By Georgia Osten
I’m so lonesome, I could cry. Lonesome – NOT, but I could cry when I look at what they left behind. Talking with a neighbor about Spring Break on Sunday, he told me he had to retreat into the sanctity of his home to get away from the speeding down his street. It absolutely makes your blood boil. What will it take? Someone getting hit or killed – a child or a pet? We took plastic garbage bags out on the beach Sunday morning to begin picking up after our week-long visitors. One section of beach East of Driftwood Subdivision, another neighbor from Sandy Shores stopped to help us. We spent over an hour picking up bag after bag of beer cans, toilet paper, broken bottles, plastic jello shot containers, you name it. We were just steps from Barrel 89.
A young boy approached my husband “Are you the trash picker uppers?” “No,” my husband said, “I live here.” I was picking up near a group of kids, a teenager says to me, “Do they make you do that?” I replied, “No, I live here, I hate to see my beach trashed.” People say to me, they’re tourists, they spend a lot of money, it helps the economy. Really? Think about it. These are a lot of very young irresponsible children, they don’t have money. Their parents may have money, but how many of them are here without parents? There’s underage drinking, children trusted on ATV’s and golf carts without driver’s licenses. Where are the authorities? How many would it take to handle this crowd? Has this ridiculous holiday run its course?
I called the sheriff’s hotline on Saturday upon seeing an ATV driven by a 10 year old, followed by a golf cart full of 10 year olds hauling down my street. All it would take is several of them being stopped, parents fined, or worse – someone hurt.
Sorry for the venting – it’s NOT my favorite holiday, I’ll be back to my happy-go-lucky self by next week. Enjoy our beaches, the beauty – It’s Paradise, respect it please.
[3-20-2017]
GO’s Sand Bucket is only one beach bum’s journal of life at the beach, probably something each of you can relate to. Please feel free to email me with your thoughts, visions and/or feelings of just exactly what the beach means to you. Email: [email protected]
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Bravo! I am so with you. My blood was boiling last Saturday watching the parade of “kids” driving down the beach in ridiculously dangerous ways. Seriously, why are they coming to THE BEACH?! Where are their PARENTS?