Whatever happened to youthful exhuberance and “hijinks”?! Things are pretty bad when the days of rowdy drunks on the beach look peaceful and nostalgic compared to the absolute anarchy taking place in favored destinations.

Now these…well, I mean, you can’t even really call them “kids” any more, can you? They are out of control.

It’s just insanity. Karen hit this earlier this morning, as far as the trouble in South Florida.

Miami Beach this weekend was hell on wheels dangerous.

Shocking surveillance video captures the execution-style killing that sent throngs of Miami spring breakers bolting Sunday — the second deadly shooting that erupted at the popular party destination over the weekend.

The terrifying footage shows crowds of vacationers walking underneath umbrellas around 3:30 a.m. when a gunman starts firing off rounds.

Startled tourists can be seen covering their heads as they run from the shots.

The victim is then seen falling to the ground as the gunman continues firing at him.

The Miami Herald’s op-ed says time “to drive a stake through the heart” of it…

…Spring Break blew up again on Miami Beach this weekend, in the most tragic of ways. Two young people lost their lives. They were shot and killed in separate incidents during two nights of massive street partying on Ocean Drive, which the city, this year, as in years past, tried but could not completely control.

The city leaders, from Mayor Dan Gelber, to City Manager Alina Hudak and the commissioners, have tried everything they can think of with minimal success, mainly controlling the day partying but not the nighttime events. We get their frustration.

…but there is a problem and I am shocked to the core they bring it up.

…Gelber, for years, has tried to end Spring Break on Miami Beach, much like Fort Lauderdale did successfully years ago. The mayor has a different vision for the city, one in which people can work, live and entertain themselves. Ocean Drive would be the cultural center that would anchor South Beach, but he has met opposition along the way.

Are two dead the final straw for him? We asked. ”My “final straw” was four years ago,” the mayor told the Editorial Board on Sunday. “We’ve never wanted Spring Break; who wants thousands of young people to visit your city to act lawless for some rite of passage?” Complicating matters is that many of the Spring Breakers are Black, and accusations of racist treatment have dogged the city for years.

The city must tread cautiously in rolling up its welcome mat. No doubt, the cry to end Spring Break on Miami Beach will start in full on Monday, and with good reason.

That is the elephant in the room for the South Beach anarchy.

Here on the Gulf Coast, we’ve had our share of Spring Break revelers making the news, and it hasn’t even really fired (right word?) up yet. It has also, luckily for safety, sad for Breakers, has been very, very cold.

The folks who have made the news so far were on their way to Florida and Alabama beaches, but a couple of carloads had packed a little extra for the week.

Panama City Beach and surrounding county law enforcement are cracking down on drugs flowing into the area for spring break.

A University of Alabama football player wound up in the Holmes County Jail for allegedly bringing a load of marijuana into the state.

…“They were coming down here with a lot of money, some weapons and some drugs,” Panama City Beach Police Chief J.R. Talamantez said.

Talamantez said Mitchell was on his way to Panama City Beach. He said the two had a weapon, marijuana and more than $17,000 in cash.

Holmes County Sheriff’s deputies said the gun was loaded. Mitchell allegedly also had a set of scales in the car. Talamantez said there are many people like Mitchell who try to sell drugs on the beach during spring break.

That young lad just enrolled in the University in January, was scheduled to start spring football practice this week, and nothing yet from the school if he’s…uh…still “on the team” (But it’s RO’ TIDE, so we’ll have to wait and see what kind of prospect he was first.).

In other news, some local youths had plans for the Orange Beach, AL Spring Break scene. Being local, they should have known better than to speed to get there.

A traffic stop on the Baldwin Beach Express led to the discovery of drugs and guns on Wednesday afternoon, according to the Summerdale Police Department. Police said two people, on their way to the beach for spring break, were arrested.

“They had made it known that they were heading to the beach area to go to a party,” said Summerdale Police Chief Kevin Brock. “They had a drum type 50-round high capacity magazine that went into one of the pistols, obviously not for your normal every day firearms person so there are some red flags that go up,” he explained.

…Police said they spotted a 2013 Honda Accord “traveling at a high rate of speed” south on the Baldwin Beach Express. When a Summerdale Officer initiated the stop, police say people in the Honda began tossing items from the back windows.

“When the officer approached he saw some of the bags they were throwing out had stuck to the window so you could see the narcotics,” added Brock.

Don’t be flinging things out the window that are going to stick, either.

All in all, it’s best for everyone’s safety these geniuses were as pathetically inept as they were. I have no doubt lives were saved.

There have been several other deaths already beside the ghastly shootings this weekend in Miami and the usual round of mayhem. One lunatic 19 yr old even attacked Def Leppard’s drummer in Ft Lauderdale!

…The highest-profile victim of this year’s spring break pandemonium was Def Leppard drummer Rick Allen, who was allegedly attacked by 19-year-old Max Hartley at the Four Seasons Hotel in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, according to The Miami Herald.

Hartley, who according to one 911 caller was “very highly intoxicated,” allegedly bum rushed Allen at full speed while the musician was smoking a cigarette, knocking the 59-year-old over and causing him to hit his head. When a woman approached to help Allen, Hartley allegedly knocked her over, too, and then dragged her to the back of the hotel to keep her from escaping.

New Smyrna Beach had over 70 arrests, and it sure wasn’t all college students. There’s a baggage train of bad news that follows the revelers into town anymore.

…This year, they had over 70 arrests this past week – all related to the spring break crowds – police said.

“They could be 18 years old, 19 years old, but half of those arrests were adults, half were juveniles, and about half were felonies and half were misdemeanors,” said Interim Chief Eric Feldman.

He said it wasn’t just the actual spring breakers getting placed in handcuffs.

“We caught three different drug dealers, caught a stolen car, there were two guns confiscated. That type of criminality is really what I’m after and I consider that people coming into town to prey on spring breakers,” he said.

That’s the scary part. Nobody needs that.

I don’t know how the rest of these Spring Break weeks are going to shake out, but this is a miserable start to them.

Here, Pensacola Beach has done everything it can to not be a “destination and that’s just dandy.

I’m really glad we don’t have to worry about anyone this age anymore either. There are too many variables out of their hands.

It’s not Gidget and Moondoggie anymore.