Waitaki District Council has introduced a Labour weekend booze ban for a South Island campground, well known for its drunken teenage parties.
Photo: 123rf
Loch Laird, near Ōtematata, is a popular haunt for high school-aged students to celebrate their informal end of school year.
But the parties can get out-of-control as hundreds of teenagers converge on the campground with bottles and rocks being thrown at cars and campervans, people being verbally abused, and cars speeding through campgrounds.
Waitaki District Council is taking a stand - enforcing a temporary alcohol ban to curb bad behaviour over Labour weekend
Ōtematata resident and Ahuriri Community Board chair Vicki Munro did not want students to stop visiting and having fun at Loch Laird campground, but she wanted to see the end of alcohol-fuelled bad behaviour.
"Last year, one of the contractors that worked in the camps got a chilly bin thrown at his head," she said.
"The rubbish was unbelievable.
"They just need to understand that's anti-social behaviour, and they can still have fun and not come up here and take no responsibility."
In 2003, a 17-year-old Ōamaru student died after the car she was travelling in hit a tree while she and her friends stayed in Ōtematata over the long weekend.
The community was concerned someone else could die if changes were not made.
On Tuesday, Waitaki District Council unanimously voted to ban alcohol on the upper terrace and between foreshore of Loch Laird and Wildlife camp for the entire Labour weekend.
It means alcohol cannot be consumed or possessed in an unsealed container.
Police would be able to enforce the ban - including the ability to arrest and search.
Deputy mayor Melanie Tavendale moved the motion to enact the ban.
"There's been a lot of options looked at and it's been a bit of a tough one. Displacement is still a concern. But police believe that this will make it a lot easier to manage any issues," she said.
"It's a really good option to just test this theory and to see how we go. Happy to support us during that and that way we can actually have a bit of a regroup afterwards and see what the results were and if it was a theory that works."
According to Ōamaru Police, some parents dropped off their school-aged kids with 12 packs of RTDs on the understanding they would only drink four a day - but all were drunk within hours.
One mother staying with her young family said she gave her nine-year-old anti-anxiety medication after witnessing a fight on the track to the toilets.
She described the behaviour around the toilets as intimidating, with violence, swearing and vehicles speeding along the road.
Mayor Gary Kircher said they were trying to keep young people safe.
"I'm pleased to say we have good solid support from the police who assure us that should the event just be moved somewhere else that they will also follow that so we will see how it all works out."
One Ōtematata resident was clear on who should be taking charge.
"The parents just sort of leave them and I think at the end of the day, the parents need to take the responsibility. Not the people of the village or the police or the council. I reckon it's a parent's issue."
She was concerned the ban would mean the teenagers just moved their party and became someone else's problem.
"They think it's their right to come up and drink ... so if that's not going to be there, it's going to be somewhere else and I don't know where else that could be. And if ... they decided to do it in the village, then that's not good either. So, I just think it's the parent's responsibility and they do need to step up."
Ōtematata Residents Association chair Stephen Dalley had been involved in trying to figure out solutions with the working group, and said the ban was a good first step.
"Personally, I didn't want to be like the fun police and try and kill the thing off altogether. And that was the first option considered was to shut it right down. And there were people around the table who wanted that. But hopefully we've reached some sort of compromise."
An information campaign targeting schools and parents that highlights the risks and the new measures is being planned.