MANVILLE: Teen curfew ordinances are repealed

By Deb Dawson, Special Writer
After a closed session Monday evening, Borough Council repealed three old curfew ordinances — one of which stretched back more than 80 years.
The ordinances prevented minors ages 17 and under from being out between the hours of 10 p.m. and 6 a.m. Mayor Angelo Corradino said the laws, from 1931, 1953 and 1981, had originally been drafted to prevent kids from "loitering and disturbing the peace."
Councilman Richard Onderko said in an email Tuesday that the council "will be addressing a new curfew ordinance if we can find one that stands up to a constitutional challenge."
The actions came following receipt of a letter from civil liberties advocate John Paff, chairman of the New Jersey Libertarian Party’s Open Government Advocacy Project. Mr. Paff, who lives in Franklin Township, Somerset County, sent letters to his municipality and Manville requesting that curfews be repealed, based upon the decision of Wanaque Borough to repeal a similar ordinance as part of a settlement agreement with the American Civil Liberties Union of New Jersey.
According to a Superior Court brief filed by the ACLU of New Jersey about Wanaque, "The Curfew Ordinance is a means of preventative detention that locks nearly all law-abiding, innocent minors in their homes every night, presumably in an effort to prevent undesirable activity by a few. This drastic curtailment of liberty would never be tolerated if imposed on adults." The lawsuit claimed the ordinance was unconstitutional.
Learning of council’s decision, Mr. Paff said Tuesday, "(The ordinances) have to allow for parents to allow their kids out after curfew in order to be constitutional. I advised Manville it was a $55,000 (legal) bill in Wanaque. . . Egg Harbor Township paid $10,000. I’m philosophically opposed to them (curfews). The Libertarian Party is. But I was just bringing them up to date. I’m glad they did it."