
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SUNDAY, September 10, 1995                   TAG: 9509090008
SECTION: EDITORIAL                    PAGE: G-2   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: ELIZABETH MURPHY
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

JUDGE THEM NOT BY THEIR HAIR

DID I read correctly in the Sept. 4 article, ``Somewhere to Hang,'' that several teen-agers at the Roanoke City Market were arrested for ``blocking sidewalks, smoking under age and disturbing the peace''?

The kids that are ``hanging'' down on the City Market are no threat to anyone except those individuals who have forgotten what it was like to be a teen-ager. They are, for the most part, harmless kids who are starving for entertainment and socialization.

There is no place in the entire city that offers teen-agers anything in the way of socialization and entertainment that doesn't cost a proverbial arm and leg.

I am aghast at the thought of a kid being arrested for ``blocking'' a sidewalk when, less than a quarter of a mile away, the police won't even stop their cars at a house where gunshots were fired.

Disturbing the peace? I have a neighbor who owns a home across the street from adults who physically threaten neighbors while they are beating pit-bull puppies to make them ``mean.''

I have noticed one thing about Roanoke city. There are a bagful of double standards.

The teens down on the City Market are not the problem. The problem is narrow-mindedness and prejudice.

The teens are not drinking in public, and getting into cars and driving off drunk. They are not attacking complete strangers out of boredom. They are not vicious.

They are, for the most part, kids who have a great sense of humor, and are more understanding of themselves than most adults I know.

I wonder how many shop owners in the market area smoked a little (or a lot) of grass during their teen-age years. I would be interested to know how many shop owners have left a bar or a friend's house in a car, dead drunk.

I wonder how many shop owners are leading lifestyles that are hurting others. I wonder how many shop owners reveled in the chaos of the '60's.

If the shop owners abhor the teen-agers who frequent the marketplace, then maybe they should consider opening a teen center, and giving these bored kids something to look forward to.

Otherwise, they should all back off, and reserve their judgments until after they have taken the time to sit down and talk to some of the kids.

They're apt to find that these teens are no different from many of us years ago. If they appear outrageous, so what? What difference does a person's hair style and color make if we look into the heart of that person?

Elizabeth Murphy, of Roanoke, is a homemaker.

by CNB