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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                                             MARCH 22, 2006

Spring Break Court Adjourns Early

Spring Break Court abruptly and unexpectedly adjourned today four days before its scheduled closing date.

The problem was not enough spring-break troublemakers according to the Florida division of Alcoholic Beverages and Tobacco which had agreed to assign seven agents to Key West until March 25.

But those seven agents left town on Wednesday, March 15 – ten days before their scheduled departure – according to Elaine Thompson, acting lieutenant of ABT in Key West.

ABT agents were meant to beef-up contingents of Key West Police Department and Monroe County Sherriff’s officers on the lookout for spring breakers committing alcohol-related offences.

But Thompson said that the ABT agents were needed elsewhere.  “We were not seeing much productivity down here and Ft. Lauderdale was being slam-dunked,” she said.

In the 17 days Spring Break Court has been in session in Key West some 130 cases involving young offenders were processed.

With the ABT pull-out and early end to Spring Break Court, errant breakers will now be handled by the police and court system as regular misdemeanants.

The special court, which began in Key West in 1991, allowed spring breakers to plead “no contest” to minor offences – falsifying ID’s to buy alcohol and disorderly intoxication – and spend eight hours picking up litter on Key West streets and beaches rather than coping with legal fees and criminal records.

They also had the option of paying $230 in fines and court costs rather than spending a day on a county work truck.

The court issued $2,000 bench warrants for no-shows.  Paul Meyers, Chief Investigator for State Attorney Mark Kohl, said this year his office arrested four spring breakers who did not show up for their hearings and has initiated extradition proceedings on three others who have left Key West.

County Judge Peary Fowler gaveled down the final 2006 session this morning after ruling on eight wayward breakers.

Last modified: 10/23/07                    

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