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Letter to the editor

Circle may be new police beat

By CRISTINA SILVA
Published July 4, 2007

	Lauren McGahey, 19, and Geff Ssengoba , 38, move their bodies to the beat at the Treasure Island drum circle at sunset Sunday.
[Willie J. Allen Jr. | Times]

ADVERTISEMENT [Willie J. Allen Jr. | Times] Michael Wright, 28, a six-year veteran of the drum circle, pounds away on his congas Sunday. Complaints have plagued the weekly event.

As she twirled to the pulsating drum beat, Sarah Morris, 16, let her hands coast by her side as if she was playing airplane.

At her side, her boyfriend, Glenn Wilson, 18, nodded his head along to the thump of the music, occasionally taking a swig of the murky liquid in the plastic cup he was holding.

At the weekly beachfront drum circle at Treasure Island, anything goes: free-spirted dancing, hippies playing Tibetan chimes, and, yes, even underage drinking, much to the dismay of some residents and city officials who are once again calling for a crackdown on one of the area's most popular Bohemian jam sessions.

City officials are considering beefing up patrols to the area on Sunday nights and requiring city staff members to clean up litter left behind on Monday mornings. The city attorney also has been asked to draft an ordinance requiring that sponsored and nonsponsored activities like the drum circle be terminated by 9 p.m.

At a Treasure Island City Commission meeting Tuesday, officials were scheduled to discuss the drum circle. The meeting was held after the Neighborhood Times deadline.

The city's biggest challenge is stopping the teen drinkers, police Chief Tim Casey said in a recent interview. Two weeks ago, Casey assigned two uniformed police officers to the drum circle, and they found several cases of underage drinking and marijuana use during the event.

"The people that actually participate in it, those that play the instruments, are typically a pretty mellow crowd, " Casey said. "It is the people that are between 16 and 20 years of age, that's the group that we probably have 95 percent of our problems with in terms of arrests."

For seven years, an eclectic mix of tourists, spiritualists, families, party seekers and the curious have convened at a small patch of beach near 104th Street and Gulf Boulevard to partake in this weekly sacrament. On a recent Sunday, the drummers began rolling in a few hours before sunset - bongos, djembe drums, water cooler jugs, and neon light sticks dangling from their arms. Hundreds of gawkers followed, some with beach blankets, coolers, towels and cases of beer in tow.

Treasure Island is one of two beach cities in Pinellas County that allows alcohol on the beach, but not glass containers.

To the carefree, it is an exercise in relaxation set against a backdrop of a setting sun and calm waters.

"It is a cool place to hang out, and the music is smooth, " Morris said.

But to critics the illegal activity overlooked each Sunday is unacceptable.

"The problem is not the drum circle; the problem is that they are trashing the beach, " said Gary Becker, a resident who has consistently opposed the drum circle. "A buddy of mine walked up there the other night and said he could smell the marijuana 50 feet away."

At the Bilmar Beach Resort, which sits near the drum circle, hotel guests are encouraged to attend the gathering, but staff members dislike cleaning up trash left over from the night before, said general manager Clyde Smith.

"That's the only downside. It is getting messier, " he said.

Cristina Silva can be reached at 727 893-8846 or csilva@sptimes.com.

[Last modified July 3, 2007, 20:30:30]