Items on the beach overnight

...........Unenlightened, uneducated-about-the-facts people, (who probably voted for Bush and drive Priuses) think it's okay.........

Oh, hell, you just stepped on EVERYBODY's toes!!!

.......I think that someone should sit out there with a grenade launcher and kill these poor bat-turds and all their plastic-toy-totin' spawn...


Sense of humor? I still say it's a virus.

Succumbing to the DARK SIDE, are you?

In an effort to promote the "Move it or Lose It" campaign to our customers, I stopped by the TDC reception center this morning. The kindly volunteer ladies on staff had very little knowledge of the campaign and not a single brochure or poster.

They refered me to code enforcement where, guess what? They had no printed materials either.

I'm all for the ordinance and its enforcement. However, I think it's only fair to warn the weekly tourists before simply taking their stuff without tagging (as is done with all items near a TDC access).

Hopefully they will get a better info campaign going soon.

EXACTLY!

Take a look at this from the Walton Sun this weekend...talk about bureaucratic cOnfUsIoN regarding "time durations" (24 hours, 3 days, immediately):


TDC beach cleanup program underway

By Sean Boone Sean_Boone@link.freedom.com

The Walton County Tourist Development Council kicked off its Remove It or Lose It campaign July 23 in an effort to prevent items from being left on South Walton Beaches overnight.

The TDC?s goal is to create a cleaner beach that would be free of items that interfere with beach maintenance, emergency vehicles and sea turtle nesting.

Under County Ordinance 2003-07, items such as umbrellas, chairs or toys that are left on the beach for more than 24 hours, will be discarded.
The TDC is working in conjunction with the Walton County Sherriff?s Office to tag the items left on the beach. The tags contain the date, time and description of the item. If the tagged item is not removed by its owner in three days, it is then removed by county officials. Items that are left on all TDC maintained beaches and walkovers, will immediately be removed without being tagged.

TDC Director of Public Relations and Visitor Services Tracy Louthain said there were 20 items tagged from the first night of operation and there were nine truck loads of items collected for disposal by July 25.
?We had to break the beach into zones,? said Louthain. ?The nine loads we collected were from zone one, which is from the western border of Walton County to the Whale?s Tail Restaurant.?

According to the press release from the TDC, the intent of the ordinance is not to remove personal belongings from around houses and boardwalks, but to make sure items are not left in the middle of the beach.

?I hope the program will be successful, but it will require diligence on the county?s part,? said Eastern Lake Nursery and Garden manager Jennifer Jones. ?We need to clean our beaches up and keep them that way.?
Jones is a member of the Turtle Watch Group and would very much like to see the community come together for this program.

?There are many locals and visitors as well who would volunteer to help the county remove and dispose of these items,? said Jones. ?My hope is that we do not simply fill the landfills with all this debris but put it to good use by reusing it through donations to Boys and Girls Clubs, kids camps, schools, or the needy.?

According to Louthain, the items that are collected on the beach are currently sorted and sent to Fort Walton Beach for recycling.

:scratch:

You are a Dairy Queen?
Uranium-Rich Arabs Don't Quit?
Under Romania Are Donkey Queens?
Urban Royalty Arrive Donning Quilts?
Uber Radical, A La Don Quioxote?

Yea, me too.
Seems like some are reduced to a plethora of silly icons and OMGTCBFT cryptic abbreviations. Degummit! I exceeded my self-imposed icons to words ratio!!!! Sorry y'all.

To to the owner of the blue tent left on the beach at BMB...

REMOVE IT OR LOSE IT!!! :nono1:
I am watching you.

They have 3 days, dontcha know!!!!!!!!!!

Oh, hell, you just stepped on EVERYBODY's toes!!!
Succumbing to the DARK SIDE, are you?

Just trying to fit in.

Not.

What's w/ the 3 days to remove after tagging?

And they found 20 items in violation but filled 9 trucks? Seems quite contradictory.....

Alright, now that everyone is being comical about all this. Does this apply to vehicles and good looking single girls?

What's w/ the 3 days to remove after tagging?

And they found 20 items in violation but filled 9 trucks? Seems quite contradictory.....

I read in an earlier post that venders and private property owners would be notified by mail before their tagged items are removed. Maybe that's what the 3 days is for?

Alright, now that everyone is being comical about all this. Does this apply to vehicles and good looking single girls?

I'm sure that if the TDC collects your daughters from the beach, your children will be taken away by Child Family Services for not caring for your children for three days. :funn:

:scratch:

You are a Dairy Queen?
Uranium-Rich Arabs Don't Quit?
Under Romania Are Donkey Queens?
Urban Royalty Arrive Donning Quilts?
Uber Radical, A La Don Quioxote?

I think it's #1.

I read in an earlier post that venders and private property owners would be notified by mail before their tagged items are removed. Maybe that's what the 3 days is for?

By mail! That seems like overkill (plus you can't get mail out within 3 days here).

If your stuff is on the beach and is tagged, it goes buh-bye! All of these additional notifications and grace periods are hampering getting the crap off the beach!

I think it is pretty amazing that this ever became an issue. There are not that many places left where you can leave anything on the beach and not have it stolen well before daybreak. Some beaches I have been to, you are lucky if it doesn't disappear while you are having a swim. If people thought their stuff was going to be stolen, there wouldn't be an argument, they would just haul it in at night.

I think it is pretty amazing that this ever became an issue. There are not that many places left where you can leave anything on the beach and not have it stolen well before daybreak. Some beaches I have been to, you are lucky if it doesn't disappear while you are having a swim. If people thought their stuff was going to be stolen, there wouldn't be an argument, they would just haul it in at night.

It constantly amazes me! As a former city gal, I used to have to worry about my wallet being stolen from my POCKET/my purse being rifled while I was WEARING it. Leaving items for days is at once so nice and so silly to me!

By mail! That seems like overkill (plus you can't get mail out within 3 days here).

If your stuff is on the beach and is tagged, it goes buh-bye! All of these additional notifications and grace periods are hampering getting the crap off the beach!

"Sheriff scooterbug", quickest draw south of 30A !!!!!

I think it is pretty amazing that this ever became an issue. There are not that many places left where you can leave anything on the beach and not have it stolen well before daybreak. Some beaches I have been to, you are lucky if it doesn't disappear while you are having a swim. If people thought their stuff was going to be stolen, there wouldn't be an argument, they would just haul it in at night.

I guess there's always a "bright" side to everything...

I can see the headlines now:


"Concerned Friends of the Turtles" (CFOTT) have enlisted the help of street gangs from as far away as New York.....

As a visitor to the Panhandle for 15 years now (and we certainly wish we would have bought a place 15 years ago!), we have ALWAYS taken our stuff down every evening. When renting on a "private beach", some condos/houses had storage on the beach for tents/umbrellas, etc., and some had walkovers under which we could "stash" a heavy tent. In the Destin proper area, some had complimentary beach service, OR, beach service for a fee. In SOWAL, beach service complimentary, or for a fee has been harder to come by. I definitely prefer beach service for "free" or for a fee, so we don't have to lug shade down to the beach. I certainly wouldn't leave stuff anywhere in the WORLD over night, but it is convenient to have a place on the beach to store stuff IF it is a "private access" area.
Coming to SOWAL in 4 days.,.....can't wait.....we ARE bringing our modified tent, but WILL put it up every am, and take down in the evening. We will expect to be able to go up to the bathroom or have lunch, without having our "tent" confiscated, but would NEVER leave valuables for others!
OK, so that's my opinion, and I'm sticking to it!

Suebee!

BTW....I still need a tent.....

I'm sure that if the TDC collects your daughters from the beach, your children will be taken away by Child Family Services for not caring for your children for three days. :funn:

:funn: :funn:

In the last 2 days in walking I have seen more sh** on the beach at 0530 in the morning then ever before. Also I could have spent the last 2 whole days cleaning up everybody else's sh**. It is just amaxing how much crap is left on the beach and what washes up.

I'll do to Lakewood/Beachfront, going east on Saturday. I doubt if the taggers will be there at 6 a.m. I will go again Monday a.m. and look for tags. Hey, I should do video of everything there on Saturday. Then go again on Tuesday and video the same stretch. Then youtube it. Or can I do videos at sowal?

So Caroling, did you get before and after video or photos from the Eastern Lake area? I'm still out of town, so I can't get down there to see the results.

On the Bluemountain web cam, the same blue tent has been up for days and yesterday someone put up a red tent and it stayed overnight as well. Seems like these people need a wake up call. Someone go out there and get beachmom that tent. LOL!!! No one will notice it gone.:rofl:

"Sheriff scooterbug", quickest draw south of 30A !!!!!

Nothing wrong w/ clear and uniformly enforced rules & laws!!! The special conditions, exceptions, etc. are what give us all the bureaucracy and confusion . Am I'm north of 30A!

Much easier to just say "No stuff on the beach overnight - PERIOD" then quibble about what day it could be tagged, when it will be removed, if the turtles know that it's a private beach, if you have it on your walkover, how far you have to carry things, which phase of the moon it is, etc.

On the Bluemountain web cam, the same blue tent has been up for days and yesterday someone put up a red tent and it stayed overnight as well. Seems like these people need a wake up call. Someone go out there and get beachmom that tent. LOL!!! No one will notice it gone.:rofl:

Sounds like you will "notice it gone." ;-)

I was just thinking back over the years and how "crap on the beach" was just not seen or considered an issue - hardly ever. I believe it all started when people started hauling out those big ass tents. They were too big and bulky to put up and take down each day. So, after leaving them up, it became common practice to leave chairs and toys under them. Now we have more and more tents and crap left on the beach (due to more visitors). when visitors come to town and see all the permanent tents up and down the beach, they see an "accepted" practice of tents and crap. (although I don't see how anyone could take this to mean that garbage is acceptable).

Grayton Beach is huge and it is physically difficult to haul everything in your camp for your entire family/group on foot every day. Lots of families literally camp out from morning til night.

I am glad to drive my truck out to the beach with all my toys. But, this isn't a solution to most visitors (thank goodness). I wonder what solutions would be acceptable?

I do know folks who leave tents and neatly piled chairs in the same spot each night. They are great folks who love our beaches and know as much or more aobut them as we do (they certainly spend more time on them than some of us locals). We've talked to them about sea turtles and beach environment concerns; and they are very aware. They feel they are being responsible since they do not leave trash, and they always leave a very clean site, and watch the weather to see if the tent needs to be removed for the night.

Maybe all tent structures should be either permitted or banned. Sometimes its hard to find a place next to the gulf because of these permanent structures (and most have no one under them). I believe certain types of tents should be banned from beaches - some are just not safe - i.e., not made to withstand wind, use of sharp stakes and long ropes in the ground creating hazards for anyone walking anywhere near the tent, etc.

I don't know the solution. But, I am sympathetic to responsible visitors who need reasonable options. I believe most care a great deal about sowal and its environment.

I would vote to ban the BA tents. Umbrellas that are easily taken up and down seem to be more appropriate....they were fine for many years around here.