Editorial Previously from Coastal Dispatch
Authored: Robert V. Lotier

Dangerous issues on the beach.
I know we are in a "no-diss" mode for Ocean City... and this is not really a diss. But there are some beach issues that the town will have to consider for the 2000 season.
Considering the recent drowning (138th Street) and the incident where a child was buried under the sand for 20 minutes (approx. 140th Street), the responsibilities of the lifeguards may
be overly taxed as an insufficient number of available guards are used to patrol the water and the beaches.
The city consistently tells us they are able to manage the beach, but constantly is advertising for more guards. The wages of guards is just over $8 an hour... hardly an incentive as
compared to west coast guards who make almost twice that (sometimes more).
The responsibility of a guard sitting on his tower chair, as far as I am concerned, is to watch the water. Although the responsibilities have always included the sand area for dangerous
issues (drinking alcohol, digging dangerous holes), they had not been strictly pursed until the child buried instance. How can a guard watch the water if he/she is required to do a
‘sand-scan’ for dangerous issues every hour? The guard towers are placed a distance of about one every block, but are usually farther apart.
The ‘no mans’ land between the towers are very difficult to scrutinize from the towers. When a guard is off his tower scanning the sand the distance between the manned towers is so
large that a swimmer lost won’t be noticed. Usually a guard does a mental count of people and groups of people in the water, constantly counting looking for missing persons.
This can’t be done when a guard is off his/her tower.
Because of the recent finding of a loggerhead turtle’s burring of her eggs on or about 75th Street, and as these mammals are an endangered species, and this is the first time this has
happened in Ocean City, the town may be able to initiate a "no digging holes rule," posted signs etc. etc... resolving the buried child issue. I tell you for a fact I see a lot of dangerous
holes as I work on the beach everyday.
Roughhousing and other dangerous issues on the beach should not be a tower guard’s responsibility, as they should have eyes forwarded to the water. That is what they are trained for.