CLARION, Pa. (EYT) — A motion to relax rules that close the Clarion County Veterans Memorial Park from 10:00 p.m. to 6:00 a.m. to a midnight closing in order to accommodate players of Pokémon Go was defeated 2-1 at a meeting of the Clarion County Commissioners Tuesday night.
“I’d like to make a motion to ask Clarion Borough to relax the enforcement of the borough ordinance of no one being allowed in Veterans Memorial Park, extending the park hours to midnight instead of 10:00 p.m. for as long as they deem necessary,” said Commissioner Wayne Brosius.
Following testimony from Pokémon Go players at the meeting that included an Army veteran, a local member of the Army Reserve, and several other players about the game and the need for additional hours during the cool of the night, Commissioners Ted Tharan and Ed Heasley voted against the motion.
The park is owned by Clarion County, but Clarion Borough passed the ordinance governing the park hours.
Tharan reported he had asked the opinion of Sheriff Rex Munsee and Building and Grounds Supervisor Bob Smith, and both men were not in favor of the change.
Aaron Hammond, a veteran who served as a U.S. Army Sergeant for 11 months in Iraq, said he played the game in the park, and it offers a chance for him to get outside after work, meet people, and with PTSD, he feels safer in the park than in a bar.
“I just think it promotes safety and health for the residents, and I think it’s promoting Veterans Memorial Park better than anything I’ve ever seen,” said Brosius. “I have never seen as many people in that park as I have seen in the last month. Just on the way in here tonight, I counted 18 people. So if it’s doing anything, I think it is promoting those memorials. People are noticing them more than they ever have.”
Tharan said he couldn’t support it at this time.
“I think there have been a lot of people in the park, but I would like to see a bunch of people in the park just to look at the memorials than chasing a fictitious character,” said Tharan. “I still want to gather more information, and there are a lot of people we haven’t talked to yet, and this has sort of jumped up on us in the last few days. We haven’t talked to the solicitor, and we haven’t talked to Clarion Borough Council. I’m not saying it’s dead, but I need a lot more information.”
Contacted earlier in the day, Clarion Borough Police Chief and Borough Secretary Mark Hall told exploreClarion.com that the Borough has “absolutely no issues” with the Pokémon Go activities in the park.
“Despite rumors to the contrary, we see no problems in general with the game,” said Hall. “Not being a game player, I actually downloaded it to see what it was all about. I could see that someone could be chasing one of those critters and walk out in front of a car, which we wouldn’t want, and get hurt. That would be my biggest concern and the borough’s biggest concern that somebody would walk out in front of a car.”
Hall explained that the Borough ordinance stipulates the park is closed between 10:00 p.m. and sunrise the next day, and there is also a town ordinance for a curfew that doesn’t allow anybody under the age of 16 on the streets between midnight and 5:00 a.m.
“We’ve really never had any issue since the park has been there,” said Hall. “To tell you the truth, in the 13 or 14 years I’ve been here, off the top of my head, I can’t recall anyone ever being written up for that.”
Commissioners agreed to continue their research into the game.
“You just don’t know what happens,” said Tharan. “We’ve found drug needles out in the back parking lot of our administration building after the night. Once you change the rules, you could also have something like the Ku Klux Klan coming in and wanting to have a meeting in the park from 10:00 p.m. until midnight. Until we have a lot of darn good reasons, I’m just not in favor.”
For a look at the complete Pokémon Go discussion, see the attached meeting video:
Due to high noise volume near the camera, the audio may be difficult to understand.
