|
||||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
| 21 March 2002 - The San Diego Union-Tribune Spring break hot spots get ready for revelers Baja officials unveil hotline for tourists By Anna Cearley and Samuel Autman Authorities on both sides of the border are bracing for an onslaught of young revelers to spring break hot spots from Pacific Beach to Ensenada. Baja California police and military personnel will be beefing up their patrols and setting up additional checkpoints along roadways during spring break, which will be in full swing beginning this weekend. Baja California's tourism agency will set up 18 information offices, and is offering an emergency hotline – 066 – for tourists in Tijuana and Mexicali. North of the border, the San Diego Police Department is leading a countywide effort to reduce underage drinking. Officers will target the San Ysidro border crossing, the Gaslamp District and Pacific Beach. Authorities also will focus on home parties, often a setting for teen drinking. "With the beginning of spring break and on into graduation season, there is a tendency for more underage drinking," San Diego Police Chief David Bejarano said. Alcohol often is a factor in fatal accidents. Police will use checkpoints and undercover agents to combat driving under the influence, Bejarano said. In addition, they will use teen-agers as decoys at liquor and convenience stores to apprehend adults who offer to buy for minors, the police chief said. Throughout California, police and universities are struggling to get a handle on underage drinking. Last year's spring break activities in the San Diego region resulted in more than 200 arrests and citations, including 83 adults cited for providing alcohol to minors. Many revelers head to Mexico, where the legal drinking age is 18, but so do families and other tourists. Baja California tourism officials are optimistic that spring break will draw about 200,000 visitors this year, mostly to beach communities like Rosarito Beach and San Felipe. "The events of Sept. 11 affected the region severely, but we are beginning to think that we may end up ahead of things," tourism secretary Alejandro Moreno Medina said. Moreno said that North American tourists seem to be vacationing closer to home since the terrorist attacks. He said more people have traveled to Baja California's beach communities in the early part of this year compared with a similar time period last year. Spring break, he said, will prove to be "a thermometer to see if we have truly recuperated and turned the corner." Last year, an estimated 197,000 tourists traveled to Baja California during spring break. During a news conference yesterday, Moreno and Mexican law enforcement representatives talked about efforts to beef up security and assistance to tourists, including the tourist emergency hotline number. The hotline will available in Tijuana and Mexicali starting tomorrow. By dialing 066 from any public or cellular phone, tourists can talk to bilingual operators who will connect the tourist with the appropriate agency. Though the service is limited to the two metropolitan areas, the state plans to expand it throughout Baja California as soon as possible. In a brochure that describes the service, tourists are asked to call 066 if they are asked to pay a bribe by a police officer. They are advised to provide a description of the officer, badge and car number, time of day and place where they were stopped. |
||
|
