‘Halloweek’ and Lawyers Bedevil Timid Town

The people of Hancock know when Halloween is, but not when costumed hobgoblins will ring their doorbells.

For vague reasons of liability, this town refuses to set a trick-or-treating date. As a result, householders must be prepared to hand out candy all week long.

“Last year, it got to the point people were running back and forth across the street up here every night,” said Dixie Weller, who wants the town to set an official date--perhaps even Oct. 31.

Hancock stopped sanctioning trick-or-treating more than 20 years ago amid reports of treat-tampering across the country. Town officials shuddered with fear over the prospect of coming face-to-face with--horrors!--personal injury lawyers.

“If you scheduled a night for trick-or-treating, the town would be more or less sponsoring it,” said Town Manager Louis Close. “If the child got hurt, they could come back and say the town sanctioned it and we’re responsible for the safety of the children.”

That argument doesn’t make sense to Daniel M. Clements, past president of the Maryland Trial Lawyers Assn.

“It’s ridiculous for a municipality to think their obligations will change by attempting to ignore reality,” he said. “Halloween is there.”

Mayor Daniel Murphy said he has nothing against Halloween. In fact, he heads the Rotary Club committee that organizes an annual Halloween parade.

But Murphy prefers that trick-or-treating be done informally, at the neighborhood level, to avoid having children running all over town in the dark.

Trouble is, some kids--particularly the older ones--see this as an opportunity to maximize their trick-or-treating.

“The trailer court has one night and my friend Lisa has another night, so it’s confusing. So we just go every night,” said Crystal Jakubowski, 17.

Amber Payne, 7, said she planned to trick-or-treat as a witch as often as she could. And her mother is all for it.

With Hancock’s Halloween a weeklong event, this town in the hills of Maryland’s western panhandle has turned into a “give me something good to eat” mecca. Children from Pennsylvania and West Virginia arrive by the carload to knock on doors for candy.

That rankles some town officials, though not all.

“We want their parents to come in and shop in our stores,” City Councilman Greg Yost said, “so I think their kids can come in and trick-or-treat.”