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Highlands Today

Unsupervised teens at Lakeshore Mall

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Aaron David

Published: September 14, 2009

Lakeshore Mall should reconsider its decision to close its doors to unsupervised, under-aged teens. While the mall authorities are well within their means to kick out unruly and disruptive patrons, the discriminatory manner unfairly penalizes teenagers who have committed no infraction.

And as Highlands Today reported, the most common complaint about these trouble-makers was their use of profanity. Perhaps a more appropriate response would be to hire additional security guards armed with bars of soap to clean dirty mouths.

Furthermore, the community is, and should, be upset at the new rule change. This rule takes away one of the few recreational options that Highlands County teens have. Teenagers come to hang out, and yes, buy things! Without a positive environment to hang out in outside of school and home, many teenagers will resort to illegal and/or dangerous activities such as drinking, drugs, vandalism, and sex.

While parents should certainly not use the mall to baby-sit their children, frequenting malls is both a shopping and social experience, and Lakeshore Mall authorities should recognize theirs as such.

Aaron David Lake Placid

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