turtle watch volunteer arrested

[Beach Bimmer]

Finally, another fan of Edward Abbey's work.

Turtle - wrenching instead of monkey - wrenching ?

 

[Beanstalk]

I guess I missed something along the way. I thought if it was left on the beach overnight it was considered abandoned? So once she claimed it she could do with it, as she wanted? I certainly do not condone breaking the law, but did not the ones who left this stuff behind break a law? Just curious.

 

[steyou]

That would be your fault. I'm only five years into the rental/ tourist business and as an owner; I make every attempt to show pride of ownership which is felt by my renters; in addition to trying to make their vacations as memorable as possible, I try very hard to educate them on the delicate ecosystem, turtle nesting, and removing items from the beach. By the time they get to my house, they feel like it is theirs, and it is theirs for the week or so, and so is the beach, and they have shown great respect. It takes some more of my time, but pays off in spades. Some vacationers have never visited the area and have no knowledge of the delicate treasures we possess; dune lakes and such.

It is our job as stewards of our property and surrounding lands to ensure that people are educated, if they aren't already. Of course, there are always some bad apples, but when a grandmother/ turtle watcher goes into a rage and breaks the law, WE, as a community, in large part should bear some responsibility. We let her down.

Thanks Mango...we do this and much more, including but not limited to the flag system. To do this it takes alot of our time not just some of it. Education of our area is a team effort for all of us but I will be darn if I have failed this women who took the law into her own hands and broke it. I have let no one down, especially her.

 

[Gidget]

The woman, who is a Turtle Watch volunteer, denies causing the damage.


I'd be curious to read or see more.


G

 

[Smiling JOe]

Bless her heart, suddenly she's famous! I do believe she took her volunteerism seriously, but she did vandalize personal property. I don't think any of us want to see people leave items on the beach overnight particularly during turtle season.

Lots of lessons in this one!!

Whoa, Lynnie. She is being accused of vandalizing trash on the beach. We don't know that she actually did anything other than look for turtle tracks.

 

[Miss Kitty]

Whoa, Lynnie. She is being accused of vandalizing trash on the beach. We don't know that she actually did anything other than look for turtle tracks.

"vandalizing trash"...that kinda' says it all for me. ;-)

 

[Smiling JOe]

Speaking of vandalizing crap left on the beach overnight, I wonder if she would have been arrested if she smashed empty drink cans and empty plastic bottles, and wadded up Mylar potato chip bags. Anyone care to take a guess. I see all of this crap in the same category when people leave it on the beach overnight for their entire week or two. If the accused had put all of that crap in a bag and placed it in a trashcan, would she be arrested? It is trash, but I guess the owner of the trash is of the mindset that one man's trash is another man's treasure, even if left unattended overnight on the beach.

 

[Gidget]

Is it too naive of me to suggest that prior to someone being handed the keys to a rental unit they should be read the bylaws - you know, have them highlighted and DISCUSSED - or have to watch a 5 minute video. Is that asking too much or being unrealistic? We get a little speech when we rent a car or go to a museum or a national park.

I know that there are those who litter and don't give a fig about it, but then there are those who really don't understand the implications of floats being left out or tents. There are things I have learned about even lately that I hadn't thought through. Example - throwing an apple core out on a lonely road - I always thought biodegradable so it's ok - until it was pointed out, on this forum, that a varmint could come to close to the road to eat it and get squashed.

Again, I am anxious to hear "the rest of the story."

G

 

[Susan Horn]

For whatever this may be worth. When the remove-it-lose-it bit first started, I contacted the TDC to find out what was being done with the removed items. My idea was to get them to donate them to Goodwill, Caring & Sharing, etc., or even have a county beach-stuff store, using proceeds to help fund the cleanup -- rather than landfilling the stuff. They told me none of those could be done, because in order to fit all the stuff in the trucks when the staff were removing them, they had to pop floats, slash tent and otherwise make most of the items unusable, to cram them into the trucks.

So if Brady did indeed slash tent canopies and deflate floats, she was simply following the lead of our beach cleanup crews.

I am not a lawyer, and I've never played one on TV, but I'm hoping some legal minded person can explain how is it legal for TDC/Sheriff staff to smash, slash and trash abandoned beach stuff but not for a citizen to do the same? Wouldn't it be sort of like a citizen's arrest (anybody here old enough to remember the Andy Griffith show?), only she was arresting stuff rather than people?

 

[Smiling JOe]

Citizen's arrest, Citizen's arrest! I guess the flip side is that line from the TV show, "COPS," or was it Judge Whopner's court show on TV? -- "Don't take the law into your own hands."

Another flip side of that is that if you wait for the po-po to show up and run off the burglar, you may die, waiting.

Good stuff, Susan Horn.

Gidget, you are not being too naive. I had the same thought a couple of years ago when everyone was drowning in the rip currents. I suggested the TDC create a short video to email (or mail a DVD) out to all of the rental companies to forward to their guests. The video could be branded with TDC stuff, and there could be a fun/educational one for kids to watch, too, not only getting them more excited about their upcoming trip, but helping educate them in the process, and potentially saving their lives. Adding beach etiquitte would be easy enough. The TDC somewhat liked the idea, but to my knowledge, they have done nothing with the idea.