Fact: Arrests for teens have

reached an epidemic proportion with an average of 10 to 15 a week now

arrested in Peachtree City and Fayetteville.

Fact: Closed movie center,

closed teen center, no easy alternatives for young people to gather unharassed.

Fact: The vote against purchasing

for $2.3 million the Braelinn Church for a center for community activity

will prove very costly as property worth far in excess of the price negotiated

Fact: Viable alternatives?

A return to involvement free of unjustified criticisms. It is nice to

see a city have so many parks but when young people (and older people)

are arrested after dusk, harassed by police on bike paths simply because

they are teens, something is seriously wrong.

Many adults used to say it

is only the undesirable kids (a quote from the current YMCA staff) who

attend rock concerts. Many adults used to say the wrong kind of kids only

get arrested. Well, guess what, Peachtree City and Fayetteville, it is

your kid. The cheerleaders, the sports star, the average student who is

lined up on trial to face indignity, humiliation that far exceeds the

crime-punishment mentality.

An example, one young Starr's

Mill student and four others charged with minor in possession. Seven postponed

trials, legal fees in excess of $750 and the verdict: One year probation,

one year without ability to drive, 75 hours of community service, $175

fine and court costs. Curfew for one year.

Multiply this by 15 kids times

$1,000 times 52 weeks and you come up with a staggering actual potential

cost of $780,000 to the parents of these young people!

How long can we tolerate such

abuse? In college towns police realize their young people are their life

blood and will have proactive programs to prevent such misdirection and

or will have punishment fit the crime. In resort towns judges work with

teens to provide work programs to eliminate lengthy sentences or probations

that limit their time so severely.

I have met with officials of

the Fayette youth probation system and will be applying for a grant based

on alternatives for kids via entertainment. My hope is to again lease

a suitable facility with adequate space in the Peachtree City area to

promote concerts, dances and activities suitable to keeping kids off the

streets, in parking lots or on the road to bars and clubs in Atlanta.

The Citizen, This Day in Peachtree

City, and The Atlanta Constitution have supported me many times in the

past with publicity articles showcasing the results we achieved at Jitterbuggers

Teen Club. We closed this facility one year ago due to building being

sold. Today it stands practically empty.

I am pleased to announce the

rekindling of this effort to help kids out. My company's parent organization

recently awarded us with a modest grant to help kick off this initiative

and I am determined to again work to reignite an effort. Too many young

people have called and written me requesting please bring Jitterbuggers

back. And I for one am not ready to see Fayette County become a retirement

home with a mass exodus of young people from our area.

Congratulations to the newly

elected mayor and council staff. Please remember you have kids who will

one day be teens. Where will you want them to be?

Richard Thompson

Peachtree City

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