Milton officials spooked by Halloween ordinance

Milton Town Council tabled an ordinance that would limit trick-or-treating ghouls to age 14 and under after questions arose on how to enforce it. 

The town currently has an ordinance on the books stating that “children who have attained the age of 14 years” can go on the streets and sidewalks, door-to-door to trick-or-treat. At town council’s Nov. 4 meeting, an updated version of the ordinance was presented stating that “children who have not yet attained the age of 14” can trick-or-treat.

Councilman Kevin Kelly said he found the ordinance to be unenforceable for several reasons. First, he said, there are instances where an older sibling is escorting a younger sibling trick-or-treating and both are in costume. But the biggest reason, Kelly said, is how are the police supposed to check to ensure compliance. 

Turning to Chief Robert Longo, Kelly cracked, “Are you going to shake kids down for candy, Chief? That’s going to get us some press coverage.”

Getting serious again, Kelly SAID, “I don’t understand how we’re going to determine if someone wearing a costume is 14, 15, 16, 17 or 10. Personally, I don’t like council enacting policy that on its face is going to be difficult to enforce. Are we going to lift masks up? Are we going to ask for ID?”

He said there are valid concerns about older teenagers coming into neighborhoods and getting candy, and potentially causing trouble. Longo said the police typically increase patrols during trick-or-treating and that there have been no problems in recent years.

As council and Town Solicitor Seth Thompson began discussing details, Kelly questioned why the ordinance is needed.

“This seems much ado about not very much,” he said. “We’re looking at creating an ordinance and we’re having to come up with something about what a minor child is. My view on this is, this seems like a lot of legislation for not much purpose.”

Council agreed to table the legislation to review current code and determine how to make the ordinance more manageable. No timeline was set for the review.