetrators of crime;
WHEREAS, the City of Richland Hills has an obligation to provide for the
protection of minors from each other and from other persons, for the enforcement
of parental control over and responsibility for children, for the protection of the
general public, and for the reduction of the incidence of juvenile criminal activities;
and
WHEREAS, a curfew for those under the age of 17 years will be in the interest
of the public health, safety and general welfare and will help to attain the foregoing
objectives and to diminish the undesirable impact of such conduct on the citizens of
the City of Richland Hills.
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT ORDAINED BY THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY
OF RICHLAND HILLS, TEXAS:
I.
That Section 6, "Loitering by Minors" Chapter 7 "OFFENSES AN D
NUISANCES" of the Code of Ordinances, City of Richland Hills, Texas, as amended,
• be hereby repealed and replaced with a new Section 6 "Curfew Hours for Minors",
which new section shall hereafter be and read as follows:
ORDINANCE NO. Z3(1-A4 PAGE 1
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SECTION 6: CURFEW HOURS FOR MINORS.
(a) Definitions. In this section:
(1) CURFEW HOURS means:
(A) 11:00 p.m. on any Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday,
or Thursday until 6:00 a.m. of the following day; and
(B) 12:01 a.m. until 6:00 a.m. on any Saturday or Sunday.
(2) EMERGENCY means an unforeseen combination of
circumstances or the resulting state that calls for immediate
action. The term includes, but is not limited to, a fire, a
natural disaster, an automobile accident, or any situation
requiring immediate action to prevent serious bodily injury or
loss of life.
(3) ESTABLISHMENT means any privately-owned place of
business operated for a profit to which the public is invited,
including but not limited to any place of amusement or
entertainment.
• (4) GUARDIAN means:
(A} a person who, under court order, is the guardian of the
person of a minor; or
(B} a public or private agency with whom a minor has been
placed by a court.
(5) MINOR means any person under 17 years of age.
(6) OPERATOR means any individual, firm, association,
partnership, or corporation operating, managing, or
conducting any establishment. The term includes the
members or partners of an association or partnership and the
officers of a corporation.
(7) PARENT means a person who is:
(A) a natural parent, adoptive parent, or step-parent of
another person; or
(B) at least 18 years of age and authorized by a parent or
guardian to have the care and custody of a minor.
(8) PUBLIC PLACE means any place to which the public or a
substantial group of the public has access and includes, but is
• not limited to, streets, highways, and the common areas of
schools, hospitals, apartment houses, office buildings,
transport facilities, and shops.
ORDINANCE NO. 730-94 PAGE 2
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(9) REMAIN means to:
(A) linger or stay; or
(B) fail to leave premises when requested to do so by a
police officer or the owner, operator, or other person in
control of the premises.
(10) SERIOUS BODILY INJURY means bodily injury that creates a
substantial risk of death or that causes death, serious
permanent disfigurement, or protracted loss or impairment of
the function of any bodily member or organ.
(b) Offenses.
(1) A minor commits an offense if he remains in any public place
or on the premises of any establishment within the city during
curfew hours.
(2) A parent or guardian of a minor commits an offense if he
knowingly permits, or by insufficient control allows, the minor
to remain in any public place or on the premises of any
establishment within the city during curfew hours.
• (3) The owner, operator, or any employee of an establishment
commits an offense if he knowingly allows a minor to remain
upon the premises of the establishment during curfew hours.
(c) Defenses.
(1) It is a defense to prosecution under Subsection (b) that the
minor was:
(A) accompanied by the minor's parent or guardian;
(B) on an errand at the direction of the minor's parent or
guardian, without any detour or stop;
(C) in a motor vehicle involved in interstate travel;
(D) engaged in an employment activity, or going to or
returning home from an employment activity, without
any detour or stop;
(E) involved in an emergency;
(F) on the sidewalk abutting the minor's residence or
abutting the residence of a next-door neighbor if the
neighbor did not complain to the police department
• about the minor's presence;
ORDINANCE NO. 730-94 PAGE 3
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(G) attending an official school, religious, or other
recreational activity supervised by adults and sponsored
by the City of Richland Hills, a civic organization, or
another similar entity that takes responsibility for the
minor, or going to or returning home from, without any
detour or stop, an official school, religious, or other
recreational activity supervised by adults and sponsored
by the City of Richland Hills, a civic organization, or
another similar entity that takes responsibility for the
minor;
(H) 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; or
(I) married or had been married or had disabilities of
minority removed in accordance with Chapter 31 of the
Texas Family Code.
(2) It is a defense to prosecution under Subsection (b)(3) that the
owner, operator, or employee of an establishment promptly
notified the police department that a minor was present on
the premises of the establishment during curfew hours and
refused to leave.
• (d) Enforcement.
Before taking any enforcement action under this section, a police
officer shall ask the apparent offender's age and reason for being in
the public place. The officer shall not issue a citation or make an
arrest under this section unless the officer reasonably believes that
an offense has occurred and that, based on any response and other
circumstances, no defense in Subsection (c) is present.
(e) Penalties.
(1) A person who violates a provision of this chapter is guilty of a
separate offense for each day or part of a day during which
the violation is committed, continued, or permitted. Each
offense, upon conviction, is punishable by a fine not to exceed
$500.
(2) When required by Section 51.08 of the Texas Family Code, as
amended, the municipal court shall waive original jurisdiction
over a minor who violates Subsection (b)(1) of this section and
shall refer the minor to juvenile court.
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ORDINANCE NO. 730-94 PAGE 4
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II.
Penalty Clause. Any person violating or failing to comply with the provisions
of this Ordinance, as listed above, shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor and
each day any violation or noncompliance continues shall constitute a separate and
distinct offense and upon conviction thereof such person(s) shall be fined not less
than one ($1.00) Dollar nor more than five hundred ($500.00) Dollars per day.
III.
5everability Clause. That it is hereby declared to be the intention of the City
Council that the sections, paragraphs, sentences, clauses and phrases of this
ordinance are severable, and if any phrase, clause, sentence, paragraph or section of
this ordinance shall be declared invalid or unconstitutional by the valid judgment or
decree of any court of competent jurisdiction, such invalidity or unconstitutionality
shall not affect any of the remaining phrases, clauses, sentences, paragraphs and
sections of this ordinance, since the same would have been enacted by the City
Council without the incorporation in this ordinance of any such invalid or
unconstitutional phrase, clause, sentence, paragraph or section.
IV.
Saving Clause. That Chapter 7 of the Code of Ordinances, City of Richland
• Hills, Texas, as amended, shall remain in full force and effect, save and except as
amended by this ordinance.
V.
Effective Date. This ordinance shall be in full force and effect from and after
its passage and publication as provided by the Richland Hills City Charter and the
laws of the State of Texas.
PRESENTED, GIVEN FIRST READING AND APPROVED at a regular meeting
of the Richland Hills City Council on the 26th day of Jules 1994, by a vote
of ayes, nays, and 0 abstentions.
APPROVED:
C. F. Kelley, Mayor
ATTEST:
a
'err-i- ' lis,~ity Secretary
ORDINANCE NO. 730-94 PAGE 5
• APPR VED AS TO FORM:
aul F. Wieneskie, ity ttorney
568m1ib/bh/070794
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ORDINANCE NO. 730-94 PAGE 6