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Watch Out For Weekend Riptides
By Steve Alexander Reporter
Published: Thu, April 10, 2008 - 8:35 pm
Last Updated: Thu, April 10, 2008 - 8:49 pm
Last Updated: Thu, April 10, 2008 - 8:49 pm
Steve Alexander
There are no lifeguards at that beach to watch out for swimmers.
The mayor of the Town of Dauphin Island, Jeff Collier, says, "The public beach on the island is owned and operated by the Dauphin Island Park and Beach Board, which is sort of an arm of the county. They, just for some reason, do not offer lifeguards at this particular point and never have in the past as I'm aware of."
News Five contacted the Dauphin Island Park and Beach Board to find out why there are no lifeguards.
We were told the spokesperson for the group, Mike Henderson, was out Thursday.
When Mayor Collier was asked whether he thought there should be lifeguards at the park beach, he said, "Certainly, you hate to see anybody lose their lives and that's an unfortunate happening. We have very well posted signs."
The signs explain what rip currents are and say if the water looks rough, don't go in.
We asked people at the public beach if they think lifeguards are needed.
Jessie Cardin of Theodore said, "I don't really think there should be lifeguards at the beach. If the weather is too bad to go swimming, I think everyone should just know that."
Stephen Davis who lives on Dauphin Island says perhaps an entity like a beach patrol is needed there.
Ed Reid of Atlanta, Georgia said, "I don't have a problem with there not being any lifeguards. People just need to learn how to swim or stay out of the water when the rip tides are bad."
But there's some good news for people who would like to see lifeguards at a public beach on Dauphin Island.
The Town of Dauphin Island wants to have its own public beach.
Mayor Collier said, "We are looking at opening some additional public beach on the west end which would be a charged facility, but it also would include some amenities such as lifeguards."
The mayor says the city is still dealing with some money issues, but the goal is to have the new beach open by Memorial Day.
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They do need lifeguards, because people can’t read evidentally
and they also need someone to enforce NO PETS!