Charleston Weekly

In Charleston, the big news following the Fourth of July this year had little to do with our country's independence or with who had the biggest, most awesome fireworks. Instead, it had to do with a little, extremely chaotic event that took place on Folly Beach and led to a sixty-day drinking ban.

On July 4^th, what law enforcement officers describe as a "riot" occurred on Folly Beach's sands. That morning, four tour buses unloaded a crowd that was rowdy and out of control. And as the day went on, they only got rowdier. Later in the day, fights broke out and four Folly officers as well as a Charleston County sheriff's deputy were injured. At the end of the chaos, over one hundred bags of trash were left behind and seven people were arrested.

On Tuesday night (July 10^th) following the debauchery, an emergency ordinance banning alcohol on Folly's sands passed for a full sixty days. The vote was unanimous. Remember the days when all you had to worry about on this particular beach was pouring your drink into a plastic cup? Well, now—cup or no cup—alcohol is strictly off-limits and could cost you as much as $1,092 in fines if you choose to ignore the ban.

And the locals aren't all that upset about it. At Tuesday's City Council meeting, residents spoke out about their frustration with people drinking on the beach. Not only are they scared of being out on the roads with beachgoers who have downed some cold ones—they're also sick of the trash being left behind on their property.

As resident Andy Norman said after showing all at the meeting a bag full of "whip-its" (nitrous oxide chargers that people use to get high), "I never thought I'd see the day when Folly Beach could make Myrtle Beach look classy." Only three residents of the many who showed up requested that alcohol still be allowed on the beach--but with some stricter rules.

The old law will kick back in around Labor Day—but all of you wanting to bring a cooler of cold brewskies onto the beach won't be totally in the clear. In November, Folly Beach voters will have the opportunity to decide if there should be a permanent ban on alcohol on their sands.

What do you think about the ban? Should the drinking ban be a permanent law?