CLARION, Pa. (EYT) – Pokémon GO enthusiasts may want a little more time in Clarion County Memorial Park to hunt for imaginary creatures in the “augmented reality” game.

Pokémon GO may also make it onto the agenda of the Clarion County Commissioner’s Tuesday night meeting at 6 p.m. – Augmented reality meets a local government meeting – No word yet if the Main Street Administration Building harbors any of the elusive Pokémon game creatures.

Park hours are currently from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m., and some players are reported to be seeking an extension.

“I think that’s going to come up tomorrow night at our 6 p.m. meeting,” said Clarion County Commissioner Chairman Ted Tharan when contacted late Monday afternoon. “We’re going to talk about it because Wayne (Brosius) had a call wanting us to extend the hours.”

The Main Street park has become a hotbed of activity for players of Pokémon GO who use their smart phones as they look for game characters placed in the park. The game has been praised for getting young people outside, and in Clarion, that means Clarion County Memorial Park.

“I haven’t heard all of the facts, yet,” said Tharan. “It’s county property, and I think the borough has the ordinance that all parks, cemeteries must be vacated at 10:30 p.m. Does the borough have to change their ordinance? I don’t know, but the county has signs that say what time the park closes (from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m.).”

Tharan’s main concern about extending the hours is opening the mythical Pandora’s Box.

“Here’s my concern,” continued Tharan. “Pokémon is a fad, and if we start changing our rules to accommodate a game–we’re talking about a game–if we start changing our rules, then we have opened Pandora’s Box. If you change the hours, why stop it at midnight? Why not say you can hang out in the park 24 hours a day? What’s so special about midnight? How about people that work the 3 to 11 shift that might want to play Pokémon?”

Tharan readily admits he doesn’t understand the game, and he’s not one that’s going to play it.

“We are the keepers of the public property. Memorial Park is in honor of the people that died to keep us free. Is it proper that we say let’s just go tramp all over the place hunting for an imaginary creature? But, if you open Pandora’s Box, you have to do it for everybody. Next, it will be you can play there after 10 p.m., but now you have to let anybody for any reason go in there.”

“I don’t care if people want to spend their time playing Pokémon, that’s not my concern, but I think we need to be sure before we change a rule. And, I don’t think we should tell Clarion Borough just to ignore that rule because then you’re saying to the police let’s ignore this ordinance, but enforce the jaywalking.”

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