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Smiling JOe

SoWal Expert
Nov 18, 2004
31,648
1,773
Please do so where we can all understand. Mahalo!

This link may help a little. I see we have private beaches but because the way it is written kicking people off the beaches will never hold up in court. It is easy to prove that folks have been using the beaches for years.

http://www.surfrider.org/qa_access.aspx?stsel=FL

You see, BlueMtnBeachVagrant, ownership is as clear as mud. I know of no Gulf Front property in Walton County which has not been used without objection by the landowner for more than twenty years. Erecting a sign now, doesn't do much in the eyes of the courts, if those two cases sighted in the above link are correct. Although I don't own Gulf Front property, I do own property which had a jeep trail on it for years, and was widend by 50 ft, and paved as a two way road, for public use. The County never bothered getting a survey, because if they would have, they would have seen that the property adjacent and east of my property was deeded for the road. I think the beach property is no different from mine, in that it has been used by the public for numerous years, so it is deemed public, even though I own it and pay taxes on the road and right of way.

Seems like this issue needs its own thread, so here it is.
 

Chickpea

Beach Fanatic
Dec 15, 2005
1,151
366
30-A Corridor
Seems like this issue needs its own thread, so here it is.

Can somebody (SJ????) please explain what the differences of opinions are in simple terms.

In reading back and forth all I can glean is that there may be some people who own gulf front property who also legally own the beach in front of their lot BUT because the public has used these beaches and claimed ownership in the past, it is unlikely that a court would uphold the rights of the property owners who may object to this?

Are there many people who would like to see the beach in front of their house become private? Please speak up and explain your position. I am interested in this issue on a number of fronts and would like to hear both sides of the argument.

For those of you who believe that beaches should remain as a public amenity as they have in the past x number of years, do you think that the private gulf lot owners are entitled to some form of finiancial compensation from the County/State for allowing or permitting this use?

Thank you.
 

Smiling JOe

SoWal Expert
Nov 18, 2004
31,648
1,773
I think the Gulf front owners who have deeded beach, should deed that beach back to the County or State, and in return, thereby reducing their liability, as well as the size of their property, which in turn, reduces their taxes substantially. I don't think they should be compensated for this in any other way. The public has used the beach without objection from the "land owners" for numerous years and to try and stop the public's use now, seems way too late.
 

Beachlover2

Beach Fanatic
Jun 17, 2005
819
60
SoWal
From the Destin Log




Beach issues: Harassment? Public access?
By Fraser Sherman
June 24, 2007 1:15 AM
Destin beachfront resident Kathy Wright says allowing the public to walk across private beaches allows ?violent men? to threaten her family.
Wright and her husband, Mike, are now fighting in court to ban Jeffrey Reed and Bill Leech ? whom the Wrights say have trespassed on their property and intimidated their children ? from coming near their Gulf-front Destiny Shores home, claiming the two men trespassed on the Wright?s property and threatened their children.
Reed and Leech claim the Wrights are lying.
This week, Kathy Wright told Destin?s City Council that the two men had been on the brink of settling the court case until the city filed a brief in the case asserting the right of the public to walk and fish on private beaches up to 20 feet upland of the wet sand area.
?You gave these guys courage and confidence to go back to my property,? Wright told the council. ?If you don?t understand fear when your girls are in jeopardy, you don?t understand love.?
In an interview, Reed?s attorney, Glenn Swiatek, said Wright was wrong: Reed would never have accepted settlement terms that included staying 500 feet away from the entire Destiny Shores subdivision, even when out on the water.
About the only thing that isn?t in dispute is that everything began on April 21 when Reed and Leech set up fi shing poles behind the Wright?s house. Kathy Wright contacted an Okaloosa County sheriff?s deputy, who told the men that while they could walk across private beachfront, they couldn?t stop there.
The men subsequently contacted the sheriff?s office, which confi rmed that the city does allow beachgoers to walk, sit or fish up to 20 feet upland of the wet sand. The men resumed fi shing.
According to the Wrights, the men also threatened and harassed Kathy Wright and her children, and later returned and did so again. Swiatek, the attorney, said Reed and Leech never even saw the Wright?s children. In an e-mail on file at City Hall, Reed said Kathy Wright falsely claimed Reed had spent eight hours on the beach at the Wright property May 16 when his work records would prove he?d been on his job until 3 p.m.
Since then, the Wrights have fi led suit against the two men, and have received an initial restraining order against them. Kathy Wright told the City Council this week that the restraining order proves the suit has merit. Swiatek said issuing one in a case like this is routine, regardless of the merits.
On Monday, the Wrights told the City Council that the city had interfered with the case by fi ling its brief on the 20-foot rule.
?I was shocked and dismayed the city turned the safety of my family into a political issue,? Mike Wright said, ?to make a point about beach restoration. (You?re) opposing my wife?s efforts to protect my family.?
Wright said the city had been seduced into favoring tourists over residents, and that the issue was trespassing, not the 20-foot zone.
City Manager Greg Kisela said the Wright?s attorney had contacted the city with questions about the 20-foot rule, and the city had filed the brief to make the policy clear to the judge. Kisela said the brief hadn?t touched on the Wright?s allegations.
Councilor Dewey Destin said that even though the council would probably have supported fi ling the brief, Kisela should have obtained council approval before going ahead. The council voted unanimously that city attorneys should check with the council before making most court fi lings.
Councilor Cyron Marler asked if the Wrights were participants in a current lawsuit by beachfront owners opposed to the controversial beach restoration project under way in east Destin. Wright said he was not involved, but county court records list both Wrights as plaintiffs in the case as recently as May 7.
Mike Wright told the City Council that the merits of the 20-foot rule were irrelevant, since the court case ?is about bullying, it?s about harassment.?
In a letter to Mayor Craig Barker about the case last month, however, Kathy Wright said the city should abandon the 20-foot rule to protect her children.
?Authority has been given for violent and or sexual predators to sit within 50 feet of my children,? Wright wrote. ?If that rule is put in place, criminals will be able to sit on my back porch.?
Destin resident Bob Biel, a frequent critic of the lack of beach access in Destin, has also become involved, writing to City Hall in support of Leech and Reed and their right to use the beaches behind Destiny Shores.
The Wrights did not return The Log?s calls seeking comment for this article.
 

Smiling JOe

SoWal Expert
Nov 18, 2004
31,648
1,773
?Authority has been given for violent and or sexual predators to sit within 50 feet of my children,? Wright wrote. ?If that rule is put in place, criminals will be able to sit on my back porch.?



:dunno: So are these two men, being accused, registered sexual predators? I don't understand where that comment came from. Don't the Wrights know that registered sexual predators can go to many public places where their children are playing?

If the Wright's were smart, they would have captured the threats on video. I'm wondering if the two men were being threatened by the homeowners, to leave "their" property. :dunno:
 

scooterbug44

SoWal Expert
May 8, 2007
16,732
3,330
Sowal
These people are either paranoid or have a major safety issue that they need to document via videotape to prove.

Solely based on the article it seems these people are crying wolf. They seem to have been tripped up on several major points so far.
 

BeachSiO2

Beach Fanatic
Jun 16, 2006
3,294
737
“Authority has been given for violent and or sexual predators to sit within 50 feet of my children,” Wright wrote. “If that rule is put in place, criminals will be able to sit on my back porch.”

SJ;

What? :dunno: You didn't you know that ALL non gulf-front owners, especially fishermen, should be considered violent or sexual predators, and criminals until proven innocent ;-) I have heard of luring them in by candy or electronically, but with a fishing pole. What would you say, here kiddie do you want to see my live bait???

By the way, if the water is within the 20 feet of their back porch that Destin is allowing people to use, they have bigger problems then "predators."

I can see it now, NBC's To Catch a Predator setting up sting operations in the wet sand area of the beach in Destiny Shores. Do you think Jim Cantore would co-anchor? :D
 
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scooterbug44

SoWal Expert
May 8, 2007
16,732
3,330
Sowal
?Authority has been given for violent and or sexual predators to sit within 50 feet of my children,? Wright wrote. ?If that rule is put in place, criminals will be able to sit on my back porch.?

This seems to be 100% fair and accurrate and not exaggerated one iota (heavy scooterbug sarcasm).

Between the rent-a-cops, sharks, and predatory fisherfolk, the beaches seem quite unsafe lately!
 

jay

Beach Comber
Jun 27, 2007
20
0
baker
I am one of the two men the article is talking about and I want everone to know that these people are lying. I have never done anything but fish there and only twice. They are slandering my good name in order to give the perception of merit to their case against me. Look at the county records (Jeffrey Reed) I have no history of violence in fact I was a single father for many years why I have not had a speeding ticket since I was a teenager. I am being made into a criminal for fishing on the gulf beaches.
 

BeachSiO2

Beach Fanatic
Jun 16, 2006
3,294
737
Jay:

It is sad that this is happening to you. Thanks for coming on and :welcome: to the board. Please keep us updated on what happens with the claims against you.
 
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