Overlooked here is the impact on those family and group gatherings using alcohol responsibly, who will now become criminals if they bring a six pac or bottle of Merlot to the family picnic.
An excerpt.
Editorial: Less boozy holidays?
Supervisors prohibit parkway drinking
Published 12:01 am PDT Thursday, August 10, 2006
Sacramento County has only so many ways to prevent drunken rafters from ruining others' fun along the American River Parkway during cherished holiday weekends. A new resolution approved by county supervisors Tuesday is worth a try, even though it's not hard to imagine some unintended consequences that might pop up.
The new strategy is to ban alcohol consumption along the parkway and any open containers of alcohol. The ban would pertain to the primary rafting stretch of the river, between Hazel and Watt avenues. And it would apply only on certain holiday periods -- Memorial Day, the Fourth of July and Labor Day. Those are the times the river seems more like an out-of-control fraternity party than a designated wild and scenic waterway.
Epic misbehavior during the last Fourth of July holiday prompted the ban. A drunken fight cut short Rancho Cordova's fireworks. Some intoxicated rafters decided to whack one another with oars, causing fairly serious injuries in a brawl that rangers had to break up. A binge drinker on a raft ended up in the UC Davis Medical Center with alcohol poisoning. They are all examples of the few ruining a good time for the many. Yet the problem got to the point the county needed to regain control of the river.
The challenge here is that there are two governments and two sets of laws at play. On the water, the state of California is in charge because the river is a state waterway. The state allows drinking on its waterways. A rafter, floating down the river, can legally crack open the beer can and guzzle away.
