Park rangers across Ontario always have their hands full on the May Two-Four long weekend, but no one was expecting the size of one riotous underage party in Rondeau Provincial Park.
Over the weekend, officials were forced to evicted 19 campsites, removing 114 teenagers from the park. The OPP got involved, with a total of 35 charges laid over three days. Along with theft, trespassing, possession of alcohol, and mischief, charges included property damage of over $3,000 (to a comfort station) and assault (there was an altercation between a teenager and a park warden).
As if that wasn’t enough, three teens were taken to the hospital, two for drug overdoses and one for alcohol poisoning.
“They start early as soon as they get to the campsite … and they drink hard, almost literally from dawn to dusk,” Chatham-Kent OPP Detachment Commander Brian Knowler told CBC. “These kids make no bones about it, they hide their alcohol under their sleeping bags, they hide it in other bottles.”
The alcohol was often provided by the parents, who could be facing a fine of $5,000.
