Beach wars

Well, the beach was quite active last weekend, in spite of all the folks celebrating Sinko de Mayo, which is Spanish for Save the Mayonnaise! It seems that those people that wanted to have impromptu rap concerts and make a point that "the beach belongs to everyone" stayed home due to the large numbers of police that were on hand to be seen everywhere! Yep, that is the way to do it, Thanks guys!

Yes, the beach is for everyone, but you just can't break the rules and do what you want. Let me remind you of a few things. The beach speed limit is 30 MPH, and the sign is right there after you leave the toll booths. There are places for you to have cookouts and they are plainly marked. There is only a limited number of parking places and you must have a permit to have any large crowd meetings. The streets of Pensacola and Gulf Breeze are for everyone as well, but you can't just do what you want there any more than you can on the beach.

Some people come to our beach every year from Mobile and just trash the place. They gather at the parking lot at the entrance of Ft. Pickens road and eat a lot of fried chicken and leave the bones everywhere. That is why it has become known as "Chicken Bone Beach." The folks that come on Memorial Day gather way down the beach near Opal Beach and that is knows as "Their Beach."

The beach behind my house has a sign that says "Bubba's Beach" and many Bubbas have been known to gather there from time to time. There is Casino beach that has never had a casino, and Quitewater Beach, that has never had any noisy water. Portifino Beach is trying to keep people off the beach that is on both sides of them and that is against the law. I suggest that the Chicken Bone Beach and the Their Beach folks go to Portofino beach and set up for one of their parties and see how long it lasts.

The laws in the state of Florida specifically say that "the beach is public" and the beach belongs to everyone. You can't block access to the beach at any point and those that try to do this really irk me. We don't want another Destin here. We already have a Destin. We want a family beach that is a cash cow that feeds the entirety of Escambia County. We want people to behave, clean up after themselves and obey the speed limits, imagine that!

I think it is time that we begin as citizens to patrol our own beaches. When we see someone breaking the law, tell them, call 911 and write down some tag numbers. The Sheriff and the Police Department will appreciate it. We don't have to confront them, just help out the law. I do it all the time and I'm usually there to see the law breakers sent away or taken into custody. If we want to save our beach for what we have always had it for, we must get involved. If you want to trash a beach, play loud music, and be ugly to folks there for other reasons, go to Navarre Beach, they have property taxes down there that can pay for it all!!

I say … SAVE THE BEACH, BLOWTHE BRIDGES … it's the only way.

Just thought you'd like to know…