The Grinch may be after Christmas but no one should follow the lead of a Chesapeake, Virginia, ordinance to steal Halloween from children older than 12 by threatening them with jail, an Anna city commissioner said during a recent interview.
"All children should be allowed to participate in trick or treating," Anna City Commissioner Martha Ann Webb said during a Southern Illinois News email interview. "A child is not legally an adult until they are 18 years old. Many children past the age of 12 still enjoy dressing up and trick or treating."
A child often is defined by more than their age, Webb said.
Anna City Commissioner Martha Ann Webb
"Many children who have disabilities may not be able to understand they are 'too old' and unable to trick or treat," Webb said. "Halloween is a fun night of fantasy where children dress up as their favorite character, super hero or scary monster and pretend they are someone else. Children should be encouraged to remain children as long as they can. After all, 18 years goes by pretty fast."
Webb, a Choate Mental Health and Developmental Center retiree, has served on Anna City Council since 2009.
Webb's comments were in response to an almost half-century-old ordinance on the books in Chesapeake, Virginia, that threatens trick-or-treaters older than 12 with jail time.
The ordinance reads in part: "If any person over the age of 12 years shall engage in the activity commonly known as 'trick or treat' or any other activity of similar character or nature under any name whatsoever, he or she shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and shall be punished by a fine of not less than $25.00 nor more than $100.00 or by confinement in jail for not more than six months or both."
The ordinance has been on the books in Chesapeake since just a few days before Halloween in 1970. Chesapeake's website indicates it's more interested in the spirit of the ordinance, stating police in that city will "not actively seeking out violations of the time or age limits" on Halloween.
"For example, a 13-year-old safely trick or treating with a younger sibling is not going to have any issues," the Chesapeake website said. "That same child taking pumpkins from porches and smashing them in the street more likely will."
Webb confined her comments to the letter of the ordinance.
"Trick or treating is a better activity than running the streets and getting into trouble or engaging in illegal activities," she said. "Do not make trick or treating an illegal activity for a child."
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