Gulf Shores Bans Beach Spring Break alcohol

Gulf Shores bans alcohol on beaches for remainder of spring break | AL.com

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By Jonathan Grass | jgrass@al.com Email the author | Follow on Twitter
on March 18, 2016 at 6:05 PM, updated March 18, 2016 at 6:49 PM





The Gulf Shores City Council has banned all alcohol on its beaches effective immediately.
During a special meeting on Friday, the council unanimously adopted an ordinance to prohibit the possession or consumption of alcoholic beverages along the entire Gulf beaches within city limits. The ban is in effect through April 17.
Gulf Shores Mayor Robert Craft spoke previously about such a ban, saying excessive alcohol consumption was becoming a problem.
"The city has a responsibility to protect the health, safety and welfare of our residents and visitors and an obligation to protect the reputation of the city as a family-friendly destination," said Craft. "In order to keep spring break in Gulf Shores a safe environment, it is time we take action."
This new ban prohibits any possession or consumption of any alcoholic beverage on any portion of the beach south of the protected sand dunes within the Gulf Shores city limits from the west end of Gulf State Park Beach to the very end of West Beach.
Anyone who violates the new ordinance can face a fine up to $500 or up to six months in jail.
The Gulf Shores City Council stated it feels the "prolonged consumption of alcohol this year is directly associated with undesirable behavior and an increased risk to public safety," especially with the number of college-aged people drawn there during spring break.
"Gulf Shores has long been known as a favorite beach destination for families from across the Southeast and Midwest," said Craft. "In recent years, we have seen an increase in students coming here for spring break, and we again want to reiterate that we are a family-friendly destination that welcomes visitors of all ages to enjoy our beaches and destination responsibly. We as city leaders have an obligation to do whatever is necessary to provide a safe and enjoyable experience for our citizens and our visitors and to protect our beaches."

This is similar to the alcohol ban imposed at Panama City Beach. Some say it's made the city tamer by driving partiers away.

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Oh, No! Now they will be angry and storm the pier in protest since it is a renown bastion of sobriety.

That is just a ridiculous knee-jerk, look at us, we're doing something reaction.
$500 and/or 6 months, just a bit overboard there.
What about all the locals and tourists who aren't binge drinking dumba$$es, infringe on them because of a few overly exuberant college weenies?

I hope enough of the regular tourist go elsewhere and they lose enough revenue to be noticed.

It's only through April 15 th. No big deal.

I can live without booze on the beach. If it means keeping GS from becoming an out of control cluster $;&# like PCB and some of the other Florida beaches then do what they need to do. The pictures I saw on FB last week of the piles of empty beer cans left by these people is reason enough.

No booze on the beach doesn't bother me, especially if it's just until 4/15. Keep the rabble-rousers/spring breakers away.

After listening to the news about sexual assaults, trash on the beach, deaths from alcohol poisoning and falls from condos, I for one won't miss that cold beer for a couple weeks. It's a shame we have to target a particular group, but when they behave poorly, oh well...

From Steve Jones FB page:

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There is much reaction to the decision that was made yesterday regarding alcohol consumption on the beaches of Gulf Shores and Gulf State Park. For those of you that are declaring it unnecessary, I hope you think it is fair for me to say that perhaps you might not know everything that has happened that drove us to take this action. It was anything but a knee jerk reaction I promise you.And may I say the only people it is REALLY going to affect are people that you don't want to be next to on the beach anyway. A mob of 1,000 drunk "children" that are actively demonstrating they've no regard for anyone or anything is not something you would want to deal with.
For What It's Worth......

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Originally Posted by fshntime

After listening to the news about sexual assaults, trash on the beach, deaths from alcohol poisoning and falls from condos, I for one won't miss that cold beer for a couple weeks. It's a shame we have to target a particular group, but when they behave poorly, oh well...

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Yep, and it all starts with parenting, which seems to not happen anymore. Not to say I didn't get a little tore up drunk when I was younger, but these folks jumping off balconies trying to hit the pool is just stupid. "Play stupid games, win stupid prizes."

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Originally Posted by SNAKE

No booze on the beach doesn't bother me, especially if it's just until 4/15. Keep the rabble-rousers/spring breakers away.

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Doesn't stop them from drinking in their rooms though. That being said, the condo we are staying at issued an email a couple of weeks back that basically said if you are under 25 then you can't rent from us. Contact us for a full refund. Then they went on to explain the whole we are not supporting a spring break here. If you want that go to Panama.

For what it is worth, I heard Panama is becoming more strict on it too.

I have been to Pensacola during spring break and trust me, no one on this forum wants gulf shores or orange beach to become what that is! I'm all for having a good time but the kind of crap that has been going on to the east of us is deplorable! Ever since I was a young child, gs/ob has been a family friendly vacation destination. If the spring breakers continue to come here the area will suffer because of it.

Oh yeah!
Spring Break tourists flood beach with garbage
http://media.local10.com/photo/2016/...843_ver1.0.jpg

What does it cost these cities to clean up and try to control this mess? And take care of all the other crime and extra police working. What a mess we have in this country.

OK, that photo looks disgusting on many levels, being at the surf line is one. Distracts from seeing the scenery, for another. Huge lack of self respect from the young adults who are responsible, who would not behave like that without the crowd mentality they are wrapped up in.......

beached whales!!!! .. I had multiple stitches on my honey moon from a broken beer bottle going in my foot. may crotch crickets and crabs give them a nasty reminder of spring break

I for one welcome it.....I like the family environment of orange beach and gulf shores.....when we would come on spring break it wasn't during the colleges breaks.....but we would stay a day or 2 later to miss the exit traffic and how the crowds change .....we would be leaving around 2am and the partiers were getting in from the bars then.....but that was Panama city (when Gulf shores pier wasn't open)

I don't mind people having fun but that picture is disgusting. All that trash and they are walking through it. Even a raccoon will crap in one side of an attic and live on the other side.......

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Originally Posted by travis

I don't mind people having fun but that picture is disgusting. All that trash and they are walking through it. Even a raccoon will crap in one side of an attic and live on the other side.......

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I know of a couple of guys that will $hit in bed and kick it out with their feet.

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Originally Posted by Pier#r

Oh yeah!
Spring Break tourists flood beach with garbage
http://media.local10.com/photo/2016/...843_ver1.0.jpg

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Ah, to be young, foolish, and a Berney Sanders voter. :)

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Originally Posted by flyguy

I know of a couple of guys that will $hit in bed and kick it out with their feet.

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That is some hard core nasty right there......

Here are a couple more post cards from Miami Beach :drunk

http://i1102.photobucket.com/albums/...psvdunomlx.jpg

http://i1102.photobucket.com/albums/...psbwhht79x.jpg

I wouldn't let that happen on my property or house......so why should Alabama or Florida.....money isn't everything to put up with that

Than is dis-respect at a lot of levels.

We used to live on West Beach Blvd in between Little Lagoon Pass and the Surf and Racquet Club. Although we don't have the brunt of Spring Break revelry that far down W. Beach Blvd, we definitely saw more trash on the beach when the large herds of students were passing through. Last year my wife went out on the beach while 8 months pregnant with our 3 and 6 year old kids and basically shamed the spring breakers in to picking up their trash. She wouldn't say anything to them. She would just stand as close as possible to them and give our two small kids trash bags. Then she would begin to pick up trash while 8 months pregnant right in front of these large groups. I was working so I missed it, but she said the shame that would wash over the college kids faces was hilarious. It wouldn't take more than 30 seconds of her huffing and puffing while bending and crouching in front of them before she would have 30-40 college kids cleaning their mess. Now if only GS/OB had an armada of pregnant women willing to do trash pick-up pilates we could keep the beach pristine!

Woo Hoo! That was good on her! Sounds like she really out niced them, with grace and dignity. Nice to hear that some were willing to learn.

Those photos show some serious red cup abuse.

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Originally Posted by Bill171

Than is dis-respect at a lot of levels.

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1. Their own personal bodies
2. Their regard for the personal well-being of others
3. The shoreline environment (glass, cans, plastic)
4. The community (that has to clean up the devastation)
5. The rule of law
6. The marine environment (fish, turtles, dolphins, etc)
7. The aesthetic beauty of the beach

It's a great point, Bill! These young people are not only degrading their own bodies, where they put themselves into dangerous situations they wouldn't otherwise get in. There's also a high degree of disrespect for others and a mob mentality when it comes to personal comportment. You see large pieces of trash, but there are cigarette butts and other small items that won't go out of the ecosystem in our lifetimes if they're not individually picked up. This is the height of irresponsible behavior!

There are certainly littering laws and underage drinking laws being flouted here. If there's a single aspect of American life that young people should learn to respect, it's the rule of law! This scene of a littered beach is a crime scene!

Then there's the aesthetic beauty of the shoreline, which is why many people love to visit the beach. What an assault on the sensibilities of others, the community, and the environment!

I behaved just as these young people behaved, in my day. Even went to Spring Break on the Gulf Coast once. Got a little older and took a great interest in Nature, and the ways that I could help preserve some of it. The description of a mob mentality at work is absolutely correct. And any mob mentality is going to lack healthy reasoning, and should be viewed with concern. Many of these young people will turn out to be okee dokee folks. The issue of what to do is not in the condemnation of their behavior, but how to improve such behavior. I believe it can be done.

bodebum nailed it....I hate it as well but must admit that I too on some level acted this way...and I turned out to be OK. We deal with this on our beautiful Ozark streams here in the summer and it breaks by heart. We've resorted to banning certain types of alchol on the floats but it still gets nasty from time to time. It's gotten so bad that the Missouri Highway Patrol will use helo's to disperse raft jams and set down on shoals to issue tickets and make arrests.

I hate to say it but it's not just the young people on the beach trashing it up. When I'm down and walking out on the pier sometimes I get pissed off picking up trash heading out to the Octi. Some days it seems like I could spend all morning picking up garbage and never make it to the end. It amazes me that people will sit at the benches or picnic tables and shove trash and cigarette butts in the cracks rather than just put it in the trash cans. I can't count the times that bottles and cans are left laying around and get knocked off in the water. Just my opinion I was raised to always leave a place cleaner than you found it after spending 4 years in the Marine Corp walking the flight line you realize what a small piece of trash can actually get somebody killed.

I agree brother we Navy guys have the same option. But I really think it comes to your raising and your core values. Anybody can trash things up but only a few keep it clean.

The pregnant woman story. Was absolutely wonderful. I hope that guy knows what a great woman he has married.