After reading your article published Oct. 23 titled, “Curfew sentencing puzzles Oak Park parents,” [News, Oct. 24], I welcomed the news that Oak Park police are rigorously enforcing our youth curfew law and I’m not surprised some parents are upset over the adjudicated consequence.
As chairperson of the IMPACT Law Committee for the past two years, we have encouraged the enforcement and local adjudication of our youth laws and have worked to improve them and make them consistent between Oak Park and River Forest.
We have a very severe tobacco, cannibis, and alcohol problem in Oak Park and River Forest that should shock all residents, and enforcing the teenage curfew law is one way to limit the potential for youths to find time to discover bad behavior. Recent changes in local law that will increase enforcement will also result in much less punitive consequences for teenagers and will target both teens and their parents to participate in programs to reduce drug use.
The root cause of the teenage drug problem isn’t teenagers. The root cause are parents who allow their kids to drink and smoke and don’t discipline them or educate them properly. I’m upset with any parent who is complaining to the village board about the reasonable enforcement of this law. They should be glad they aren’t having to go to youth criminal court in Maywood instead.
George I. Thompson
Oak Park
