Ocean City’s Beaches Freer Than Its Speech

Down the shore: Ocean City is planning on voting to make the beach open 24/7, and (get this) everyone is pretty psyched about it. The cops say they already patrol the beach 24 hours a day, and the state was the one who suggested it in the first place. (State and federal funds are being used to replenish the beach.)

Meanwhile, the literary magazine at Ocean City High School was censored before publication, due to curse words and “inappropriate content.”

Council Considers Lifting Beach Curfew in Ocean City, NJ [KYW 1060]
Students learn can’t speak that easy at OCHS [ShoreNewsToday.com]
Photo by dogfrog, Creative Commons license

WWJD (About Beach Tags)?

Having exhausted the cute puppy and AOL CD beats, Inquirer columnist and Marley & Me author John Grogan turns today to the scourge of every beachgoer in South Jersey. Okay, the scourge of every beachgoer, except in Wildwood and Atlantic City.

Yes, Grogan takes on beach tags today, saying that it’s not the money that bothers him — it’s the principle. Beaches should be free, he writes! And then he wonders what American legends would think of beach tags:

I know what the beach towns say: that keeping clean, safe, lifeguarded beaches costs money, and the burden should be placed on those who use them.

But what would Walt Whitman say? What would Thoreau say? And Jefferson and Adams and Franklin?

What would Woody Guthrie, the balladeer who wrote “This Land is Your Land,” say? Would he have sung, “This land was made for you and me (and anyone else who can afford the fees)”?

Yes! And what would Washington say? And Columbus? And all the American Indians? And Pope Gregory the Great and Charlemagne and Reggie White and Abraham Lincoln and St. Peter and Moses and Richie Ashburn and Johnny Goodtimes and Adam and Eve?

Hmm? Think about that shore, communities!

John Grogan | N.J. beaches not land of the free [Inquirer]