Thread: Gulf Shores Bans Beach Spring Break alcohol

Here are a couple more post cards from Miami Beach

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.

Originally Posted by Bill171

Than is dis-respect at a lot of levels.

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.