There’s no amusement in this week’s column, but because of repeated injury or death to some college kids, this warning needs repeating:

Next to shark attacks, what I’m about to tell you is one of the most feared incidents for chambers of commerce in any beach town along the east coast. Police call it the "Tarzan Syndrome."

It usually happens during spring-break. Thousands of kids from colleges from all over the east and Midwest converge on our beaches from Myrtle Beach to Daytona, and Ft. Lauderdale.

For these kids it’s time to set aside books, lectures, and schedules. For many, it is a time to get "wasted." Lots of students, mostly guys, pack 12 to 18 into a single motel room. They figure money saved on rooms leaves more for beer. That’s gland-driven collegiate wisdom.

Beach towns usually cancel police officers’ annual leave and extra days-off during spring-break. Cops routinely work 12-hour shifts in anticipation of student hyper activity.

Merchants resist the use of the word "riot" by the news media. Insurance companies may cancel coverage if the term, "riot conditions," appears in published reports. The term "disorderly conduct" is more acceptable.

Every year at many beach resorts there’s at least one "Tarzan" case in which a young college boy is killed or maimed.

Boys are natural show-offs. Combine that tendency with too much booze and the "Tarzan" thing can result—leaping from balcony to balcony like the legendary Ape Man. Even Johnny Weismuller would not have been stupid enough to leap across open space with a marble deck eight stories below.

Boys, absent sober reasoning, sometimes attempt to dive into motel pools from a room on high. This feat may "look"possible from atop a balcony railing. But the fact is, those who attempt this deadly dive miss the pool by 8 to 10 feet. They land head-first on tile. I know of nobody who ever survived this senseless stunt.

And pity the poor cops who must make death notifications, and are often scolded by grief-stricken parents: "How could you let such a thing happen to my child?"