By JOSEPH KELLARD
But the event’s host, the Long Beach Division of the Ancient Order of Hibernians, steadfastly deny that the incidents — which in years past included drunks urinating, vomiting and passing out on the streets, and some being hospitalized for alcohol poisoning — are the fault of the festival. The Hibernians maintain that their festivities end by 6 p.m., before most of those, and other, troubles arise.
While there were no reports of over-intoxication at the Long Beach Medical Center on Saturday, the West End was not incident-free. The hospital reported that its emergency room treated and released 25 patients with alcohol-related injuries from the West End.
“Most of them were falls and scuffles, with people having dislocated shoulders, cuts and other injuries over the course of the day and night,” said Sharon Player, a medical center spokeswoman. The charts of two patients, ages 17 and 19, who were treated for cuts from falls, said they were noted to be intoxicated.
Lt. Bruce Meyer of the Long Beach Police Department said that compared with previous years, the day was mostly orderly and crime-free, except for five arrests, all for disorderly conduct. Officers patrolling the streets also wrote 137 summonses, many for possession of open alcohol containers and 20 for public urination.
“The most serious thing we had down there was disorderly conduct,” Meyer said. During the day, when the streets were closed, there were a lot of people, but everyone was well-behaved.”
Some residents have made it a point to highlight the problems and criminal activity associated, fairly or not, with Irish Day. Among them is the Long Beach Coalition to Prevent Underage Drinking, an LBMC-based group that, over the years, has worked to raise the community’s awareness about the goings-on the day of the parade. Yet some seem resigned to the idea that the event is destined to remain a cause for both celebration and concern.
“We’ve made strides but you can’t herald the achievements because it continues to be a problem,” said Roy Lester, who sits on both the school district’s board of education and the coalition’s board of directors.
While the coalition doesn’t point fingers at the Hibernians for promoting drinking or any misbehavior on Irish Day, it nevertheless believes various factors conspire to cause or escalate the problems. Most important, the parade and festival are held in the bar-studded West End. Many college students come home that weekend to party, and the neighborhood is blocked off to traffic, creating “one big block party,” said Judy Vining, the coalition’s director.
“The sheer magnitude of the event, with the streets shut down, provides the perfect camouflage for underage drinking,” Vining continued, referring to youths who host parties in their unsupervised homes. “It sends the message that it’s OK.”
When Kayley Oshan, who lives in Merrick, first went to the West End after the Hibernians’ parade and festival last year, she recalled, she was struck by the neighborhood-wide party atmosphere and the extremely long lines outside each bar she passed. “It’s a lot of young people who are going there to drink and have a good time, and you can tell it can get a little out of hand,” said Oshan, who bumped into friends from Mepham High School, where she graduated in 2003, last Saturday night. “People do get a little crazy, and you can see how it could be a bit of a problem. But as long as you’re with good people and you know your limits, it’s a good time.”
Paul Munda, a Glen Cove resident who graduated from Hofstra University last year, was reveling with friends at the packed Beach House on Saturday. Like Oshan, he learned about Irish Day through friends who live in Long Beach and elsewhere on the South Shore, and found that the event provides a good opportunity to get together with them all for some laughs over drinks. “It’s beyond just going out and drinking, because you can do that anywhere,” Munda said.
He added that in his travels through the West End last Saturday night, he witnessed no incidents like he had last year, when two men got into a fistfight in the street.
Ray McCann, a past county board president of the Hibernians and chairman of the Irish Day parade, said that when West Enders complain to him, he and his fellow Hibernians try to accommodate them as best they can, noting that the event’s organizers placed 60 portable restrooms on the streets. McCann also said the Hibernians fully support the coalition and Midnight Madness, the high school’s alcohol- and drug-free post-prom party. “But let’s be realistic about this, he added, “kids unfortunately drink. I’d love to see something to stop it, really.”
Last October, Long Beach High School Principal Nick Restivo sent a letter to parents reminding them of “the inherent dangers a day like this presents for the young adults of our community.” Restivo encouraged parents to have “a serious and pointed discussion” with their kids about “what their expectations of their behavior are for this weekend.”
Nassau County Legislator Denise Ford, a Republican who lives in the West End and a mother of teenagers, said, “Underage drinking happens all the time, and unfortunately it’s very symptomatic not only of the West End, but all over.”
For years, residents have suggested moving the event to another part of town, away from the West End bars. But McCann counters that the event belongs and will remain in the West End, where the city’s Irish population is concentrated.
“The support all comes from the West End,” McCann said. “What advantage is it to move it to another area? Moving it to the other end of town or to the boardwalk, that’s basically saying to us, ‘We’ll do this, you’ll get tired and then you’ll close it down.’”
McCann noted that West End store owners chip in to support the festival, and Ford said it provides these businesses the opportunity to make a lot of money selling their food, wares or services. “It also helps them to sustain themselves during the winter months,” she added.
Of course, among those businesses are the many crowded bars. Ford admits that if they weren’t so great in number, the neighborhood wouldn’t be as saturated with drinkers walking the streets that day. But she said that there’s much more to the day than this. For her, like many others, it’s a day when she traditionally gathers with friends and family, celebrates her heritage, and shops to support the local merchants. “I think an attempt should be made to make people realize that this is a day to honor the Irish,” Ford said, “not necessarily to drink to their good health.”
Comments about this story? JKellard@liherald.com or (516) 569-4000 ext. 213.
