As a teenager, I am enraged at the recent closing of the popular teen club, The Market. What is accomplished by this closing? The removal of another gathering place for Fayetteville's youth is what is taking place.

From a teenager's point of view, Fayetteville is extremely boring. Only a few activities are available for teenagers here. Movies, Dixieland, bowling and billiards are just about it. As a teenager, I know from experience that these activities get boring after awhile.

The grounds on which [club co-owner Myron] Moorehead is charged are ungrounded and are aimed at removing the club from our “quiet” town. The video of the couple dancing on the floor is no reason to call the club a “dry orgy.” If the couple in the video were not at the club, they would very likely be engaged in their activity somewhere else.

As for “imitating sexual activity,” that is the style of dancing of today. No longer do kids dance like “Saturday Night Fever” or “Grease.” Today's dancing is more spontaneous and going with the flow than with set moves. Part of adolescence is the flow of hormones and when dancing and hormones can take over. Look at it this way, they could actually be engaging in intercourse rather than dancing and imitating it. Which would you rather your child do?

Parents are too obsessed with providing only good influences for their children that they overlook the need for the bad influences. They give everything the did not have during their childhood but often forget to give what they did have. How many adults did not engage in these types of activities as teenagers? Not many.

As for the people saying the club disturbs the peace in the area of town, I can not think of many homes located near the club. There are a florist, two gas stations, Jordan Sales and Salvage, an old town hall, and a church located around the club. If most of these places are open and are being bothered at the time of night that the club is open, that is not the club's fault. The gas stations receive extra business and it is extremely odd for a florist to be open at 8pm.

What is going on is the usual stereotyping of my generation. Adults do not look at the good ones but concentrate on the few rotten eggs. Therefore, all teenagers must suffer for another's mistakes. It is the same with driving laws but that is another letter in itself.

The city and parents need to realize that they cannot change the way teenagers behave. The simple removal will not change anything. The kids will just move to another location to do their partying.

If this continues, Fayetteville will provide more proof for its teenager-unfriendly reputation. All us teens ask for is a place where we can hang out, have fun, party a little, and not be bothered by adults who don't like what we are doing. Why can we not have a place like that?

Derek Rader

dwiz@prodigy.net

Fayetteville

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