“Where do you stand in the universe?” Panama City attorney Wes Pittman asked. “Do you want to be remembered by open sex on the beach? Still in our minds are shootings, rapes, rampant drunkenness and chaos.”
Spring break will never be the same. It’s time to kiss the ‘nights we don’t remember, with the friends won’t forget’ goodbye. Panama City Beach has banned alcohol on the beach and is making bars close at 2 a.m. rather than 4 a.m. after an increase in the number of arrests, confiscated fire arms and a three-hour city council meeting the decision was made that Panama City beach will be a "dry" beach until April 18, when spring break season is over.
In high school my curfew was 10:30. I would beg my mom to let me stay out later. Her response was always the same, “Nothing good happens in this town after 10:30.” Panama City council members realized the same thing that my mom realized years ago, nothing good happens after 2 a.m. In my hometown we sat in the Walmart parking lot until it was our curfew. My mom never liked this either. This temporary ban is not just for alcohol on the beach and a set time for the bars to close, but also they are prohibiting the consumption of alcohol in commercial parking lots. My mom is two for two on staying safe.
Leading up the the banning of alcohol there was an altercation involving Mississippi State quarterback Dak Prescott when he was leaving Club Le Vela. There was also a shooting at a house party where seven people were injured. When spring break ended a video of a ‘gang rape’ in broad daylight surfaced. Needless to say, the spotlight was on the leaders of the municipality to do something.
Does this dry spell have anything to do with the fact that college students are broke? Many were worried that this ban would hurt the economy, but it turns out that college students are too cheap to make that much of a difference. Imagine that. So put down your drinks and have a sober good time. Maybe this time you’ll actually have a ‘spring break to remember.’ This spring break will be ‘one for the books?’ Maybe this year you will be able to actually write down in a book. Thank you Panama City Beach for forcing us to make memories that we won't forget.
