What’s wrong with this?
The Past
- Chico Community Youth and Alcohol Committee notes, October 13, 2005
“Last year on the Sunday prior to Labor Day, there were 8000 tubers...this year there were 750. Labor Day last year there were 20,000 tubers...this year there were just over 600. Confirms...when agencies ask the community not to do something because of public safety, the community listens.”
- Chico News and Review, “Same party, different river,” September 7, 2006
“In 2005, the numbers dropped from 28,000 to 1500 floaters (at the Sacramento River)... this year, only about 200 people floated on Labor Day.”
- Campus Grotto:The inside Source at College, “Chico Labor Day River Float,” (via web) September 3, 2008
“The Labor Day weekend Chico float is a long standing college tradition...as many as 25,000 floaters have showed up... This event alone is one of the reasons Chico State has been considered a top party school...Over the past couple of years things have died down a bit as cops cracked down...This year’s annual event showed things were back in full swing though, as nearly 10,000 people showed up on Sunday over Labor Day weekend.”
The Present
- Chico Enterprise-Record, “Tuber Watch,” September 5, 2010
“... the bigger deluge of tubers is expected today...Law enforcement agencies will nearly double their presence in certain areas of the river today...’We have no desire to shut it down (State Park Ranger Travis) Gee said. We want to change it from what its turned into, which is a big, drunken fest.’... The garbage left behind can have a huge impact on the eco-system...Other issues are typical concerns wherever large crowds appear - sexual assaults, battery charges, fights.”
- Chico Enterprise-Record, “15,000 hit the river for float,” September 6, 2010
“Approximately 15,000 people floated on the Sacramento River on Sunday in celebration of the three-day weekend....there were 14 arrests made, all alcohol related, and a total of 34 medical aides, which ranged from minor injuries to hypothermia, dehydration, physical assault and battery, including one sexual assault...Safety personnel made a total of 17 critical rescues, ‘meaning that if there was not someone there, there most likely would have been a fatality’...multiple fights....huge environmental damage...”
- Chico Enterprise-Record, “Out-of-town partyers contribute to big crowds,” September 6, 2010
“Police and fire units were busy Saturday night as the areas south and west of the campus were filled with thousands of people....more than 40 people were arrested....’It was clear we had a large number of people from out of town,’ (Lt. Mike) O’Brien said. We were literally just trying to tread water and keep control over the great influx of people into our community.”
- KNVN NBC 24 Action News, “Labor Day Float Aftermath,” September 6, 2010, 8:32 PM
“...About 15,000 people made their way from Irvine Finch to Scotty’s Landing Sunday, and the evidence was easy to see Monday morning. ‘It’s taken a pretty big toll, environmentally,’ ...Travis Gee....said... Volunteers will spend the coming weeks cleaning up all of the garbage left behind....Crews had to make 100 critical rescues Sunday.”
- ChicoER.com, “Butte Sheriff lists Labor Day weekend arrests on Sacramento River,” September 7, 2010
Saturday, 3 arrests, 2 Chico residents and one out of town, all three for drunk in public.
Sunday, 39 arrests, 16 Chico residents and 23 from out of town all arrests were alcohol related except two.
- Chico Police Department Media release, September 7, 2010
From 5:00 PM Friday, September 3, 2010 to 4:00 AM Monday, September 6, 2010, a 59 hour period, the Chico Police Department made 124 arrests. Most were in the South Campus neighborhood. 52 of the arrestees were from outside of Chico, 85 of the arrests were alcohol related and 25 of the arrestees were Chico State or Butte College students. During the 12 hour periods covering the evening hours each of Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights, the CPD handled a total of 1292 calls for service.
It was noted that the Labor Day event has once again become a regional public safety problem, and that the unsanctioned float on the river was the apparent attraction for many out-of-towners to come to Chico which resulted in the resources of the City being taxed to their limits for 4 days.
- The Orion, “Crowds take over downtown, river,” September 8, 2010
“About 15,000 people floated down the Sacramento River on Sunday...on Friday night, 42 arrests were made in and around the downtown area...there were 42 arrests on Saturday in the same area....on Sunday night there were 40 arrests made...(regarding the river-related activity, Dan James, Hamilton City Fire Chief said) ‘Some people were so intoxicated that they weren’t allowed to get into the water. When they can’t walk across the parking lot because they’re too drunk, how can we morally let them in the river?’....Sunday saw 65 medical calls, three of which were major medical emergencies and 13 required paramedic transport to the hospital.....There were about 100 critical rescues, meaning that victims would have most likely been killed or severely injured if rescues had not been performed....there was a lot of trash left on the river....the river took a big environmental hit.”
- Chico News and Review, “River festivities take a violent turn,” September 9, 2010
“... this year’s float on Sunday (Sept. 5) was fairly wild, but a closer look revealed the truly violent and out-of-control side to this annual Labor Day weekend tradition...people were stumbling and falling....Several tubers were vomiting on the shore, while numerous others lay passed out in their tubes...’we started seeing the rocks and cans and bottles and other stuff fly...there’s no way that we can safely deal with 15,000 people in that confined of an area with that small amount of law enforcement personnel (said one law enforcement officer)’...Other disturbing scenes included several young women being hoisted into the air and having their bikini tops removed - sometimes voluntarily, sometimes not - and repeatedly groped by drunken revelers. Several defenseless women had to be dragged away for their safety....(the reporter described) ‘violence and pandemonium’ (as well as) ‘more chaos at the exit point on River Road...”
- The Orion, “Students lead Labor Day cleanup effort,” September 15, 2010
“About 40 volunteers floated down the Sacramento River Saturday to clean up trash left from the Labor Day weekend floating event....volunteers picked up more than (100) 65 gallon bags of trash along the river and on Beer Can Beach...(One volunteer said) ‘When I first got to the beach, I could not take a step without being in trash.’”
- Chico Enterprise-Record, “People on the Street: What’s the most dangerous thing you’ve ever done?”, September 19, 2010
Victor Stockbridge, Sales, Paradise: “In my younger days, tubing drunk down the Sacramento River and my tube hit a tree. I had my leg around a rope that was tied to the raft that had our beer on it and my tube hit a tree and flipped over. I was hanging upside down in the water with my foot stuck and my friend pulled me back upright.”
Everything is wrong with this!!!
In 2005, as the result of a collaborative regional effort, the Labor Day float was virtually eliminated. Unfortunately, the momentum that led to that success was almost immediately abandoned. As a result, the beast has now returned with a vengeance, and again represented a profound challenge to regional public safety resources and the environment. Based upon what was experienced in 2010, it is evident that a significant component of the event is the presence of out-of-towners who travel to Chico simply to take part in the float and associated partying.
The annual Labor Day float on the Sacramento River has again become a regional pubic safety problem, an environmental disaster and an affront to the taxpayers of Butte and Glenn Counties who must foot the bill for this debacle.
The time has come again for a collaborative, balanced, well reasoned response to tame this mess and sustain order. The Chico Police Department looks forward to working in concert with our partners in public safety and the stakeholders in the community and the area of the Sacramento River to eliminate the calamity this annual event has become.
