Saturday, December 04, 2004
Schoolies success
townsville bulletin - 29nov04
AUTHORITIES have declared the Magnetic Island Schoolies Week a raging success.
A combination of no arrests and the tip-top organisation of activities made the perfect recipe for a memorable week.
Dozens of schoolies piled back to the mainland over the weekend as the official Schoolies Week celebrations wound down.
A group of Kirwan High School girls, who stayed on the island for a week, say they had some of the best days of their lives.
"It was the best week ever," Ashlee Leavy, 17, said.
"There was a big group of us in a house. We loved it. It was fantastic.
"They do a lot to take care of you. Every night we had the schoolies' chaplains come to visit us."
Inspector Greg Strohfeldt of Townsville police said no arrests were made during the week-long celebration.
Apart from a few noise complaints and other general issues involving "attitude" problems, everyone was well behaved.
He said islanders generally welcomed the schoolies to the island.
More than 710 schoolies registered for the event, with hundreds more also believed to be on the island.
Schoolie Monica Wormald, who graduated from Kirwan High School, was grateful for the prominent police presence on the island.
"The police were good, they did their jobs and they were friendly," she said.
Allyse Reinmuth, of Brisbane, said she was turned off by all the "older people" who went to Schoolies Week on the Gold Coast so she decided to share the time with old friends from Townsville.
She said Magnetic Island was a great spot with not too many people around.
Airlie Beach Schoolies Week also came to a happy end at the weekend.
Senior-Sergeant Mark Henderson of Whitsunday police said only three arrests had been made and 10 tickets had been issued to minors for drinking in a public place.
"Other than that the schoolies were very good," he said.
"The reason they come to Airlie Beach is because of the safety.
"They all praise the event for its safety plus the daily activities like reef trips, parasailing and quadbiking."
Schoolies from Brisbane, Mount Isa, Cairns, Mackay and Townsville made up some of the 2500 schoolies who registered for the activities.
Sen-Sgt Henderson said talk of trouble between a group of boys from Cairns and a group from Mackay never amounted to anything serious - "just all talk and no action".
AUTHORITIES have declared the Magnetic Island Schoolies Week a raging success.
A combination of no arrests and the tip-top organisation of activities made the perfect recipe for a memorable week.
Dozens of schoolies piled back to the mainland over the weekend as the official Schoolies Week celebrations wound down.
A group of Kirwan High School girls, who stayed on the island for a week, say they had some of the best days of their lives.
"It was the best week ever," Ashlee Leavy, 17, said.
"There was a big group of us in a house. We loved it. It was fantastic.
"They do a lot to take care of you. Every night we had the schoolies' chaplains come to visit us."
Inspector Greg Strohfeldt of Townsville police said no arrests were made during the week-long celebration.
Apart from a few noise complaints and other general issues involving "attitude" problems, everyone was well behaved.
He said islanders generally welcomed the schoolies to the island.
More than 710 schoolies registered for the event, with hundreds more also believed to be on the island.
Schoolie Monica Wormald, who graduated from Kirwan High School, was grateful for the prominent police presence on the island.
"The police were good, they did their jobs and they were friendly," she said.
Allyse Reinmuth, of Brisbane, said she was turned off by all the "older people" who went to Schoolies Week on the Gold Coast so she decided to share the time with old friends from Townsville.
She said Magnetic Island was a great spot with not too many people around.
Airlie Beach Schoolies Week also came to a happy end at the weekend.
Senior-Sergeant Mark Henderson of Whitsunday police said only three arrests had been made and 10 tickets had been issued to minors for drinking in a public place.
"Other than that the schoolies were very good," he said.
"The reason they come to Airlie Beach is because of the safety.
"They all praise the event for its safety plus the daily activities like reef trips, parasailing and quadbiking."
Schoolies from Brisbane, Mount Isa, Cairns, Mackay and Townsville made up some of the 2500 schoolies who registered for the activities.
Sen-Sgt Henderson said talk of trouble between a group of boys from Cairns and a group from Mackay never amounted to anything serious - "just all talk and no action".
