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Friday, May 24, 2013
POLL: Rafting Gone Wild – After a brawl on the American River, are more restrictions needed?
by Melissa Corker, published on July 16, 2012 at 8:32 AM
Storyline: Politics
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What happens when you put nearly 3,000 college-age revelers in rafts on the American River on a warm, sunny day in July? If Saturday was any indication, the answer may depend on how much alcohol they have to drink.
The second annual Rafting Gone Wild event on the American River drew thousands of people for what should have been a day of fun in the sun, but, as Edward Ortiz and Max Ehrenfreund reported in The Sacramento Bee, the day ended with drunken brawls and passed-out partiers on the river banks.
“By 5 p.m., dozens were fighting on the shores of Ancil Hoffman Park, beating each other with paddles or rocks and hurling stones at fire and rescue boats,” Ortiz and Ehrenfreund wrote.
Law enforcement and rescue officials had been bracing for the event for weeks, Ortiz and Ehrenfreund reported, and on Saturday a force of 60 monitored the American River, with help from a law enforcement helicopter.
This isn’t your typical Saturday on the river, however.
Rafting is a popular summertime activity in Sacramento, and the American River section from Hazel to Watt avenues is especially popular with rafters because of the easy current and large sandy beaches that serve as entry and exit points. On most summer weekends, families and small groups of friends lazily drift down the river, drinking and chatting and sunning themselves as they go.
The scenario changes when masses of people gather on the river to party.
In 2007, in response to back-to-back July 4 weekends during which heavy partying led to fights and arrests, Sacramento County supervisors enacted a ban on alcohol on that section of the American River, and it is enforced on Memorial Day, Labor Day and the Fourth of July.
That doesn’t stop river rafters from drinking on the river on every other day of the summer, however: Rafting Gone Wild seems to have evolved as a replacement for what used to be a huge pre-alcohol-ban July 4 rafting day.
For big event parties on the river like Rafting Gone Wild, many people hit the water on large river rafts – some of them tied together to create large flotillas – while others make their way downstream on inner tubes or inflatable pool toys. Despite life jacket laws on the river, most rafters used theirs as seat cushions rather than life preservers.
The organizers of Rafting Gone Wild included this disclaimer in their event notice on the allevents.in/sacramento.com site:
“We are not liable for any deaths, injuries, or loss of property that may occur on this rafting trip and are not responsible for your decisions. AT ALL.”
The event notice listed some of the day’s planned fun as mud wrestling, cliff jumping, music, jungle juice (a homemade alcoholic concoction that includes a variety of alcohol and a smattering of fruit juice) – and “beads for O O,” which, for the uninitiated, is a Mardi Gras reference to an incentive for girls to flash their breasts.
This was the second annual RGW event, and according to police stats, there were 12 arrests last year and aid was given to nearly 100 people. This year, no serious injuries were reported, and officials said they had no tally Saturday evening of how many arrests and rescues were made during the event, according to the Bee.
But what is at the core of the problem? Maybe it’s the alcohol – recent reports showed less police activity on the river on alcohol-ban days. Maybe the problem stems from the age (read immaturity) of the rafters. After all, you wouldn’t expect the same result from a flotilla of soccer moms or retired baby boomers.
Tom Stienstra writes in The San Francisco Chronicle that, when it comes to fun on the river, there is a generational difference in the definition of “fun.”
“When Boomers venture outdoors, they want "salve for the soul," according to studies by consulting firm Wirthlin Worldwide, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and others,” Stienstra wrote. “Above all else, they value quiet campfire time with people they love.”
On the other hand, Stienstra said, younger generations tend to want social events where they can get wasted. “They want it to be easy and loud, with a lot of people at a marquee destination where they can meet spontaneously.”
So, what’s the deal with Sacramento’s Rafting Gone Wild? Does it have to be a wild event that results in brawls, arrests and water rescues?
Is it a problem of no manners, or not having common sense? Would a ban on alcohol on the river solve the problem, or just force people to be more creative in how they circumvent the ban?
Tell us what you think about this topic in today’s poll and give us your suggestions in the conversation below.
RESULTS OF THE LAST POLL: In our last poll, we asked readers “Has Occupy Sacramento been effective?”
28.3 percent responded YES: They've opened the debate and raised some important questions
30.2 percent said SORT OF: They got people talking, but not much has come of the effort so far
41.5 percent said NO: They only created a distraction to more important city business
H/T: ranSACkedmedia.com
Melissa Corker is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press. Follow her on Facebook and on Twitter @MelissaCorker.
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The county should charge them admission, set up a beer garden, get a piece of the raft rental fees, and find vendors to sell beads and build a mud-wrestling ring.. with all proceeds going to hire more rangers for the parkway. Parks dept should hire these folks to organize more events to raise more cash.
How about the other disclaimer on the organizers website: "Use common sense and dont get blacked out, you will get aids and then drown. The river is running cold and fast."
Would be interesting to hear a SacPress interview of the event organizers.
The whole event is embarrassing. Sacramento suffers a black eye due to events like this.
I rescheduled a downriver kayak practice for Eppies that had been scheduled for that day (they did), specifically to avoid being anywhere near the river that day. Then, Sunday morning, I ran down that stretch of river and completely filled my kayak with empty cans (many with the telltale "shotgun" holes), bottles, deflated floatie toys, and other garbage. Heavy fines should be levied for littering.
I don't know what the solution is for the complete disregard for protecting and appropriately enjoying our natural public resources. I fear it's a much larger societal issue, and disheartening. I admit to considering some very bad retaliatory thoughts as I fumed over this event yesterday.
And it's not just the unsightly display of poor behaviour, someone WILL die on this river; it's a matter of luck it didn't happen this time.
I wish I had a solution. Glad they aren't my (nonexistent) kids.
Anecdote:
Two weeks ago, while prepping for an Eppies practice run on the river, I spoke with one of the Rangers about the increase in stupid behaviour on the river, and he told me this one from three weeks ago:
Group of young adults came to the river one evening armed with a lot of beer, a little weed, floaty toys from the local x-mart. Not a PFD in the bunch. One guy brought an anchor, so they could stop their little flotilla for an extension of the party. But there was no attachment point for the anchor on the floaty toy, so he tied it to his ankle! One bump, anchor flings off the floaty toy, does its work, and, Someone's mother got some very bad news that night.
Disappointing and tragic.
And the binge drinking "Phenomenon" is anything but. It is the predictable outcome when young adults are told they cannot drink at all until they are 21. They will still drink, but they will do it in hiding, in dangerous circumstances, and away from the tempering influence of more responsible adults. And they drink to get really drunk. I would rather see a few 17 year olds having a beer at my favorite bar than having them hangout with a 25 year old loser who buys them beer, and then having them drive on levee roads to party in a walnut orchard.
Lisa Oulette is wrong. Those kids out on the sandbar shotgunning beers are her kids, and mine and yours too.
As a responsible paddler, trained in safety and first aid, it DOES become my responsibility to render aid if needed; but it should not be needed due to reckless behavior.
And the littering? You don't address that issue... I hope you are not suggesting that perhaps if we "uncontrolled" that, it would be less? I doubt it. This is just bad, selfish behavior.
Also notethat Sac Sheriffs have used DUI work project crews to clean up schools and parks for years, and these resources could just as well clean-up riverbanks. It might be their own mess they are cleaning up.
And as the event is legitimized and attracts a broader participant base, the crowd control and trash issues become less of a concern.
My solution would be to repeal the alcohol ban on certain holidays.
This is not a "don't like it then stay away issue": We all pay for this behavior whether it be through the taxes we pay for the EMTs and Law Enforcement attending (when they could be doing something that better serves the community)....the cost of picking up litter, saving a drowning drunk (or recovering their body) or through a cut foot weeks later from a thoughtlessly broken beer bottle. As a community we are all involved: Some get to enjoy this day, others just pay for it.
Social media has presented us with a new level of challenges: Historically, organized events of this nature (open to the general public and involving the consumption of alcohol) required permitting. With that comes responsibility, and a significant permit cost ot ensure adequate security and law enforcement are present.
Today, the rules are changed: Facebook provides an opportunity to freely and almost anonymously congregate a large group of people for this sort of activity, with no responsibility required. But who carries the can when things get out of hand?
The challenge is finding a way to deal with these anonymous, social media driven events that the broader community is now being forced to pay for. And the solution isn't a banning of alcohol, or even banning this event as neither will make the problem disappear: Bros will find another place or time to get drunk and act out, and people of this age will always be drawn ot his type of summer-time event, no matter where it is held.
Sacramento needs to get creative, get organized and embrace, manage and control this event. And somehow make the Bros pay for the significant cost of providing safety and security of the participants, and other park users, and protecting of the environment.