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Cops to get tough on Treasure Island partiers

Tribune photo by CHRIS COYNER

Officers will check the identification of anyone appearing younger than 30.

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TBO.com Staff

Published: July 11, 2009

Updated: 07/11/2009 10:03 pm

The Treasure Island Police Department plans to add more officers to patrol the Sunset Beach area in the 9000 block of West Gulf Boulevard, an area popular with weekend partiers.

The beach was teeming with partiers Saturday afternoon and local resident Jackie Licita wasn't happy about the drinking.

"It's the trash," she said. "The environmental impact on the beach ... cigarette butts, plastics and straws."

She called the police to have two cars towed when they parked in front of her driveway, she said.

"I've been here ten years, and I've never seen this before, the mobs and the kids and the drinking," she said. "In the old days, we had the bars and you know, kind of the beach bums, but not the destruction and the desecration of the beach like we have now. I have never seen crowds and drinking like this on the beach."

Robert Cyr, general manager, of Caddy's on the Beach, said his business keeps control of its guests and has plenty of parking. "I think they're trying to blame a lot on us, but we patrol our area," he said. "We make sure there's no underage drinking … We're trying to clean it up and keep it presentable."

Police plan to focus their attention on underage drinking, according to department spokesman Jeff Jensen. Officers will check the identification of anyone appearing younger than 30, Jensen said.

Officers will also be on alert for people driving under the influence, jaywalking and speeding. The town's marine patrol will monitor the water offshore of Treasure Island.

The stepped-up patrols are in response to neighbors, who complain frequently about the number of people who come there to party on weekends and holidays. The area has narrow streets and little public parking, leading to traffic congestion on weekends.

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