Spring Break: Has the party gone too far?

Spring Break: what started as an annual week-long vacation from books, tests, papers and classrooms has become a tradition for the five million college students who flood sunbelt resorts including Daytona Beach, Florida, South Padre Island, Texas and Palm Springs, California. In the midst of the tanning, beach volleyball, and MTV telecasts, problems ranging from public intoxication and underage drinking, to rape and murder have begun to plague the early party. Various resorts responded to the problems in different ways, and the big beer producers, Miller and Anheuser-Busch, no longer sponsor Spring Break events.

The money from Spring Break tourism keeps many resorts encouraging and recruiting students to their towns for the vacation. According to an article in Adweek’s Marketing Weekly, Daytona Beach rakes in some $170 million during Spring Break, while South Padre Island takes in over $60 million. However, some resorts, tired of the violence, vandalism, drunkenness, and traffic problems have said enough is enough. Fort Lauderdale, Florida, once the number one spring break spot, cracked down on the all-night beach parties, alcohol, nudity, and general chaos, moving the vacationers up the coast to Daytona Beach. Palm Springs passed laws against nudity, public drinking, and cruising in cars to help control the flocks of college students that annually wreak havoc on the quiet resort town.

Daytona Beach should be the most popu- lar Spring Break destination this year. Suzanne Heady of the Daytona Beach Chamber of Commerce said the city has planned a full schedule of activities for the month of March. Hheady said she does not expect many problems, except for violation of open container laws: the city does not permit open alcoholic beverages in public.

“Our goal is to keep the students busy,” said Heady.

Al Tolley, public information officer of the Daytona Beach Police Department, said, “What we have experienced since 1989 has been a [alcohol] consumption problem.”

He said violation of the open container law, public intoxication, underage drinking, and bumper-to-bumper traffic create most of the problems for the police.

Daytona Beach has a policy of “voluntary compliance,” which means that violators of alcoholic beverage laws have an opportunity to correct their behavior before police arrest the offender. According to Tolley, minor theft is also a problem, but Daytona has not experienced any violent person crimes such as armed robbery, rape, or assaults by students during Spring Break.

Closer to home, Galveston Island, Texas, followed Fort Lauderdale’s example and passed laws to help prevent problems; these include a ban against alcohol on the beach and boardwalk. There is good reason for these new laws, since two years ago, the small town turned deadly for two spring breakers; in March of 1992, two young men were shot during a minor riot on the beach. Such violence is unusual; Vic Maceo of the Galveston island Beach Patrol said that usually the biggest problems of Spring Break were alcohol consumption by minors and fights. He said most of the problems were caused by high school kids, adding that Galveston receives more high school than college students. The town is not planning any major events,, preferring to tone down the spring break activity.

“For the city council, Spring Break is not a priority,” said Maceo. “We [the beach patrol] have run at full strength during Spring Break, but we’re just running a skeleton crew this year. We’re just not anticipating the crowds we’ve had in the past.”

The Dallas Morning News carried stories the last three years regarding problems of men sexually abusing women on South Padre Island. In 1991, five rapes were reported during the Spring Break period. Problems in 1992 and 1993 included accounts of drunken men forcibly surrounding, stripping, fondling, and videotaping women on the beach. The South Padre Island Convention and Visitors Bureau said the resort expects 150,000 people over 30 days. To help cope with problems, South Padre will have a Drinking Awareness Program on the beach. Chief Sanders of the South Padre Police Department said that one of their biggest problems is public intoxication. According to Chief Ssanders, the police department will hire additional officers and call in reserve law enforcement to help patrol the beaches. The resort’s Spring Break events include live beach concerts, basketball and volleyball tournaments, and sponsored parties.

Port Aransas, Texas, one of the nearest beaches to UTD, expects 12,000 to 15,000 additional people every day, said

Carol Ann Anderson of the Port Aransas Chamber of Commerce. The biggest percentage of these are college students, said Anderson, but the accommodations are being filled rapidly by families, as well. There are no planned activities, but the beaches will be open 24 hours a day. She expects their biggest problems to be long lines at restaurants and cleaning up afterwards. Robert Sherwood, Port Aransas Constable, said that over the last few years there has been a decrease in crime on the island during Spring Break. He attributes this to high visibility of police officers on the beach. Sherwood said the biggest problems are “alcohol consumption and public intoxication.”

Corpus Christi, just across the bay from Port Aransas and Mustang Island, also reports a decrease in public intoxication and public lewdness. The City meets with incoming students to explain local laws. In 1993, the seaside town attracted more than 200,000 students during Spring Break and this year expects even more. Chuck Bradley, communications specialist with the Corpus Christi Convention and Visitors Bureau, said, “We will not tolerate excessive bad behavior.” He said the city’s biggest problem is crowd control.

Overall, major problems at the resorts tend to be associated with alcohol consumption, with consumption by minors and public intoxication being the most common offenses. Tthe biggest concern seems to be public safety. The resorts welcome students, button at the expense of their residents’ peace of mind: if you can’t limit yourself to responsible, safe fun, they don’t want you causing problems. All in all, have a safe and happy Spring Break.