Please.....Keep YOUR beach clean!

OK...this one just always gets me! By and large I'd say that most beach goers respect mother nature's sandy playground, but why does even one person insist on treating it as their personal waste basket. Having lived all my life at least reasonably close to the shore...having my dad teach me how to dig for clams when I was 10.....I learned to love and respect what the beach, the ocean, and we all have in common and how dependent we all are on each other for our existence. It's just amazing that there has to be debate about the best technology we need to utilize in order to clean up after people who have no respect for themselves or their partners on this little planet! Oh well....my rant for the day.

Please.........when you leave the beach, leave only one thing behind....your footprints!



North Myrtle Beach Local News - Special Features - Proposal for beach ordinances reviewed at workshop – by Jim Hulen

Proposal for beach ordinances reviewed at workshop – by Jim Hulen
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March 28, 2007 – At Monday’s North Myrtle Beach Council Workshop, Assistant City Manager Joel Davis proposed two changes to improve safety and ease of beach cleaning.

Davis explained to the council that beach goers were leaving volley ball nets, tents, chairs, umbrellas, windbreakers, surfboards and similar equipment overnight. At least one volleyball post had been placed in concrete and held upright with wire guys.

“Beach goers leaving this equipment,” Davis said, “made keeping the beaches clean troublesome.”

He noted that with the new sweeper that has better filters, it will be able to remove cigarette butts.

City staff operates beach sweepers and remove trash from 5 AM to 8 AM. Obstructions left at the beach leave large areas around them where the sweepers cannot clean or staff must interrupt their work to remove the obstacles to the City transfer station.

Davis proposed an ordinance that would make it unlawful to have such equipment on the beaches between the hours of 8:30 PM to 9:00 AM.

Council requested that staff review the 8:30 PM hour and consider making it later.

Continuing, Davis explained, “For safety reasons, the City needs to maintain a beach access and emergency lane.”

He noted that during the tourist season, the beaches are packed and the only clear access is at the tide line and expressed concern that city vehicles traveling this path would pose a risk to children wading in the ocean. Safety required some way to isolate beach goers from traveling city vehicles.

His proposed ordinance would require all obstructions be prohibited 15 foot from the dune-line base seaward and run the length of the beach from Cherry Grove to Windy Hill.

His research showed that beaches in the entire state of Florida and Virginia post signs to reserve portions of the beach for emergency services. Davis proposed an “A” frame portable sign for this purpose and managed by city staff. They would be taken up and removed at night.

Council expressed concern that, at high tide, the Cherry Grove section would be greatly narrowed if a 15 foot wide area was reserved.

Davis indicated that street access in the Cherry Grove section might be more appropriate for emergency access.

Mayor Hatley was very adamant that she did not want to become a city

where tickets are written.

Hatley stated, “This is a family beach, where people come to have fun. I don’t want it to be a place where people come and get tickets.”

Davis replied that it was not the intention to give tickets but to have an ordinance in place as the basis for requesting beach goers to limit obstructions in the 15 foot area.

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