Parents in Belleville, Illinois will have to find some other way to entertain their teens tomorrow night now that the mayor has banned high school students from trick-or-treating.
Belleville Mayor Mark Eckert signed an ordinance Tuesday prohibiting any child who has completed the 8th grade from trick-or-treating on Halloween. The mayor says the move comes after his office received dozens of complaints from residents, who were sick of having teenagers ring their doorbells late on Halloween night.
“We were hearing more and more about bigger kids knocking on doors after 9 at night, and the people who lived in the homes were scared,” Eckert a local newspaper. “The seniors were especially scared. They didn’t want to be the recipient of some kind of trick; they didn’t want to open their doors late at night, either.”
Under the new ordinance all trick-or-treaters must be off city streets by 8 p.m. on Halloween and teens are only allowed to go door-to-door if they are escorting younger siblings or other family members.
If you think that’s harsh, consider this addendum to the ordinance: Parents whose teenage children break the rule are subject to a $25 fine.
Much more trick than treat, wouldn’t you say?
What do you make of the ban? Is it too harsh?
Personally, I found it rather interesting given that I just addressed the subject of: “How Old is Too Old to Trick-or-Treat?” in a previous blog. I suppose it depends who you ask. On the one hand I would rather see teens trick-or-treating (for UNICEF more than for empty calories) than hitting up a liquor store clad in a Freddy Krueger costume on Halloween night. But on the flipside, my grandmother is one of those senior citizens who does scare easily and would much rather not answer her door after 9:30 p.m. on Halloween (or any other night for that matter).
Then, there are the parents of the teens who can no longer canvas the neighborhood in search of the elusive full-size candy bar. I wonder how they reacted after learning of the new ordinance that essentially prohibits their kids from participating in the time-honored tradition of bagging a plastic pumpkin full of free candy on Halloween?
How would you feel if your child was banned from trick-or-treating?
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