HAY RIVER - More than a year in the works, a proposal for a new youth curfew in Hay River has been abandoned.

On Aug. 24, town council voted to reject the idea.

Coun. Vince McKay, who first suggested a curfew, said the proposal is now dead, even though he still believes most residents support the concept. "That's the way it goes," he said. McKay was the only councillor to vote in favour of a motion that would have established a curfew, while three councillors were opposed.

Coun. Pat Burnstad spoke against the motion before the vote. "I think we are punishing the majority of kids for the minority who are doing bad things around town," she said.

However, the main stumbling block to a curfew was a legal opinion. The town's lawyers, MacDonald & Associates, advised council that a curfew would not withstand a challenge under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. McKay had a different opinion about whether a curfew would have stood up to a legal challenge.

"I think it would have," he said.

Mayor Jean-Marc Miltenberger said community members have to step up to help youth.

"Legislation is not the answer to a fraying social fabric," Miltenberger said. Under the proposed bylaw, children age 17 and under would not have been permitted in public places during the curfew, except when accompanied by a parent or guardian, working, returning from a sporting event and other exceptions.

The overnight curfew would have begun at 10 p.m. for children under 12, at 11 p.m. for ages 12 to 15, and at midnight for 16 and 17-year-olds. Violators and their parents or guardians would have first received written warnings. After three warnings in a six-month period, fines would have been imposed ranging from $50 to $500.