DEWEY BEACH, Del. - Every year after Memorial Day Weekend, Dewey Beach says it faces a problem with "Junebugs," also known as teens coming into town to make poor choices.
The town says oftentimes underage kids are at a loss for structured activities, and they end up loitering outside bars and other restricted venues. Some bring alcohol in backpacks and gather on the beach. This is most prevalent during June as our "Junebugs" come to town and usually continues through mid-July.
Oftentimes these teens coordinate large gatherings via social media. This is a problem for police because they can be quickly swamped with calls for service by homeowners and business owners.
Lieutenant Cliff Dempsey says oftentimes, the teens are caught drinking in public, loitering, or even getting into fights.
"People don't realize when they come to our town and make a stupid decisions it will affect them in the long term because if a college finds out they won't tolerate it," explained Dempsey.
Dewey Beach has a curfew in place for teens under the age of 18 that starts at 11 PM, and they have extra officers on shift when needed to handle summer trouble.
Karen Cornfeld, who has been coming to Dewey Beach every summer for the past 52 years, says the teens are welcome but should behave.
"Teens coming to the beach, they've just finished a great milestone, they've just finished high school or whatever, and they want to have fun with their friends, blow off steam, have some independence, but after a certain amount of time you're sharing that space with other people, so at 10 or 11 o'clock at night, you need to be quiet," said Cornfeld.
Lieutenant Dempsey says most of the teenagers they arrest are from Maryland, so throughout the winter, they go as far as Bethesda to speak to high schoolers about the repercussions of bad behavior.
