PANAMA CITY BEACH — Opinions varied among visitors Wednesday during the first day of a prohibition against drinking on the beach.
Airplanes towing large banners along the coastline carried a cautionary warning Wednesday afternoon of “No alcohol allowed on sandy beach” a day after city and county lawmakers passed new ordinances governing where and when alcoholic beverages can be consumed and possessed.
Electronic signs in front of Panama City Beach City Hall, on the Hathaway Bridge and on Thomas Drive also greeted tourists on the way to their vacation rentals with the words of caution.
And officers monitoring public beach accesses and patrolling the sandy beach were also verbally issuing warnings that violators could face fines or jail time for being caught with alcohol.
Many visitors were unaware of changes to the law. Once informed, some agreed with the decision and others said they would not be returning in coming years.
Numerous unwitting lawbreakers were along the beach in the area known as “The Triangle” Wednesday afternoon. A group of post-college visitors from the Madison area of Wisconsin had just set up their Badgers flag and a beer pong table behind The Summit on Thomas Drive. The group had traveled down to celebrate a wedding with joint bachelor and bachelorette parties.
One member of the wedding party, Joe Eddie, said he thought the move to ban alcohol on the beach was a mistake.
“It doesn’t really bother us all that much,” Eddie said. “We could just go drink at a bar.”
However, he also indicated alcohol restrictions would influence any future vacation plans among his friends.
“There are a lot of other places we could go,” he said.
Farther down the beach, a grandfather sipping a beer sat alongside his 3-year-old grandson. The man also did not know of the changes to the law.
“I’m 42 years old and ex-military,” said Kevin Burke, of Alabama. “If I can control myself and not trash the place, I feel like I should be able to have a beer. But if the rule is no alcohol on the beach, then there’s no alcohol on the beach.”
Unlike the wedding party, Burke said the restrictions would not deter him from coming back next year with his family.
Enforcement: Shortly after noon, Panama City Beach Police officers and Bay County Sheriff’s Office deputies geared up beach patrols, issuing warnings along the beach that was sparsely crowded compared to weeks prior. Many officers were under orders to give people notices that alcohol was prohibited on the beach through April 18 following emergency meetings Tuesday of the Bay County Commission and Panama City Beach City Council.
“Right now we’re taking a common sense approach,” said BCSO Maj. Tommy Ford. “We’re giving people the option to pour it out unless the situation dictates otherwise.”
Ford emphasized that officers issuing warnings will not be a common practice, since signs are posted at beach accesses and social media is used to disseminate the message.
“The option to pour it out will only last in a brief window,” Ford said.
Decisions by the City Council and County Commission to extend a law barring alcohol sales after 2 a.m. and implement prohibition of alcohol on the beach came in the wake of a shooting at a Spring Break house party early Saturday that left seven people injured.
Though many college Spring Breaks are over, BCSO officials said the extension of the laws into April was necessary because of a shifting demographics of visitors celebrating “Spring Break.”
“Now with this different element of Spring Break visitors not being dictated by their class schedule, it makes it difficult to gauge crowd sizes on any given weekend,” Ford said.
Lawmakers have scheduled a follow-up meeting to discuss issues with the laws. The County Commission and the Beach Council are scheduled to meet today at 1 p.m. in the BayCounty Government Center,
840 W. 11th St.