(Wahpeton)– About a dozen or people, in addition to DNR officers, staff members and a DNR Commissioner, were on hand Tuesday evening at the Gull Point lodge for a public hearing on a proposed rule change that would ban the consumption of beer and wine on state park beaches in the Iowa Great Lakes over future 4th of July holiday periods. While Gull Point has been affected the most in previous years by huge, unruly crowds, the ban would also affect Crandall’s Beach, Orleans Beach, Emmerson Bay, Pikes Point and Triboji. Hard liquor is already banned from those areas.
Kevin Scodronski, head of the DNR’s State Parks Bureau, told the crowd an increased presence of law enforcement this past fourth of July seemed to keep things pretty much under control at Gull Point. But he says the increased presence there kept officers away from other areas. And he says they have to question the sustainability of that in the future.
Among those speaking in favor of the proposed ban was Mary Sloan of Compass Point Behavioral Health Services. She says the issue isn’t just public safety, but it’s pointing to another problem that’s very disturbing: binge drinking among young people.
Michael Johnson, who’s from Missouri Valley, spoke out against the proposed rule change, saying the DNR needs to be more consistent in rule enforcement year-round and bring in increased officers on the 4th of July. He says that would send a strong message.
Speaking in favor of the proposed ban was Joann Block of LeMars who is the campground host at Gull Point. She spoke of incidents in previous years in which young people would pass out in restrooms; and she says parking was taking place in non-designated areas and vehicles would get buried up to their axles in mudd. She says it also made it very difficult to get emergency vehicles into the park as a result. Block also recalled an incident over the Fourth of July in 2009 in which a four-year-old boy and his father were running out of a restroom in the park. She recalled the boy asking his father…quote…”Daddy, what were they doing to those two ladies in there?”. Block added she doesn’t know anymore what to tell families, because she says “it is not a family environment.”
The record for public comment on the proposed rule change officially closed with Tuesday evening’s hearing. Scodronski says information compiled from the hearing and from comments submitted by mail and the internet will be processed in coming weeks. Once that’s done, he says they’ll go back to DNR commissioners at their August or September meeting to see if they give a green light in proceeding with the next step toward getting a ban adopted.
