Fire Island Cancels Late-Night Ferries Due To Rowdy Crowds

OCEAN BEACH, N.Y. (AP) — Late-night ferry service at New York's Fire Island is being scuttled for the summer because of what the ferry service company calls "undesirables with no morals" — intoxicated passengers who have caused problems for the vessels' crews.

Fire Island Ferries has cancelled its 1 a.m. weekend ferry out of Ocean Beach, where Mayor Jim Mallott (MAL'-aht) says the move is the first step in "taking the village back from the chaos" caused by inebriated visitors.

Company manager David Anderson says intoxicated passengers have become more aggressive. After a rowdy Memorial Day weekend, the company says the unruly behavior had reached a point where ferry crewmembers were being placed in unnecessarily dangerous situations.

Mallot told WCBS-TV that the rowdy late-night crowds are putting a strain on the police department and emergency services crews.