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10,000 Sign Petition Against Virginia Beach Festival

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VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. (AP) - More than 10,000 people have signed a petition trying to cancel a Virginia Beach festival set for next year. But city officials say they have no control over it.

The Virginian-Pilot reported Monday that College Beach Weekend brought large crowds and traffic backups. A shooting also left four people with non-life threatening injuries.

Councilman Jim Wood said the mostly social-media-driven event is not officially organized. He added, "how do you tell people they can't visit the beach?"

Police Chief Jim Cervera said it was otherwise a relatively calm weekend. City Manager Dave Hansen said in a statement that "isolated incidents of violence together with heavy traffic, litter, and rude behavior have cast a negative view over the whole weekend."

Don Rush is the News Director and Senior Producer of News and Public Affairs at Delmarva Public Media. An award-winning journalist, Don reports major local issues of the day, from sea level rise, to urban development, to the changing demographics of Delmarva.