Police Arrest Protest Organizer for Asking Teens to Stay Past New Curfew

By: Russ Bradley | News Channel 7
Published: September 06, 2009

Police arrested protest organizer Dan Edge for contributing to the delinquency of a minor Saturday night.

Edge organized protest against the new emergency curfew in downtown Greenville. Police say he was recruiting underage teens to protest with him past the new curfew.

Two underage protesters were also taken into custody. Police say they refused to go home when they asked them.

Saturday night is the second night of a curfew for teenagers in downtown Greenville.

Greenville Police reported no incidents Friday night.

The Greenville City Council passed an emergency temporary ordinance Monday.

Minors 17-years-old and younger cannot be downtown without an adult, from 10 p.m to 6 a.m., Friday and Saturday nights. And this Sunday night, as it falls before a holiday.

This new ordinance will expire in 60 days, or when they come up with a more permanent ordinance.

This comes after problems of teenagers congregating, which have been growing for the past few weeks.

Chief Terri Wilfong said this past Saturday the number of unsupervised young people rose to a thousand, with some of them as young as 11 years old.

She said several small fights broke out and action needs to be taken before someone is hurt.

Wilfong said there are simply not enough officers to police young people congregating in those numbers and many of the officers who are there are being paid overtime, adding an expense to the police department.

Wilfong said much of the problem comes with parents who drop their children off, some are brought in from as far as Pickens.

"My officers are not babysitters," said Wilfong.

Business owners who spoke to News Channel 7 said they do believe the police force is doing all it can, and the real responsibility rests with parents.

However, they say the hundreds of teens are intimidating to customers and pedestrians, and in some cases, make the sidewalks completely impassable.

Currently, Falls Park is closed to teens under 18 who are unsupervised after 9 p.m., but this would be the first curfew in the city, according to Wilfong.