The Foodstop convenience store has asked Hanover Police for help in reducing the number of local teenagers who use the store's parking lot as a gathering place.
Hanover Police will "ask persons who do not belong at the Foodstop to leave," according to flyers posted by Foodstop management. "Unfortunately, a number of persons who have little or no interest in the products and services we offer seem to consider the area around Foodstop as a place to congregate."
Hanover Police Chief Nick Giaconne said loitering kids have affected Foodstop's business for more than a year. As an example, he cited the Foodstop gasoline of November 1996.
The fire started when 17-year-old Hanover High student Asa Palmer of Bradford, Vt. accidentally ignited gas fumes at the pumps "by flicking his lighter in the direction of a girl pumping gas into her car," Giaccone told The Dartmouth last November.
If loitering persists, Foodstop will ask police to "prosecute criminal trespass actions against persons who remain at Foodstop without good reasons," the flyer states.
Giaconne said it has not been necessary to prosecute any teenagers.
"There's been a cooperative response," he said. "They don't see any more of the problems they used to have. It's been extremely quiet there."
Local kids say the policy has left them without a place to gather in groups and meet their friends.
"It's bullsh*t," said Colin Vernon, 15. "It's the only place to hang out."
Jeff Pappas, 16, who lives in Norwich, Vt., said he tries "to avoid New Hampshire because there are stupid laws in general, and you can't skate here."
Foodstop management declined to comment.
Not every local kid, however, thinks the policy is misguided. Rory Olech, 19, called it "right on."
"It's [wrong] that kids are hanging out without doing anything. I don't think it's their place to be pissed off," he said. "They should go get a life ... There are better things to do than hang out in a parking lot."
