Some Redmond teens causing lunchtime ‘chaos’

Residents who visit and businesses in a shopping center in Redmond are complaining about teenagers in the area.

“It gives us something to talk about — ‘Did you see that kid?’,” Jenifer Derrick, Great Clips manager said Friday.

They say that kids are taking over the shopping center at lunchtime. They come to hang out, get McDonald’s, frozen yogurt and other food items. It’s a natural place for them to gravitate for lunch.

“It’s children, and they’re coming at the same time,” Derrick said.

Redmond High School has an open campus, so kids are allowed to leave. It isn’t just Redmond High youth though — other teens from high schools in the area go there as well. There are also young people who aren’t in school that hang out in the parks nearby.

“At lunchtime, it’s chaos in here — we get this sea of children,” Derrick said.

“Chaotic” was a frequently used word to describe the scene. While not all teens cause trouble, the few that do are disrupting the community. One retired Redmond resident had an encounter with a group of teens in the shopping center.

“There was a group of high school students, and one of them got really verbal and aggressive,” Vernon Budd said.

He called police because the teen was cussing at him and making lewd gestures at him.

“He went on an on and on and called me an ‘F’n old man,'” Budd said.

That’s just one recent incident.

“We had some high schoolers throwing rocks in the street, ’cause that’s awesome,” Derrick said.

She said they were large rocks, but they haven’t just been throwing that.

“And we had them throwing food at our mascot,” Derrick said.

Many of these issues are taking place outside businesses, and very often in the parking lot. Many times, business owners said teens walk in the middle of the street and parking lot, and don’t move for traffic.

“They hang out there,” said Lisa Severin, assistant manager of Yo Wild. “I’ve seen some stuff that’s inappropriate.”

She said they leave trash, and even beer cans sometimes.

Many agree there is a problem that needs to be solved.

“If these students can’t behave, 86 them out of here,” Budd said.

Police say that it’s not that easy, though.

“Some of the recent incidents we have gotten reports about were not students from Redmond High,” said Student Resource Officer Leland Gilbert.

Student resource officers can’t do much if kids are not in school and have done nothing illegal.

The example Gilbert gave was, they aren’t going to arrest a teen for using bad language at lunchtime, even though they don’t condone that behavior. They can punish them in school, but only if they attend high school in the first place.

When police and parents are not around, police say they hope the community will step in to help

“And they do it in a respectful way, that shows them a great example of how to be,” Gilbert said.

Still, community members are frustrated and would like more action from officials and school staff.