Amendment clarifies drinking law in Florence

By Stephanie Prokop, Staff Writer
FLORENCE — The Township Committee amended an ordinance Oct. 1 clarifying regulations involving consumption of alcohol in public parks within the township.
    Township Solicitor William Kearns Jr. said on Tuesday that the ordinance was considered “routine,” and that it was meant to bring the township’s law in compliance with the state law.
    The law states that while you cannot bring alcohol into the parks or consume alcohol in the parks, simply walking through the park intoxicated is not an offense that would result in charges.
    “If you’re simply walking through the park drunk you can’t get into trouble for that,” he said.
    The language in the old ordinance stated that “you could not be under the influence of liquor or drugs,” said Mr. Kearns. “We removed that,” he added.
    “We had looked back about four or five years in township police documents and had found that no one had been found guilty of this particular regulation,” he said.
    The reason the committee had to change it, he noted, was “basic housekeeping.”
    The amendment is a clarification of the offense’s definition, he said.