CAFE TO HOST TEENS AT NIGHT IN WAR ON DRUGS, BOREDOM

Ross Valley teens will have a place to go starting Friday night.

After hearing teens complain there was nowhere to go and nothing to
do, Fairfax Councilwoman Mary Ann Maggiore persuaded Fairfax Coffee
Roasters to stay open later than normal to be a gathering spot for teens.

The business at the corner of Broadway and Bolinas Avenue will
remain open until 11 p.m. Friday - as well as Dec. 22, Dec. 29 and
perhaps other Fridays if attendance is good.

Maggiore said young people need an alternative to drugs and alcohol.

"They told us if they had a place to be, they wouldn't be doing
things they're not supposed to be doing," she said.

Fairfax's downtown is a hub of nightlife thanks to its four bars,
three of which feature live music, within a single block.

Town officials want to curb drug and alcohol use by teens, a problem
across the county, and are considering measures including making
parents financially responsible for parties at which teens are served alcohol.

According to a recent "Healthy Kids Survey," Marin teens have a high
rate of alcohol and substance abuse compared with peers across the
state and nation.

Maggiore, who along with Councilman Lew Tremaine serves on the
town's Youth and Alcohol Task Force, said teens need positive
alternatives to drinking and drugs. It is particularly important at
this time of year, when parents are attending holiday parties, she said.

After talking with the town's Youth Commission, students at Sir
Francis Drake High School and others, she realized holding events at
the Pavilion wouldn't work because kids would feel isolated up on
the hill. That's why she approached Ed Wall, whose coffee shop
is at the center of town.

"They like to see and be seen," she said. The shop is just across
the street from the Parkade parking lot, where Fairfax teens have
gathered for decades.

Wall said he usually closes about 6 p.m., but "we've always wanted
to stay open late. "To be quite frank, it hasn't been economically
sound to do it."

However, he said he is willing to try to provide a place for teens
to gather. The former Air Force brat remembers a childhood filled
with plenty of organized activities that kept kids out of trouble.

"Unfortunately, we don't have that kind of a system," he said. "It's a shame."

From 8 to 11 p.m., the coffee shop will be open only to teens,
although chaperones will hang around the edges for good measure.
Admission costs $5 and includes dessert and a cup of coffee or tea.

"Everyone's curious," said Kaila Wanberg, a 16-year-old Drake
student from San Anselmo.

Wanberg, who helped organize the event, said a fellow student is
scheduled to play guitar.

She said that, other than people's houses, there aren't places for
teens to go. San Rafael may have its new Marin Interfaith Youth
Outreach Teen Center, but that is too far away for Ross Valley kids.

"There's not a place designated for kids to come," she said.

Maggiore said she expects about 40 teens Friday night. She said if
it is successful, the program could be the groundwork for building a
formal teen center in the Ross Valley.

"We'll work with that as it happens," she said.