A group of concerned businesses presented a letter with 114 signatures to the Damariscotta Board of Selectman Dec. 3 requesting a policeman on foot in the downtown area to help reduce incidents involving teenage loitering.
It asserts teen loitering has been an issue in downtown Damariscotta for many years, but the incidents have gotten worse over the past year.
Problems listed include “shoplifting, vandalism, defacing property, destruction of property, loud profanity, drug related activity, reckless and inappropriate activities, such as skateboarding, wanton littering, and gathering in boisterous and rude throngs that many, especially older people, find intimidating.”
The letter details several solutions the business owners have undertaken already including talking to the young people and investing time, materials, and money towards fixing the problem.
Barnaby Porter of the Maine Coast Book Shop helped gather signatures for the letter. “I recognized regulars and approached them at the bookstore,” he said. “I had very little trouble gathering signatures, for the most part people were happy to sign.”
Porter explained he donated a substantial sum of money to the Teen Center located on Chapman Street, which is now closed. This has left few places for idle teens to go.
He said he doesn’t want to label all the teens as bad kids. He understands that sometimes the troublemakers are the ones that stand out, but he thinks added police presence would improve relations downtown.
“I’d love to have a cop come in everyday after school,” Porter said. “It would be an authority figure, and maybe the sound of his jangling hardware coming up the street would calm (the kids) down a little.”
He is frustrated, because he often has to clean up the damage some teenagers leave behind. He is the one washing off graffiti, removing bottles from gutters, cleaning up litter, and replacing plants that died after soda was poured in them, according to Porter.
Mark Bridgham, the Lincoln County Sheriff’s Deputy stationed at Lincoln Academy, explained incidents there have declined dramatically. He attributes it mostly to students being busy with school activities, and an increase in students’ pride for their school, not because there is an officer present.
When incidents happen at the school, the administration takes action and holds the offending parties responsible immediately, Bridgham said.
“Word gets out, and when students face punishment (for petty vandalism), other kids laugh at them,” Bridgham said. “There is a higher level of expectation for how they treat the school.”
Bridgham is working towards fostering an understanding within the Lincoln Academy student population that they should treat the school like it was an extension of their home, and their community as an extension of their school.
According to Bridgham, teens don’t think long term, and what they don’t realize is as vandalism costs for businesses rise, prices will go up in downtown Damariscotta to compensate for those losses.
Damariscotta Police Chief Steven Drake said he hadn’t had many reports of teen loitering or vandalism in the downtown area in the recent weeks before the letter made the selectmen aware of the issue. He explained the police department responds to and investigates all complaints.
“I’m not going to discriminate against these kids because they wear all black or have a lot of piercings,” said Drake. “My job is to enforce the law equally, no matter what a person looks like or their socioeconomic status. I took an oath to uphold the constitution, and everyone will be treated equally.”
Skidompha Library faced several destructive incidents over the past year. Vandals broke a statue and toppled stone benches behind the library, according to Skidompha Director Pam Gormley. One of the benches was dedicated to Holocaust survivor Emil Landau.
The library is meeting the problem of teen loitering head on. Gormley explained Skidompha hired a young librarian, Jennifer Betts, last spring.
Betts revamped their teen room to attract new kids to the library, and give them a place to hang out where they could do what they want and not bother anyone, Gormley said.
Gormley said the library gives teens the opportunity to participate in activities, but asks that they comply by following proper citizenship rules.
Recently the group went on a trip to see “Twilight,” where transportation was provided and the kids only needed money for the ticket. “The trip to “Twilight” was really fun,” Betts said. “I think the kids were pleasantly surprised we would do something like this for them.”
There were several factors that made Betts realize teens needed a place to go in town. “Shortly after I started here I noticed a lot of kids hanging out by dumpsters,” she said. “When the teen center didn’t make it, it left a need for kids.”
To bring new teens into the program Betts has put on some interesting programs for the kids herself. She cooked bugs for a large audience this summer in ‘Bug Fear Factor,’ a part of the teen portion of the ‘Catch the Reading Bug Program.”
Betts explained there is a regular, active group coming to the library daily. On Dec. 5, an early release day, they were coming in to watch two movies and then have a meeting to decide on the name of their group. The kids get to vote on the title of the movie they watch by secret ballot, to ensure the process is fair and not influenced by peer pressure.
The teens decided to call their group the Bookies, the ‘Benevolent Order Of Kids Involved in the Enrichment of Skidompha.’ Hannah Boone was making a poster with the new group name the afternoon of Dec. 5., while other kids hung out in the teen room chatting.
It is furnished with several squishy beanbags for lounging, a small table and chairs, and Ipod speakers, so teens can listen to their favorite music. Bookshelves line one wall. The kids are sprawled across the chairs wearing sweatshirts and jeans.
Most of the kids said they hang out there because their friends do, or because they like the people that hang out there.
Alex Whitman did a wild dance to a song from the movie ‘Grease,’ and then explained why he comes to Skidompha most afternoons. “When the teen center closed I came here,” he said. “I have a lot of friends here, and they have computers.”
Other teens mentioned enjoying being able to talk and be loud without bothering anyone or being yelled at, and having access to the library and computers.
Ross Cameron runs an after school adventure program for middle school kids at the YMCA. Between 20 to 30 teens go to the Y each day after school and participate in free gym play, if they aren’t enrolled in another program, according to Cameron.
The YMCA is working on fundraising and securing grant money to build a teen center attached to the current building, said Cameron. They would like to build a facility with Internet, computers, a flat screen television, and possibly even a kitchen.
In the Maine Coast Book Shop around 4 p.m. Dec. 5 there were about 12 to 15 teenagers taking up four tables in the right front section of Maine Coast Book Shop Café’, near the door to Main St.
Scattered music and notes were coming from the guitar, fiddle and mandolin several members of the group played distractedly. Elsewhere in the café people were working on laptops and carrying on conversations.
When informed that teen loitering and vandalism were becoming such a problem in Damariscotta to prompt a letter from the business owners to the selectmen, the group was surprised.
“I’m angry that we might be blamed for the actions of others,” said a girl in the group, Sloane Fossett.
“We understand there are rules everyone needs to abide by, and that people are angry about teens loitering in town,” Kendra Fontes-May said. “It’s making it seem like all the kids are doing something bad.”
Fontes-May said she likes to come into the café and buy coffee and hang out with her friends. She suggested that certain teens may be rude, but this group of kids would give up chairs if more customers came in wanting to sit down.
The teens suggested loitering might be reduced by businesses playing classical music outdoors.
A group of kids sat out in the cold on the stoop in front of Lincoln Theatre just after dark Dec. 5. They explained they like to hang out on the stoop because it’s better than going straight home after school, and they enjoy being able to do what they want.
Ian Mortimer, 18, of Newcastle, a tall young man dressed in a black trench coat, described the situation. “The people causing trouble are disrespectful, and socially irresponsible,” said. “This is simply a haven for us to sit and hang out.”
They clean up their trash on the stoop, and aren’t causing the recent problems, according to Mortimer.
Emily Wallace pinpointed the closing of the teen center as a contributing factor to teen loitering. “This wasn’t a problem when the teen center was open,” Wallace said. “The kids creating the problems have issues other than this. They have no secure family home.”
Damariscotta Town Manager Greg Zinser, agreed teen loitering was a larger social problem, and said that just adding a police patrol wouldn’t fully address it. He was pleased, however, the business owners brought the problem to the attention of the town.
Zinser explained the town is investigating adding another full-time position to the police force. “The town expects a certain level of police coverage,” he said. “We want to meet those expectations, but we don’t have the money in the budget. We need to increase the size of the department to reflect and act upon those expectations.”
