PANAMA CITY — A city councilwoman cautioned parents against allowing their kids to come to Spring Break in Panama City Beach, telling Fox News' "Hannity" program it was "dangerous."
Josie Strange was one of three locals featured Wednesday on the second night of a four-night segment on Spring Break in Panama City Beach. The program visited Spring Break last year, and the footage prompted local officials to pass several ordinances intended to clean up Spring Break.
At the beginning of Wednesday night's segment, Fox News correspondent Ainsley Earhart asked local attorney Wes Pittman if he was "here to save Panama City Beach."
"Well, I don't want to pat myself on the back," he told the popular Fox News show. "I'm here to make a big change in Panama City Beach. There's nothing wrong with Spring Break. There are a lot of good kids here, but there are about a handful of nightclubs and two large hotels that make millions and millions off the chaos and strife that is going on. The violence and so forth is not good for our community, not good for our property values. That has to change."
He added that local parents"take their kids from Spring Break elsewhere."
Strange told Earhart she feels "strongly about Spring Break."
Ii feel strongly about the reputation that panama city beach is getting," she continued. "I feel strongly about protecting the residents and the small businesses that live in this town that have made it their home, and this is not the reputation I want our city to have. We have to do something. It's ... accelerating every year. it's getting worse and worse and worse and like Sheriff [Frank] McKeithen said last year: 'We're one beer can away from a riot,' and when it happens, what are we going to say then?
"I think we ought to listen to everything the sheriff tells us," she told Earhart. "If it takes no drinking on the beach, that's what it's going to take. I think that had we done this this year, that they (spring breakers) would have been drinking in the clubs — and that would have been the superclubs or the bars ... responsibility for keeping the peace. We could handle it once they got off ... the street."
Earhart asked Strange what she was hearing from her constituents.
" ... [L]et me put it on record: I'm not against Spring Break. Spring Break is fine, but this Spring Break is not spring break. This is a — I can't even liken it to anything."
Earhart then asked her whether parents should allow their kids to come to Panama City Beach.
Not during Spring Break," she said.
When asked why, she replied: "Because it's not safe. The police are doing the best they can, but it's not safe."
"They're outnumbered," Earhart said.
"They're so outnumbered, and it's so dangerous," Strange said.
Earhart then goes on a ride-a-long with Bay County Sheriff's Office Capt. Faith Bell, askign her what's the worst thing she's seen at Spring Break.
"Just when I say that I see something worse," she said. "You name it; we've seen it. I mean, I've been out here for ... 20-something years doing this and violation of ... any human moral you can imagine we've seen out here."
Earhart then asks Bell what she's seen this year that has shocked her.
"This year, the guns — the amount of guns is getting worse. I mean, we've already got a couple today."
Bell explains that BCSO positions uniformed, undercover and "take-down" officers to deal with the problems of Sprnig Break. The cameras roll as deputies search a drug suspect. Bell explains that they made an undercover buy from the suspect and arrested him; it's the second night in a row they've bought from the suspect, who's not named. Although the confiscated drug appears to be marijuana, it's not specifically identified.
Bell says that night, which is a Friday night, they have confiscated marijuana and "Molly."
In a subsequent discussion featuring Hannity, Earhart and two panelists, Earhart said Bell told her the drugs are from overseas and that BCSO has seen heroin, weed and "Molly."
She also mentioned that Panama City Beach City Councilman John Reichard called the program Wednesday and said that he thinks things are better than what Strange and Fox News have depicted. Earhart quotes Reichard as saying "it's an isolated event."
Before Wednesday night's segment is over, she mentioned two deaths — in a hotel room and pool — and says the first three weeks of Spring Break saw more arrests than last year."
The segment's third part airs at "Hannity" on Thursday at 9 p.m. CDT.