LBI's new signs depict ordnance, post prohibitions By DONNA WEAVER Staff Writer, (609) 978-2015 Published: Tuesday, May 22th, 2007
SHIP BOTTOM — The traffic lights
were turned on Monday across Long Beach Island, but that was not the only
sign of summer approaching.
Instead of sitting on the beach to enjoy the warm temperature, the homeowners sat in the piles of sand that had collected on the entrance steps and street. The signs, which were hung at the entrances to some beaches in Ship Bottom and all beaches in Surf City, are much more colorful than the original warning signs placed at the beaches shortly after they were closed. In a pink oval, the signs tell visitors of prohibitions on digging deeper than 12 inches on the beach and on using metal detectors. Although the signs call the restrictions temporary, Ship Bottom and Surf City have policies discouraging deeper holes because of a fatal accident in 2001. The new signs show an image in the
foreground of the newly replenished beaches. The much wider beach bordered
by a split rail wooden fence looks tranquil and soft. The pastel colors
that the signs feature are quite a change from the black and red of the
original warning signs.
“The signs are very colorful. I think they spent a lot more time on the signs than they have on public relations and telling the residents what is going on,” said Kevin Rooney of Sixth Street as he looked up at the sign. “I'm very pissed we've had to put up with closed beaches for months. And here we are days before Memorial Day and we're in doubt about them opening. I have a house full of people coming down for Memorial Day.” Rooney, a recently retired attorney from Virginia said the signs do not explain how World War I-era munitions wound up on the beaches. “You could read this sign and not know that the reason the ordnance is there is because of the beach project. This is either sloppy writing or very inventful writing,” Rooney said. On the sign, under the heading “Why Was This Necessary?” is a brief history of the discovery of the munitions. The sign reads that in early March following the completion of the beach nourishment project, a World War I-era ordnance was discovered on the beach in Surf City. The sign does not tell beachgoers how the ordnance came to be discovered on the beach. Officials from the corps have said the munitions were dredged up from a site offshore and pumped onto the sand through a screen that allowed the items to pass through. Keith Watson, project manager for the Surf City project, said last month that if a smaller screen has been used, the munitions would not have passed through. The sign also says that a time-critical removal action was immediately initiated to remove all detectable ordnance from the beaches. “They are the authors of what ‘all detectable ordnance' means only from that one method that they used with magnotometers. They could have gone out and kicked all the sand around and said we've found all detectable ordnance,” Rooney said. Smoking a cigar and filling a bottle with sand from the street, Carl Mendell, of North Beach, said the corps' finding of “all detectable ordnance” is the use of a method that can only scan 3 feet below the surface. Ed Voigt, a corps spokesman said last week that the beaches in Surf City received about 8 to 9 feet of new sand and the scan for munitions only detects to 3 feet. “It gives people a sense of safety when in fact the majority of the sand hasn't been made free of the ordnance,” Mendell said. “No where does it say that there is a possibility of loss of limb or life that it lists on their Web site. Who is liable if someone gets hurt?” Rooney said it was interesting that neither the corps nor the DEP attempted to eliminate their own liability on the signs. Rooney said the corps, particularly, knows that it probably has limited liability. The signs do not say anywhere, “enter at your own risk,” Rooney said. Last week in a phone interview, Voigt said the corps is not discussing liability. Voigt said if someone is hurt on the beaches because of the munitions and decides to pursue litigation, it will be up to the courts. The corps is self-insured, he said. Kevin B. Riordan, an attorney with Berry, Sahradnik, Kotzas, Riordan & Benson in Toms River, said he was not sure if the borough or the corps would be held liable in a personal injury claim. “Let's assume someone goes to the beach for the Fourth of July, and they find one of these things and there's an explosion. If I'm representing the injured party I think I am going to sue the federal government and the borough,” Riordan said. “I'm not sure either one will end up liable, though. There are all kinds of immunities the borough and the corps enjoy.” Mendell said if the corps had gone with the digging and sifting method then they could say they detected many more ordnance items. “They didn't go with the sifting method to save money and time, but doesn't safety come first?” Mendell said. The signs also list safety tips for beachgoers — the Three R's: Recognize what it is, retreat from the area, and report it. The sign encourages the public to call 911 and contact a lifeguard. Lifeguards, however, will not be stationed on the beaches until mid-June. Debbie Barrett scoffed at the sign and its restrictions while sitting on the sandy steps of the beach entrance. “Anyone knows that you need to put
an umbrella down two feet or it won't stay in the sand. This all just blows
me away. It is incredible they have a picture of the beach project in the
background of the sign. What a disgusting mess,” she said.
To e-mail Donna Weaver at The Press: DWeaver@pressofac.com
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