POLICE Enforcing the curfew

Fines for violations are $110, the police chief said.
By HAROLD GWIN
VINDICATOR SHARON BUREAU
FARRELL, Pa. -- Southwest Mercer County Regional Police have warned they will crack down on juveniles violating curfew laws in the 900 and 1000 blocks of Fruit, Hamilton and Emerson avenues.
Chief Riley Smoot said Farrell City Council as well as members of the Sharon-Farrell Weed & amp; Seed program, which operates in that area, have been getting complaints about young people hanging around those streets at night.
He made the comments Tuesday at the Southwest Mercer County Regional Police Commission meeting.
There haven't been any serious problems but those under 18 need to know there is a curfew and they are required to obey it, Smoot told the commission.
He said police will begin cracking down on curfew violators and those disobeying open-bottle ordinances as well as any other applicable laws.
The curfew for youths under 18 is 10 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and 11 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays.
Smoot warned that police and municipal officials can expect to hear some other complaints when young people start getting hit with $110 fines for violating curfew.
He also said that, based on a suggestion from Weed & amp; Seed, he is trying to coordinate a meeting among officials from Sharon and Farrell to get them to revise or draft new curfew, noise control and other ordinances that can then be applied uniformly in the Weed & amp; Seed target area along the Farrell-Sharon border.
Grant source
In other matters, Smoot said the Farrell Area School District may have found a new grant source to continue the police resource-officer-in-the-school program at Farrell High School.
That program has run for several years but funding ends with this school year.
Smoot said the school district is applying for a Community Oriented Policing Services grant of $125,000 that would help keep the program alive for three more years. The funding looks promising, he added.