In Honest Defense of Community and Peace
By J. Lee Austin
The great Memorial Day weekend is in full swing as I write. Bolivar is packed to the rafters with a welcome throng of peaceful friendlies, with a notable dearth of the gun firing and handcuffs of the recent Kappa, er … Jeep gone Topless weekend. There’s no denying the demographic difference between these two weekends … in the former you had hordes of 20-somethings (providing good cover for those underage drinkers) hell-bent on getting trashed and trashing the place. In the latter, you had scores of extended families heck-bent on keeping small children entertained with copious amounts of gulf water and sand while sobriety was ubiquitous.
J. Lee is a contributor to Crystal Beach Local News, and is the founder of The Good Help Network, a reader-supported publication.
Generally speaking, I love people, especially those that understand and obey the Golden Rule … you know, the one that underpins all those critical Natural Laws that tend to keep society within civilized limits. But raucous party animals who come here and demolish the peace at the expense of others sure do make themselves a little harder to love.
In point of fact, they really should be ashamed of themselves for that dreadful display of poor behavior. I have half a mind to write their parents a strongly worded letter. It was 3:00 a.m. and the beach air contained hot flying lead. Did you know where your children were?
In the days since The Great Incarceration Palooza, I have taken every opportunity to discuss the matter with the locals, all of whom have something to say about it. Most have suggestions for stopping the madness. I’m hearing things like … close the beach, close the ferry, close the liquor store, appoint a supreme commander, shut off all electricity, etc. That last one prompted a speedy Fakebook reply from our terrific hometown supplier of fresh seafood, Jack Blume, who wrote, “Don’t kill my bait!”
Obviously, whoever it was that suggested an energy black-out had not thought that one through. Ditto the other ideas as well. We probably need to think these through and now is a good time to do it, since a much-anticipated Town Hall meeting is coming in a couple weeks. This should be a good opportunity to voice your ideas and respect those of others.
Hopefully emotions will be left at home and folks will come with their well-measured solutions. I really don’t know how to fix the topless hot mess, but am inclined to think it will require a multi-pronged approach and a massive effort by the home team. Probably no magic bullets to be had here.
Speaking of bullets, one of our local business owners had the frightening opinion that, during the height of the madness, we were within an inch of mass murder … as some of the thoroughly hammered participants were probably packing AR-15’s, just itching for the right provocation/senseless argument to spray the scene. He made my eyebrows go north with that thoroughly chilling commentary.
The sheriff department’s reassurances that they had everything under control begs the question … if 300 plus arrests is considered “under control” … just how many is out of control? 400? 500? How’s about we get it down to less than 20 arrests, no gunplay and no murders, then maybe we can start to talk about it being under control, eh?
I do like the idea of changing the name of the event, though. You Jeepers please weigh in on this idea. My guess is you don’t want to be associated with our annual non-sensical insanity, the precise reason that Surfside is your new and improved hangout. I say it’s time we take the Jeep out of Jeep weekend. What say you?
I do know one thing. We are going to fix it. It is complete anathema to any community that values peace and family. There was no peace during those three days of debauchery and many families simply locked themselves up to hide from reckless marauders. That ain’t right y’all.
On a lighter note, happy trails to the intrepid travelers who made the pilgrimage to the peninsula on this, the opening weekend of summer, to have some beach-flavored fun and celebrate our most precious of holidays, the one on which we honor those Dear Patriots who gave their lives in the service of their country.
In their honor, may we all stand tall … and fight for our freedom … just as they did.
~~ j ~~
“As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them.” ~~ John F. Kennedy
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I think reinventing the wheel would have us running in circles. I’d like to take a look at how other places got control of their problems. Surfside, Galveston, Corpus and some city’s in Florida have all had the same issues and have found solutions.
Good point John,
Hopefully there will be some folks with that kind of information at the meeting. Thanks for weighing in!
~~ j ~~
Maybe we should get TAMU, NOAA and PETA involved.
If Bolivar Peninsula were to incorporate into a city we could solve the problem. The city can control the beaches and can make ordinances to control the beach.
Examples:
1 – Only golf carts allowed on the beach on “Topless” weekend, That would shut things down.
2 – No camping on beach except on weekend (Friday thru Sunday)
3 – All vehicles camping on beach must have current license. We don’t need broken down trailers with no utilities, water or waste water treatment systems. Galveston County requires all travel trailers and RVs to be licensed. This needs to be enforced and tow trailers and vehicles off of the beach that don’t meet County Requirements.
NOTE: Counties in Texas CANNOT make ordinances, only the State of Texas and incorporated areas (cities) CAN make ordinances. If we were incorporated, we could also reduce the speed limit on Hwy 87 to 35MPH so golf carts could travel safely on the road. Maybe from the golf course to Stingaree Rd. TXDOT minimum speed on any state highway is 45 MPH. Basically unincorporated areas of Counties have to follow State Law and the State of Texas will not change their laws (open beaches act) for Bolivar Peninsula. The County Judge is the ONLY official that can close the beach for safety reasons.
If the Bolivar Peninsula were to try and incorporate, the City of Galveston would probably Annex the Bolivar Peninsula. If Galveston County were to Annex the Bolivar Peninsula they would have to provide us city services, fire, police, social service, bus transportation, etc. which would cost the City of Galveston. I don’t want to be annexed by Galveston because I want our beaches open to our residents and visitors but we need some rules and regulations. I do not know if we were to incorporate if we would loose county services. Maybe that could be discussed at the town meeting on June 10, 2024 at 6:00pm at Crystal Beach Community Church.
Another idea could be to have a non-resident vehicle permits for ATVs, Side by Sides and trailers ($50/day). Parking Sticker Patrol could monitor and enforce. These additional funds collected could be used for additional clean-up, maintenance and improvements of our beaches which will increase business and tourism.
Good morning. I do hope all had a blessed Memorial Day weekend. I agree with John Paul’s thoughts on the issue at hand. I am a native Texan and proud of it. I do remember as a young girl the whispers and shaking of heads at the raucous behavior displayed on Galveston beaches on “May Day” or “Splash Day”. I also remember a sigh of relief when it was prohibited and done away with. We need the same strength and determination from our elected officials to sign into effect laws, regulations or restrictions from this type of uncivilized gathering. I’m not sure what was placed into effect for May Day/Splash Day, but we definitely need to copy the plan and get it in place as quickly as possible.
Good luck with our State Representative and our State Senator. My neighbors and I have been begging them for assistance and we heard nothing back from them. Not a single reply. Environmental Agencies seem to have more power under the current administration than anyone else. Close the beach for dune maintenance and for turtle nesting. Residents found turtles nesting the following Monday. How many of those turtles have or could have been killed by the Thugs on the beach?
Good point Renee … we witnessed a number of them relieving themselves in the dunes, which is not really acceptable … on several levels. Maybe changing the name to Save the Sea Turtle Weekend would work!
Crickets from your representatives is also not acceptable. Let us all engage them until we get some results. Reminds me of that old saying, “When they feel the heat, they see the light.”
We are going to win, so Keep Fighting!
Best of luck,
~~ j ~~
Very good write up and summary of the problem.
I still contend that this problem can be easily solved if
the governor, state Rep for Galveston county
and the county commissioners get together.
They have considerable leeway when it comes to
public safety
and addressing civil disorder.
Thanks for the kind words, John. I have to agree that if those elected officials hear enough of an outrage from their constituents, they just might take some meaningful action.
One thing is certain … this calls for All Hands on Deck!
Best of luck,
~~ j ~~