Letters to the Editor

+ Alcohol on beach should be banned
Dear Editor:
I agree 100% with your perspective and opinion concerning alcohol on Siesta Key Beach.
The beach is predominantly a family-oriented venue.

Allowing alcohol does not enhance the beach experience for families.

I know of no venue in the U.S. where public intoxication is allowed.

People publicly intoxicated are taken into custody by law enforcement and their vehicles are impounded.
If that had happened, Mrs. Chen would be alive today.

The Sarasota County sheriff states that Fourth Amendment rights are at issue to prevent taking an intoxicated person into custody.

That is absolutely ludicrous.

The truth is that the deputies did not do their job responsibly.

If I were the Chen family lawyer I would sue every entity in Sarasota County that has anything to do with Siesta Key Beach.

The commissioners are waffling and playing politics, instead of doing the right and sensible thing of banning alcohol on the beach.

The “half-baked excuse” that someone might want to have a drink watching the sunset is a farce.
There are plenty of places to drink alcoholic beverages other than at the beach.

Get the alcohol off the beach, period.

Also, enforce all the other rules, i.e., no smoking, etc.
Vic Cameron
Sarasota

+ Banning alcohol will not prevent drinking
Dear Editor:
Banning alcohol at Siesta Beach? Sorry, Mr. Thomson, that’s not going to happen. Tourists in huge droves never returning to Sarasota because of drunk punks everywhere on the beach? Really? You really think that they don’t have DUIs, foul-mouthed people and fights at Clearwater Beach, Vero Beach, Daytona Beach, Key West, on and on and on ... Reality 101 ... Lots of people will drink at the beach regardless of whether it’s legal. They will find a way to conceal it. Coolie cup, liter of Coke with rum already poured in it, etc. Brawls at Siesta are not the norm. Over the course of 12 months, Siesta Key averaged only 15% of the total DUIs in Sarasota County each month. Whenever you have a drinking holiday (St. Pat’s, Fourth of July, New Year’s Eve) falling on a Saturday, that is a recipe for a busy day for law enforcement no matter which beach town you are in. The situation is not as dramatic/an epidemic/ the way you think it is. 
Jim Julian
Sarasota

+ Banning alcohol on beach is a no-brainer
Dear Editor:
There is nothing I enjoy more than a day at the beach. A cold beer is a plus.But I cannot agree with you more in your opinion, “Ban the booze on the beach” My View in the March 29 Sarasota Observer. It is a no-brainer. Thanks.
Tim McDonald
Sarasota