County removing articles from beach?

[Smiling JOe]

I'm not used to hearing people complain about free trash collection and removal services.

 

[scooterbug44]

The only people complaining are the ones who want to be able to leave crap on their "private" beach. :angry:

The rest are just trying to figure out whether 1) it's still being picked up 2) who is doing it - TDC or Code.

I am pleased to report that (with the exception of the beach chair rentals set up at every public access) everyone was actively using their items on my stretch of beach.

 

[ASH]

Look in last week's Sun. There is a whole article on removal of items from the beach.

Link is up at post #108

 

[doxiegirl]

The code enforcement trucks are the ones with the 20K in accessories, stripe packages, steps, winches, and light bars.

Is that per truck? How many trucks?

 

[Everytime]

No, I can not understand the beach volleyball permanent fixture at all. These things come in bags lighter than beach chairs and are easily set up. They are nothing like a dune walkover which is intended to safely get people to and from the beach. To have one permanently on a beach is the height of laziness. IMO, it also makes a statement to some to go sit somewhere else since not everyone wants to be near a volleying ball.

I'm not talking about the portable volleyball nets that you can buy at Academy Sports that double as a badminton and tetherball set. I was referring to stationary posts sunk into the ground. There was a net over by the Whale's Tale when I was younger and they had sponsored beach volleyball competitions there, although I don't recall ever seeing those two attractive ladies from the U.S. Olympic team competing there. If it's set back near the dune line, it would be comparable to a dune walkover.

One thing I still see occasionally in Baldwin County, Alabama and Pensacola Beach are the large, flat, side-by-side rental chairs on 4" x 4" legs. They've always stayed on the beach seasonally if not year round. I'm surprised those still exist; it seems those would be hazardous to all kinds of people, reptiles, etc.

 

[Allifunn]

Crap on the beach allowed???

I was walking on the beach this morning (Grayton) and walked past about 6 chairs in the sand that had obviously been there over night. I flagged down a passing TDC truck and pointed the chairs out. He told me that the removal of articles left on the beach had been but to a halt. So....any crap left on the beach right now stays on the beach??? Great, just great! Wait until all the crap ends up in the dunes after an over night storm :roll:

Speaking of crap....here is what I picked up off the beach today
6 beverage cans
7 beverage bottles
5 cups
4 bandaids
2 empty cigarette packs
1 soggy and full cigarette pack
1 shirt
3 flip flops
numerous sand toys
10 cigarette butts
3 straws
1/2 of a fish net
the leg of a beach chair
1 float
1 childs round floaty tube (almost in the dunes but not so much so that I disturbed anything...I figured it was better to retrieve it now than have it blow further into the dunes :roll
1 jump rope
various pieces of trash
1 bra....yep, thats right I was walking down the beach and a guy saw me picking up trash, so as we met he saw some trash and picked it up to put into my bag...and it was a lacy bra....we had a great laugh :rofl: He gingerly put it into my bag

 

[scooterbug44]

Crap left on the beach may stay on the beach because of this dumbarse decision, but crap left on the beach that "walks" over to the TDC trash cans or leans against them will still get picked up. ;-)

P.S. What is up w/ people losing their undies lately? Just this week you've found a bra on the beach, someone found a thong, and I saw boxers next to the bike path!

 

[Gidget]

First off, let me give you a big THANK YOU for picking up all that crap! That is such a shame that people can leave ANYTHING on the beach much less what you picked up. When we used to vacation on Holiday Isle in Destin I would pick up bags of trash and crap. It just baffles me as to how people can trash. I am anxious to hear more about the "new rule."

G

 

[Smiling JOe]

My thought on the issue is that it is always good to pick up trash left on the beach. I use the definition of trash very loosely to include most crap left on the beach overnight. I have never heard of people needing some law to protect their freedom of removing trash from public places.

Allifunn, thanks for keeping our beaches looking more clean than you found them!

 

[Kurt]

What should be left on the beach? | beach, left, rosa - News - Northwest Florida Daily News

SANTA ROSA BEACH — Walton County's Leave No Trace ordinance, which regulates what can be left on the beach and what will be picked up and thrown away, has been put on hold while it is reviewed.


Tracy Louthain, director of public relations for the Beaches of South Walton Tourist Development Council, said TDC officials received word May 22 from County Attorney Mike Burke to "hold off and not remove any more items" from the beach until the ordinance could be refined.


Sonny Mares, executive director of the TDC, said the beach ordinance is "extremely important," but that it should be fair to both environmentalists who are concerned that items left out overnight interfere with sea turtle nesting, as well as to beachgoers.
Beachgoers should be given a reasonable explanation why they cannot leave their items on the beach overnight and have adequate time to remove their belongings before they are thrown away, Mares said.


The central issue is tagging, he added.


Under former Sheriff Ralph Johnson, deputies would tag items left on the beach with a message saying that the owners had 24 hours to remove them.


"If they weren't (removed), our beach crews were instructed to pick them up," Louthain said. And "anything left near public beach walkovers were removed, whether they were tagged or not."


But Sheriff Mike Adkinson, who took over in January, discontinued that practice because he said deputies should not be involved in code enforcement. Since tagging ended, any items left overnight at any of the eight regional beach accesses and public walkovers have been collected and thrown away with no prior warning.


"From my understanding, the county commissioners had concerns that the tagging part of the program wasn't being implemented and wanted the agencies to look at the process and how the tagging element could be put back into place," Louthain said. "We really don't want to throw people's stuff away."


TDC members and county officials, including code enforcement officers, county administrator Ronnie Bell and Burke, are working on an ordinance that addresses questions such as which items can be left on the beach and how much time owners should be given to retrieve them before they are thrown away.


Meanwhile, the TDC will continue to distribute flyers and brochures that ask people to take their items with them when they leave the beach.