A Florida beach once overrun by out-of-control spring-breakers found God on Sunday.
Nearly 400 people packed the bandshell on Daytona Beach for a Catholic Easter service just steps from the shoreline where drunken “takeover” mobs sparked violence and mass arrests days earlier.
Attendees praised Volusia County Sheriff Mike Chitwood for his no-nonsense cleanup – and suggested that raucous spring-breakers should do some praying themselves.
“Right here, what we just celebrated, was just a large group of people who are wanting to do the right thing,” said Jim Lally, a 63-year-old snowbird from the Poconos who winters in Daytona, to The Post.
“It’s just nice to have a community come together and do for others.”
As for the spring breakers, “The kids come in and act unruly, and I think it’s more self-centered,” Lally said.
“It’s not thinking for the community as a whole. So this is just wonderful,” he said, gesturing to the outdoor stage where an Our Lady of Lourdes pastor delivered a sermon.
Lally called the recent chaos “unfortunate,” and said the wild young partiers could use some perspective.
“You throw those same kids into an environment like what we just saw [during Sunday’s service and] … I think their behaviors would be a bit different. So I encourage them to wake up during family time instead of after midnight,” he said.
But he also added of the worst offenders, “There’s a handful of spring breakers that are just complete idiots, and Mike Chitwood should lock ‘em up and ban ‘em from the city.
“I just don’t wanna see it,” Lally said.
His wife, Becky, 63, said this year’s spring-break chaos was “way worse” than in years past – fueled partly by social media-promoted mobbed “takeover events.”
“There should be a consequence if they’re going to come to our beautiful beach city and ruin it and destroy it, so I’m happy with what Mr. Chitwood does,” she said, referring to the sheriff’s initiative to fine the online promoters behind the unruly gatherings.
Chitwood announced last month that his office had already sent out two cease-and-desist letters to such offenders.
“If you promote an unsanctioned event and we incur costs – police, fire, EMS and trash clean-up – you are responsible for the cost of that event,” he explained during a news conference.
Chitwood also implemented a party quarantine zone, with doubled fines for citations and put strict limits on gathering sizes after a “takeover” event resulted in more than 100 arrests, medical calls and weapons seizures during the first weekend of spring break.
Daytona resident and service-goer Barb Wamsley, 56, said authorities did “a remarkable job” restoring order.
“I walked around the day after, and there were police everywhere and good security and everything,” she said. “I think a lot of those people that came in just don’t realize that – like, this isn’t where you just get to come in and take over our city and act like fools.”
“When people think of Daytona Beach, they think of party, party, party…but then you’ve got all these different things in the community that people can enjoy,” she said.
“You don’t need to bring that ruckus in here.”
Another attendee, 70-something-year-old Thecla Brown of Margaritaville, said the crackdown helps keep the beach welcoming.
“I think it’s good because you don’t want it to get so out of hand that it scares away the families and old people,” she said. “You just want it to be a place where everyone can come and have fun.”
