Feelings On The Five Points Curfew Are Divided

COLUMBIA,S.C. (WOLO) — “Because there’s no reason for these kids to be down here, there’s nothing for them to do nothing,” says Debbie McDaniel, Five Points merchant. “I mean, if you’re seventeen and under, you shouldn’t be hanging out in an area with a lot of bars anyway,” says Matt Farra, manager of the Library in Five Points For some merchants in Five Points, the emergency curfew enacted by the City of Columbia, is a good thing. “I think it’s something we’ve needed for a long time, at night especially after 11:00 p.m., this is an adult hospitality area, we don’t have an arcade, a movie theater, we don’t have a bowling alley,” says McDaniel. “With the influence of alcohol and even the potential for crime and stuff, kids should not be down here, that’s just how it is,” says Farra But not everyone agrees with the curfew. “We know what discrimination is, we know what equal opportunity is, but why is that every neighborhood can’t have the equal opportunity of police protection as they are receiving,” says Lonnie Randolph, SC NAACP President. The curfew, which does not allow anyone under the age of 17 in the Five Points area between the hours of 11:00 p.m. and 6:00 a.m., was put into place after 18 year old Carter Strange, was savagely beaten while jogging home. Yet for some, it was needed long before then. “We just felt that because of the nature of Five Points, at night especially late at night, that it was something that would be safe for everyone,” says McDaniel. Randolph says he supports enforcing the laws, but he want the curfew to be fair. “If you are going to impose a system, make it citywide,” says Randolph Since the curfew was enacted, Columbia Police say they’ve had three violations and no major incidents. There’s even a discussion of enacting a curfew in the Vista. “I don’t think it’s necessary, just because the Vista is a more older crowd anyway, Five Points is a more younger crowd,” says Farra. A younger crowd that could soon have a permanent limit on how long a night out on the town, can last.