Spring Break Turns Hospital Into War Zone
Dewey Aiken had stopped in a left-turn lane when his pickup truck was hit head-on. The five Alabama college students in the other pickup were fine. Aiken wound up at Bay Medical Center's emergency room."A spring-breaker broke me," said the 57-year-old retired chemist, managing a smile before he was released after treatment for a few bruises. For six weeks every year, the hospital shifts gears as hundreds of thousands of students flock to nearby Panama City Beach, the nation's leading spring break destination.The snowbirds and their heart attacks and strokes are gone, replaced by emergencies dominated by alcohol, drugs and just plain carelessness. A very few spring break patients -- usually victims of traffic accidents or balcony falls -- are seriously injured or die. This CNN report details the ugly side to our society's institutionalization of drunken debauchery, submitted for your wickedness increases/love grows cold files.