We are not Sodom and Gomorrah
Date Friday, February 14
Clinton's out of the White House - Sanity returns
usatoday
Jayne Clark
For more than a decade, Cancun, Mexico, has been party central for the boozed, be-thonged and besotted boys and girls of spring break. But this year, the drink-till-you-drop college crowd will find less-indulgent hosts.
A majority of the Caribbean resort's hotels, bars and clubs that cater to the student trade have signed a ''civility agreement'' to enforce laws that in past years often were ignored, officials say. Among them are bans on underage drinking and public nudity.
But Cancun isn't the only locale attempting to dilute the combustible mix of booze, sun and hormones that dowse college kids when school's out. Spurred either by fed-up residents, safety concerns for the students or concern that ribald crowds drive away mainstream tourists, a number of party-hearty havens are imposing limits.
In Daytona Beach, Fla., a new law bans thong bikinis and other super-revealing attire in public places. Another recent ordinance strengthens the prohibition against on-street alcohol consumption by banning open containers within 100 feet of main drag Atlantic Avenue. The idea is to prevent revelers at large events from drinking in parking lots and other quasipublic places, police officials say.
The beefed-up public-nudity law, passed in October, includes sometimes-arcane specifications ('' . . . that portion of the buttocks which lies between the top and bottom of the buttocks, and between two imaginary straight lines . . . '' must be covered). The restriction doesn't extend to Daytona's beaches, however, which are under county jurisdiction.
Compared with the 150,000 or so students who are expected to bombard Daytona during three to four weeks in March and April, the spring hiatus in Fort Lauderdale will be restrained. About 15,000 are expected, and that's fine by city officials, who worked to overcome the 10-coeds-to-a-cheap-motel-room image forged by films such as 1960's Where the Boys Are. After attendance peaked at 350,000 in 1985, the drinking age was raised to 21, barricades were erected to prevent cruising and the mayor went on TV to announce the welcome mat officially yanked. Even then, it took an additional five years to get the message out, tourism spokeswoman Francine Mason says.
This year, Cancun expects 40,000 students, a third fewer than last year and a plunge from the peak of 140,000 in 1998 and 1999. Some tourism officials aren't sweating the loss, though.
''We lost a lot of business in groups and conventions,'' tourism spokeswoman Ana Mari Irabien says. ''Regular tourists ran away.''
Tourism official Alejandro Alvarado is more measured, however. They're welcome, if they behave, he says. ''We are not Sodom and Gomorrah.''
Clinton's out of the White House - Sanity returns
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