Panama City Beach Bans Beach Drinking During Spring Break

Panama City Beach, Florida sobering up for Spring Break 2016 … turn out the lights, the party is over, maybe. 

Panama City votes to ban beach drinking during Spring Break in an effort to clean up its image and crackdown on spring break partying. The council voted unanimously to ban alcohol at a special meeting that will ban drinking on the sandy beach in the city limits next Spring Break. However, if anyone thinks this is all that has to be done, they are sorely mistaken. The problem is that the drinking will still go on inside bars on the beach and then will be brought to the beach. Illegal drugs are still an issue.

None of these laws or ordinances passed deal with individual’s behavior and sadly, the kids of today are out of control on Spring Break.

Panama City Beach leaders have voted to ban beach drinking during the month of March as part of larger crackdown on spring break partying.

The city council approved the ban on beach drinking during a special meeting to address spring break issues.

The Panama City News Herald reports that the city and the county are considering additional measures to curtail spring break rowdiness after seven partygoers were shot and injured at a spring break party this year.

Local officials say they want to clean up the city’s image after negative publicity from the shootings and an alleged sexual assault that happened during other spring break festivities on the beach behind a popular nightclub.

Panama City Beach City Council Passes Spring Break Ordinances.

They also heard from community members before voting. This is what the council decided:

- The month of March will be considered spring break.
- No more sales of alcohol after 2 a.m. during spring break.
- No drinking in commercial parking lots during spring break.
- No parking in right-of-way areas after dark year-round.
- No drinking alcohol on sandy beaches during spring break.

We shall see next year if it makes a difference. I am skeptical because if college kids want to drink to excess and do drugs, they will find a way. Add in a criminal element and guns and you have a mess. Or will this just push the problem to another beach Spring Break location?

Daily Commentary – Thursday, May 14, 2015 – Los Angeles Woman Cut Off Wireless Access In Her Home

• Wanting more research conducted into the safety of WiFi, claiming a wireless water meter made her sick

Daily Commentary – Thursday, May 14, 2015 Download

Fatal Amtrak Crash: Train Traveling 106 MPH When it Hit Curve and Derailed … 7 Dead, 200 Injured and Individuals Still Missing (UPDATE: Amtrak Engineer ID’d as 32 Year Old Brandon Bostian, Not Talking & Has Lawyer)

THE CAUSE OF THIS LAST NIGHTS FATAL TRAIN CRASH IN PHILLY WAS EXCESSIVE SPEED …

According to the National Transportation Safety Board, the train that crashed in Philadelphia resulting in 7 dead, 200 injured and some still missing was going 106 mph as it approached the curve in Port Richmond. The NTSB stated the “black box” data recorder indicated that the train’s speed at 106 mph just before the curve. The train’s engineer applied emergency brakes, but several seconds later, the train’s speed was only down to 102 mph, when the data recorder stopped. The speed limit for that curve at Frankford Junction was 50 mph. It is safe to say that it was excessive speed, not an infrastructure problem that was the cause of this terrible train crash as the Amtrak train 188 was traveling twice the speed limit.

An Amtrak train involved in a fatal crash here was traveling at more than 100 miles an hour, twice the speed limit, as it entered a sharp curve where it derailed Tuesday night, federal officials said Wednesday.

As rescue personnel picked through the train’s wreckage and local hospitals cared for injured passengers, the National Transportation Safety Board said a “black box” data recorder put the train’s speed at 106 mph just before the curve. The train’s engineer applied emergency brakes, but several seconds later, the train’s speed was only down to 102 mph, when the data recorder stopped.

“As we know, it takes a long time to decelerate a train,” said NTSB member Robert Sumwalt in a news conference.

Referring to the application of the brakes before the crash, he added, “You’re supposed to enter the curve at 50 miles an hour. He was already in the curve.”

UPDATE I: As per Philly.com, the Amtrak train’s engineer is not talking and has lawyered up.

The train’s engineer, who has not been identified, declined to give a statement to police investigators and left the East Detectives Division with an attorney, police commissioner Charles H. Ramsey said Wednesday.

The train’s conductor, also unidentified, was at Einstein Hospital with a skull fracture, Ramsey said.

Brandon Bostian was the engineer of the Amtrak train that crashed in Philadelphia,
killing at least 7 and injuring more than 60. (LinkedIn)

UPDATE II: Amtrak Engineer of Derailed Train, Brandon Bostian, Can’t Remember Crash Details.

The lawyer of Brandon Bostian claims his client has no recollection of the crash.

Brandon Bostian, the engineer driving the Amtrak train that derailed in Philadelphia Tuesday night, has no recollection of the crash itself and “no explanation” for what happened, his attorney told ABC News.

The attorney for Bostian, 32, a Queens, New York, resident, confirmed his identity to ABC News, and added that Bostian voluntarily turned over a blood sample and his cell phone and is cooperating with authorities.

Bostian was “very distraught” to learn of the loss of life in the crash, the attorney said, adding Bostian only remembers driving the train to the crash area generally, then later getting tossed around, coming to, finding his bag and his cell phone, and dialing 911.

Bostian suffered a concussion and head wound that required 14 staples, as well as injuries to both of his legs in the crash, the attorney said — but Bostian told the attorney he had “no health issues to speak of” before the crash and was on no medications.

20 Year Old Boston College Student Stephen Ziska Missing Since 5/11/15 From Chestnut Hill Campus in Boston, MA (Update: Found Safe)

MISSING IN CHESTNUT HILL …

20 year old Boston College student Stephen Ziska has been missing since Monday, May 11, 2015 in Boston, Massachusetts. Stephen was last seen by his roommates when he left his apartment on Strathmore Road in Brookline on May 11 around 11:30 AM.  Ziska was supposed to take an exam at noon on campus but never showed up. The 20 year old  biology and computer science major from Brooklyn, New York, has not been in contact with his friends or family since late Monday morning.

Boston College Twitter

Stephen Ziska, a 20-year-old junior from Brooklyn, New York, was reportedly last seen by his roommates at his Brookline apartment around 11:30 a.m. Monday. He was scheduled to take an exam at noon on the college’s Chestnut Hill campus, but never showed up.

Brookline and Boston College police are reportedly heading up the search, and asking the public for help.

If anyone has any information regarding missing Stephen Ziska, please call Brookline police at 617-730-2222 or Boston College police at 617-552-4440.

UPDATE I:  Stephen Ziska Found Safe.

Police say he was located Friday and is now home safe.

BC Spokesperson Jack Dunn released the following statement Saturday: “Boston College is pleased to confirm that our missing junior, Stephen Ziska, has returned home to his family in New York. Our prayers for his safe return have been answered. We extend our thanks to members of the BC community who posted signs throughout the area, to the media for helping to spread the word, and to Brookline Police for their assistance with the search.”

FACEBOOK - Brookline MA Police Department

We are happy to report Boston college student Stephen Ziska has returned home safely. Around 11:00PM yesterday NYPD officers from the 68th precinct confirmed that Stephen had returned to his home address in New York, in good health. Family members in New York arrived on scene to stay with him until his other family members returned from Boston. At this time that is all we have. As a Department we wish to thank everyone who helped in any way getting the message out these past few days, and we are happy he is safe.

University of Virginia Dean Sues Rolling Stone Magazine for ‘False’ Portrayal & Defamation Lawsuit in Retracted Rape Story

YOU KNEW THIS ONE WAS COMING, ALSO THE FRAT WILL MOST LIKELY DO THE SAME …

UVA to sue Rolling Stone magazine for defamation. I am generally not a law-suit happy individual; however, this one was a no-brainer. Following the completely irresponsible reporting by Rolling Stone, A Rape on Campus, and the subsequent retracting of the story and apology after the story fell apart, University of Virginia associate dean of students filed a multimillion-dollar defamation lawsuit against Rolling Stone magazine Tuesday. GOOD!!! With what Rolling Stone did, might just be the poster-child of cases for defamation.

Rolling Stone reported, A Rape on Ca,pus, What went wrong. Many people have been asking since the magazine retracted their story, Rolling Stone journalism … what went wrong?

A University of Virginia associate dean of students filed a multimillion-dollar defamation lawsuit against Rolling Stone magazine Tuesday, alleging that it portrayed her as callous and indifferent to allegations of sexual assault on campus and made her the university’s “chief villain” in a now-debunked article about a fraternity gang rape.

Nicole Eramo is seeking more than $7.5 million in damages from Rolling Stone; its parent company, Wenner Media; and Sabrina Rubin Erdely, the investigative journalist who wrote the explosive account of sexual assault on the campus in Charlottesville. The magazine retracted the article after news organizations and the Columbia University journalism school found serious flaws in it.

Eramo, who is the university’s chief administrator dealing with sexual assaults, argues in the lawsuit that the article destroyed her credibility, permanently damaged her reputation and caused her emotional distress. She assailed the account as containing numerous falsehoods that the magazine could have avoided if it had worked to verify the story of its main subject, a student named Jackie who alleged she was gang-raped in 2012 and that the university mishandled her case.

Read the full complaint HERE.

Much, much more at Legal Insurrection.