Spring Break will always be with us. Location, location, location! We are in a location that is good to most of our visitors. As they say, "build it and they will come." The four lane highways are bringing them to us.

In the early 60's, my family bought a motel on the beach near the "Y" (hwy. 79 and 98 bus). It was very common for a college faternity to book the whole motel for spring break. Everyone was well behaved and had a good time. The whole idea was to relax from a hard winter quarter. On the last days, there would be a beach party to celebrate the end of their vacation. Instead of being wild it would turn into a bonding moment as the time ended.

After being on the beach for the last four Spring Breaks, I have decided two things have created the problems with SB. The first thing is the changing the drinking age to 21 from 18. We have created forbidden fruit to 2/3s of the college age people. In their goal of sampling the forbidden fruit of drinking, they have to glamorize the act by over doing it. With too much beer comes bad behavior. It is the stories of past SB that fuel the bad behavior of todays visitors.

The second item that hurts SB is when the high schools have theirs. If you were on FBR last week at night you would have been amazed at the roaming packs walking FBR and Thomas Drive. At least the college students know that you don't walk in traffic.

We believe that the high school breakers are bad because their parents allow them to be bad. There were several times last week where the parents would allow their children to run wild while they just did other things. Several times the parents would buy the beer for the kids to have on the beach. A 15 year old girl is not very pretty throwing up blood after a day of "fun and sun" on the beach. Then to hear her mother bragging about it at the pool the next day makes it clear why SB will continue when the children get to college. These parents are the same ones that will be misbehaving in July. Monkey see, monkey do!

When I was in college in the early 70's, it was required to take a session on social drinking. Funneling and beer pong were not considered good behavior. Maybe we need to return to the idea that the beach is a place to relax, not a place to see if you can kill yourself.

The Corona beer ads might have a point that PCB TDC needs to consider. Relax, you don't have to do everything that the beach offers in the week that you are here.