By Rusty Nixon Correspondent
PLYMOUTH — It’s 11 p.m. Do you know where your kids are?
That will become a common question for area parents when the Plymouth Common Council takes up a new curfew ordinance at its next meeting. The revised curfew ordinance was brought before the council last night and will be open for discussion and public input at the June 9 meeting.
The city enacted a curfew ordinance in 1995, but it has not enforced since 2002. The reason was that the state curfew ordinance it is based on had come under fire for constitutionality issues in some locations.
Recent events in the city caused re-examining the issue.

“After the recent stabbing in town, Chief (Jim) Cox asked if we could begin to enforce our curfew ordinance again,” said Mayor Mark Senter.
City Attorney Nelson Chipman rewrote the ordinance to mitigate the constitutional issues that the state ordinance had come under fire for.
In the state ordinance curfew hours are 1 a.m. to 5 a.m. In the Plymouth version, it would be a curfew violation for a 15, 16 or 17 year-old to be in a public place after 11 p.m. Sunday through Thurs-day, and midnight on Friday and Saturday. Curfew for those younger than 15 would be 10 p.m. any night.
A general curfew of 9 p.m. would exist at Oakhill Cemetery.
No curfew violation would be incurred if the person were in the company of a parent or guardian, or if going to or returning from a job, a school- or church-sanctioned event, an emergency or other such situations.
The ordinance provides a fine for those caught in violation: $10 for a first offense and $25 for a second. It provides for a $50 fine for the child’s parent or guardian in the case of a third violation.
“The parental responsibility clause for habitual offenders is a broad step,” said Chipman.
The re-working of the ordinance will allow the city to begin to enforce the ordinance, that except for some slight language changes, is essentially the same as the one currently on the books from 1995.
The second reading will be held at the Common Council’s meeting of June 9.