When working on the paper, I often review the edition from the year prior and see if there’s an annual event or a case that needs following up on. It was the 2022 edition that prompted today’s column, more specifically Randy Young.

In an April 2022 edition, Randy penned a piece on how Spring Break ain’t what it used to be, and I couldn’t agree more.

Panama City Beach has once again been at the epicenter of Spring Break chaos, despite the numerous rules and regulations they have implemented since I went there.

In Panama City Beach, Spring Break kicks off in March, which is when the local police begin enforcing just a few of the following rules:

• No alcohol on the sandy beach
• No riding on vehicles i.e. standing through the sunroof.
• No loud music that disturbs the peace
• No metal shovels allowed on the beach
• No digging holes deeper than 2 feet.
• And then there’s the temporary closure of the beach from 10 p.m. and 4 a.m. behind Pineapple Willy’s and east of Calypso Condominiums.

Still, none of this prevented a senseless shooting between two rival groups of teenagers.

I don’t like to believe I’m old. In fact, in my mind, I’m still on my high school spring break.

During my high school spring break, specifically my senior year, we went to Panama City Beach.

Those days were different.

It was a right of passage to rent a guy’s house and a girl’s house. It was the first trip you would get to go on without your parents. It would be you and your best friends for a week of unfiltered fun.

I remember vividly renting a condo with seven other girls.

It was nothing overly fancy, I slept in a king-sized bed with four of the girls and shared one tiny mirror with them while we all got ready.

Opposite our condo was the boy’s condo.

Somehow they got stuck with a bachelor’s condo decorated with marble flooring and mirrored walls with gold lion statues and other odd memorabilia. Needless to say, they enjoyed their stay.

Every morning we would wake up and go down to the beach with our towels and bags of goldfish and meet everyone out there.

While the seniors got the condos or houses, the entire junior and senior class usually enjoyed the beach together. You were never just one of a few people on the beach, you were in a group of 30-40 people.

As with any group who has spent a long day on the beach and possibly indulged in drinks you shouldn’t be drinking, there may be some arguments, but they never escalated to violence. In fact, the most dramatic thing that happened was a girl cheating on her boyfriend and the girlfriend running out of the condo. The guys didn’t even fight over it.

Now, kids are shooting each other for just looking at them wrong. It doesn’t seem real.

As for the no loud music or riding on vehicles, I just know we would’ve been thrown out of Panama City early on.

Each night, a different group of people took turns hosting what today’s kids call a “function.” The function was nothing more than just putting out the word that everyone could hang at their condo that night. No one was bringing food or watching a football game, it was literally just people hanging out throughout the house, talking, maybe playing cards.

Somehow, my group’s function ended up out of control on the noise level. I remember answering the door time after time to people I didn’t know. One time it was my own cousin, who didn’t even attend my school.

I asked how she heard about it, and she said everyone was texting about it. I let her in.

At one point, I felt confident there were over 100 people in our small condo. That’s when we got a knock on the door for that noise violation they now speak of. We weren’t on the beach, we weren’t jumping off the balcony, but we had done something wrong.

We decided the next night to ride the strip, another thing of the past. I believe now that the entire street is blocked off during Spring Break.

Riding the strip essentially was just riding Thomas Drive, looking at all the crazy people, playing music in your car, and just glowing in the fact you’re on spring break. Yes, sometimes you might hang out the sunroof, but the traffic was going so slow there was nothing to worry over. I’ll never forget that night we had our windows rolled down, and a random stranger stuck his head in the window and kissed my friend on the cheek. All we could do was laugh.

Now, if someone is peaking their head in the window, it’s because they’re ready to carjack you.

In the words of Randy, it was a simple time of joy for local teens and any shots to be found weren’t going to be coming from a gun.

I’m not encouraging underage drinking, just the opposite, but I do wish for these kids who have already been dealt a heavy hand with school shootings, COVID-19, and the likes of other things, that they could at least enjoy a simple spring break.