No Reason to Bust Every Teen’s Party

* On a recent Friday night, a neighbor’s daughter gave a party with a live band. The party began at 7 p.m., her parents were in attendance, and by 8:30 p.m. the police had arrived with complaint in hand to shut them down.

The shallow shortsightedness of some people never ceases to amaze me. Here we had a perfect arena for a lot of teen-age kids to hang out, eat, dance, listen to some good music and not bother anybody. Nobody in our immediate cul-de-sac was put out in the least. We were all notified it would be happening, well in advance.

So now, instead of having 70 or so teen-agers in one place, not making any trouble, with parents around being involved, they are forced to leave, walk the streets to do whatever.

I could possibly understand the person who called the police if it had been going on for hours and getting past 10 p.m. No, it was barely 8:30 p.m. What were the kids doing? Disturbing this good neighbor’s ability to watch yet another episode of Urkel? I can guarantee you that the same people who complained about this party are also the same people who will complain about kids loitering on the streets and at the malls. However, what choice have they given them?

Wake up, Thousand Oaks. You have teen-agers in this community. If you don’t want them drinking, doing drugs, loitering and gangbanging, then stop trying to thwart any attempt they have at having good, honest fun.

MICHELE VENETIS

Thousand Oaks