STANTON : City Curfew for Youths Proposed

Saying there are too many youngsters on the streets at night, Councilman Sal Sapien is proposing a 10 p.m. curfew for minors throughout the city.

Sapien told council members Tuesday that he has seen children loitering late at night in front of the Golfland-Southern Hills miniature golf and pizza business on Beach Boulevard.

“We have a whole lot of kids hanging out on Beach Boulevard,” Sapien said. “I think they should be home doing their homework.”

Sapien pointed to Rosemead as a model, where a 10-p.m.-to-sunrise curfew for minors was imposed a month ago. Sapien works in Rosemead as a high school attendance supervisor.

City Atty. Thomas W. Allen said Stanton might have difficulty enforcing a curfew.

“We have to look into the constitutional limitations on the use of curfews,” he said after the meeting.

“Just to have it in the books is a deterrent,” Sapien told council members.

The Rosemead curfew is intended to put a crimp in gang and graffiti activity, said Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Sgt. Wayne Wallace.

“A lot of the problems are caused by the gang members who are 14, 15 or 16 years old,” Wallace said. “I think, as a tool, it’s going to be real effective for us.”

Wallace said juveniles who are going to or from movies or other public events are not violating the ordinance. But children who are simply loitering, he said, can be picked up and taken home or cited for curfew violation.

Sapien’s proposal for a Stanton curfew will be discussed at the Aug. 10 council meeting. It already has some support.

“If it could be enforced, it’s a good idea,” said Councilman William C. Estrada after the meeting.

Lt. Dick Olson of the County Sheriff’s Department, which patrols Stanton, said his department has no policy on curfews. It’s up to the city, he said.

Capt. Robert Eason, in charge of the Stanton sheriff’s station, was not available for comment Tuesday.

A Golfland employee denied that people loiter there at night.

“It used to happen a lot, but not any more,” the employee said. A change to a new security guard service solved the problem, he said.