
DATE: Tuesday, November 25, 1997            TAG: 9711250568

SECTION: FRONT                   PAGE: A1   EDITION: FINAL 
SOURCE: BY LORRAINE EATON, STAFF WRITER 

                                            LENGTH:  104 lines

TEENS CAUGHT IN CROSS HAIRS OF LAWS THAT RESTRICT ACTIVITY

Chrissy Sexton spent many a day last summer slashing ocean waves aboard her best friend's Jet Ski. In summers to come, skiers 15 and younger might not enjoy that unrestricted pleasure.

Add it to the growing list of restrictions on teen-agers.

Although teen-agers are not disproportionately responsible for accidents involving personal watercraft, colloquially called by the trade name Jet Ski,the Virginia General Assembly is likely to consider next session a spate of bills to regulate the watercraft operators, with an emphasis on restricting young users.

``As long as you know what you're doing,'' said Chrissy, 15, ``you should be able to Jet Ski.''

``That's not fair,'' she added, underscoring the feelings of other teens interviewed for this story.

Adults might reply: Life's not fair.

But some say that the line between fair and unfair is becoming increasingly blurry when it comes to being a teen-ager in America. Laws, rules and regulations adopted over the past decade range from curfews to court decisions that allow random searches of students. It's a trend that some say is based on fear and sends a negative message to teens that they are being watched, and that adults expect trouble.

``I believe that largely the bias that has developed against teen-agers in this country coincides with the perception in the rise of teen crime,'' said Kent Willis, director of the Richmond-based American Civil Liberties Union of Virginia. ``People fear teen-agers in a way they didn't before. It's that fear, no matter how irrational, that has allowed these (rules and regulations) to crop up.''

In the past decade, courts have cleared the way for searches of students, although a group of Norfolk public high school students has filed a suit challenging Norfolk schools' right to conduct random student searches.That case is scheduled for trial in January.

In a separate but related case, Granby High School student James A. DesRoches II sued the School Board after he was suspended for refusing a search of his backpack. The judge ruled that that search was illegal, but the larger issue of random student searches is yet to be determined.

Throughout the country, shopping malls have banned teens without parents from the stores and corridors. And the penalty point system, which assigns penalty points for driving infractions, was changed by the 1996 General Assembly to assign more points to minors with infractions than adults.

It's a difficult balance, said Lucien T. Winegar, professor of psychology at Randolph-Macon College. On one hand, we want to protect citizens, he said. On the other, teen-agers' civil rights are too often taken for granted.

The state committee recommending the watercraft restrictions for teens found that about 17 percent of accidents were caused by people ages 11 to 20, an age group that accounts for roughly the same percentage of the population. But teens are the target of the safety proposals.

Del. Harry R. ``Bob'' Purkey, a Virginia Beach Republican, will introduce a bill to raise the minimum operating age of personal watercraft to 16 from 14. He has been pushing for the change since 1990.

``The nature of being a 14-year-old - and I realize that all 14-year-olds are not exactly alike - and being out there operating a vehicle on the water that can go 55 miles per hour, well that scares me,'' he said.

The state committee also suggests setting a minimum boat operating age at 16 and requiring young boaters to pass a safety certification course.

``I wouldn't have a problem with that,'' said Jon Hlinovsky, 15, a Windsor High sophomore who has been driving boats with his father since he was 6. But Jon said it wouldn't hurt for older folks to have some training, too.

``Old people, they do a lot of dumb stuff,'' he said.

Purkey said that the most reckless group of personal watercraft users are between 20 and 25. He'll push legislation to post any watercraft violation on adults' driving records.

``You talk about a hammer,'' he said. ``That's a big hammer.''

Making laws based on age is perfectly legal, Willis said. Even stores that post signs limiting the number of teen shoppers are within the law.

``As groups of individuals are discriminated against, we tend to mend the law,'' he said. ``That's why the list has gotten longer . . . race, gender, origin, disabilities. You have to wonder with such a prejudice developing against teens in the past five or six years, if the trend continues that the laws might be amended to say, `you can't discriminate against teens.' ''

The message isn't lost on teens, Winegar said. Teens, especially older teens, believe that all eyes are on them anyway. For example, in his research Winegar asked teen-agers if they would attend a rock concert with 5,000 fans if they had a spot on their jeans. Most say no way because they're sure to be noticed.

``Some of these things, the signs on the doors for example, feed into these beliefs that everyone is watching them in a very negative way,'' he said.

Winegar believes that our society is in a phase of erring on the side of caution when it comes to regulating the behavior of youth.

``In general this country has a great ambivalence about teen-agers,'' Winegar said. ``We think that they are neat and are at a cool time in their lives and that they have a lot of potential. On the other hand, they kind of scare us.'' ILLUSTRATION: Color photo

STEVE EARLEY/The Virginian-Pilot

Dolina Scarborough, 16, left, and Chrissy Sexton, 15, may not be

able to ride Scarborough's water-craft if a proposed bill is passed.

STEVE EARLEY photos/The Virginian-Pilot

Some stores, such as this Wilco Foodmart in Virginia Beach, bar

groups of teens from shopping in the store without an adult. Teens

think such restrictions infringe on their rights.

Virginia Beach Del. Harry R. ``Bob'' Purkey says he will introduce a

bill raising the age of watercraft operators to 16.