Holden Beach: Patrolling for Dollars?
August 5, 2009A goodly number of people here at Holden Beach seem upset with the beach patrol business and the way the abandoning of the program took place; the more or less sudden dismissal at the height of the tourist season and the entire process being done with a letter delivered by some minion from Town Hall. The patrolling will now be done by uniformed officers from the Holden Beach Police Department. An article in The Beacon mentions that the town manager and the mayor both believe a stronger enforcement presence is needed on the beach. Maybe so, but in the five and one-half years I have lived here I have never personally observed such a situation.
Now I don’t care if another tourist ever sets foot on this sand-bar again. I don’t rent housing or bicycles to them. I own no business that caters to the tourist trade. But I do believe the reason this place exists as it is is tourist based and funded. So, let’s say I’ll tolerate and help the sun-burned boogers just so that I can enjoy the eateries, restaurants and the Food Lion just over the causeway. The absence of those businesses, however, would not drive me away. From the perspective of the tourist my toleration may or may not be noticed. But the toleration offered by the town may be another matter. A civilian in a Beach Patrol logoed shirt telling you to put the dog on a lead is one thing. A patrolman in uniform saying the same thing is another. If the tourist perceives hassle, the tourist may well consider another venue. Now understand; that’s OK with me. I’d never miss them and it would be nice to have my policemen doing real crime fighting stuff like they’re supposed to. But a lot of people make their living or supplement their income supplying the tourist with his needs and wants. The shovels that dig the holes and the cabanas that are left up all night may have been sold or rented from a local establishment. And the three restaurants and sandwich shop can’t exist with local trade only.
I’m not in favor of deeply dug holes left on the beach, dogs running loose when the beach is filled with people, cabanas, chairs and umbrellas abandoned for the town to clean up, unseemly drunken behavior, or footballs and Frisbees that get too close to my frail old body. I believe it is the right thing to have an ordinance against all those things, and enforcing those ordinances should be done with a professional politeness and care. But visitors come here to have fun. We should be careful how we regulate that.
Ed Cabaniss
Holden Beach
Ed Cabaniss