Unsupervised teens being a nuisance - WALB.com, Albany News, Weather, Sports

Unsupervised teens being a nuisance

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By Wainwright Jeffers - bio | email

ALBANY, GA (WALB) – A lot of parents drop their children off at the movies on a Friday night, but do you know what they're really doing.

We talked to Albany business owners who say some unsupervised kids aren't going to the movies at all.

Instead, they're being a nuisance and causing trouble in the strip mall behind the movie theater on Ledo Road.

"They are just all over our center on Friday and Saturday nights, making out, they're just everywhere," said Katrina Baranko, Merle Norman Owner.

Many say it has become a problem.

"We get here in the morning there's trash everywhere, some business owners have had broken pots," said Baranko.

When they ask them nicely to move they're rude.

"One night I got ready to leave I couldn't get my car through," said Baranko.

"Customers will try to get through they'll just stand in the drive through," said Calvin King.

King owns Elements Coffee, the only business on the strip open late.

"I at least see some sort of benefit from the kids coming and going, but it's gotten to the point where my older clients won't come in on a Friday or Saturday," said King.

When they get dropped off at the movie theatre, some of the young people end up in front and behind the strip mall.

"They smoke, drink, and fight," said King.

"You talk to them and they'll kind of laugh in your face," said Baranko.

King says not all the kids are mischievous but the ones who are have done damage to his business.

"They've pulled the sinks off the walls in the bathrooms, they go in groups of five or six," said King.

He says he's big on customer service and at least two nights a week the loiterers make it less than ideal.

The business have posted no loitering signs, and some of them even hire security on and off but say it's too expensive to do all the time.

We called Albany Police to check on the issue. They say they are aware of the problem and have had a supervisor talk to some of the business owners.

Owners say police will come and disperse the crowd, but the kids come right back.

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