News-Record.com

I believe Sunset Beach has it right. I will not be returning to OIB or any beach that completely prohibits cabanas, etc. No more Sugar Shack! Oh Nooooooooooooo

I will admit I have seen storms roll through overnight and make beaches look like war zones! Oh, the humanity. I have my doubts about impairing sea turtles and emergency personel.

Ill bet this one doesnt make it to next June. I will also make my feelings known to OIB. Of course all those multi storied condos down there over the past 5 years kinda turned me off anyway. I like the old style beaches (Oak Island, Topsail, etc). Fishing is not as good as more northern beaches either.

Wow, who got up on the wrong side of the beach blanket this morning?

Residents (voters?) support the measure. Officials cite safety and environmental reasons for the measure and held a hearing before voting. Umbrellas and sun screens remain available to address the health concerns. Moreover, the policy only appears to affect a few people, as many, if not most visitors, were like your family and never brought the banned items in the first place.

And for this OIB "deserves to lose a lot of business?"

Maybe it's time to cut out the caffeine after the morning run :)

Man, I wished I'd gotten up on the wrong side of the beach blanket. Haven't been to the beach this year except for my niece's wedding at Kitty Hawk on Easter Monday, and it was freezing.

I haven't been to OIB in three or four years. Quite a few families put up canopies, which are much more protective against sun than umbrellas. If the town's action displeases those families, of course it will deserve to lose their business to more accommodating beaches in the same way a restaurant deserves to lose your business if you don't like the food it serves.

Ill bet good money their safety and environmental concerns were "discovered" after moneyed residents began to complain.

All those cabanas are just awful for the turtles. However, adding 30 units of condos where two house used to stand... now that is good for turtles. And ten times more people on the beach makes it easier for emergency personel to access the beach. Riiiight.

No cabana = no Mick. Their choice .... my choice.
Not a problem.

Doug:

Your post could also be read as advocating that OIB lose business from families, like yours, that don't use cabanas or tents. Read this way, it seems as if you are calling for a general boycott from anybody who is "turned off" by OIB's decision--whether they are directly affected or not.

It's completely reasonable that Mick's family and others who use cabanas would consider taking their business to someplace that is more accommodating. And certainly as a liberal in good standing, I should show more solidarity for my fellow man (or fellow Mick in this case) when he suffers at the hands of rich property owners. However, it's hard to see why anyone outside the "cabana cabal" would really get worked up about this.

What freedoms might they take away next?

My extended family liked to play beach baseball every evening, drafting whomever wanted to join in. Could they ban baseball on the beach?

Other families love to dig -- trenches, pits, tunnels, what have you. Don't such excavations potentially pose obstacles to sea turtles and emergency vehicles? Ban digging on the beach!

Then there's loud radio playing, frisbee throwing, kite-flying, fishing and many other activities that might annoy someone or possibly interfere with some official duty of the beach patrol.

I say, no sir! Draw a line in the sand! Yield no freedom to the authorities. The beach represents freedom from all the normal constraints of work and worry. We go to the beach to escape all that, not to submit to draconian authorities who think they own what God created along our shores for our enjoyment.

I do not plant a canopy at the beach because I choose not to -- not because I am forbidden.

Mick. Right freaking on.

How many of those property owners would still want to afford their beach front homes w/o 13 weeks or so of rental dollars from their "fellow Micks"?

Dont hide behind the turtles. If they think its tacky, that's cool. I think three story condos lining Ocean Drive is tacky.

How many of those property owners would still want to afford their beach front homes w/o 13 weeks or so of rental dollars from their "fellow Micks"?

Dont hide behind the turtles. If they think its tacky, that's cool. I think three story condos lining Ocean Drive is tacky.

Doug:

With utmost apologies to Pastor Martin Niemoller, this seems to capture your sentiments fairly well:

First they came for the cabanas
and I did not speak out
because I was not pale.

Then they came for the volleyball nets
and I did not speak out
because I was not athletic.

Then they came for the surfcasting fishermen
and I did not speak out
because I can't cast worth a darn and fishing is sooo boring anyway.

Then they came for me
and there was no one left
to speak out for me.

Now you've got it.

Yes, the turtles involved are rhetorical turtles, not real ones.

What does the International Brotherhood of Cabana Boys have to say about this law?

Cabana boys at OIB? My nieces would have found them.

After reading the messages on this blog, it is very evident that people who wrote in do not own homes or condos in beach areas. The attitude that anything goes is the very reason rules need to be enforced. It is unacceptable to think one has the attitude that the beach means freedom to do what you want, when you want.---Not so-o-o-. I suggest individuals with this mind set purchase their own island where they may do as they choose. Remember, the homeowner owns the land up to the high water mark. Perhaps some individuals have been tresspassing on the owners' property. I was absolutely stunned to see such an insulting article written in a newspaper.

After reading the messages on this blog, it is very evident that people who wrote in do not own homes or condos in beach areas. The attitude that anything goes is the very reason rules need to be enforced. It is unacceptable to think one has the attitude that the beach means freedom to do what you want, when you want.---Not so-o-o-. I suggest individuals with this mind set purchase their own island where they may do as they choose. Remember, the homeowner owns the land up to the high water mark. Perhaps some individuals have been tresspassing on the owners' property. I was absolutely stunned to see such an insulting article written in a newspaper.

No Cabana's at OIB = me, and my 26 other family members spending our vacation in Hilton Head. With so much competition for the almighty vacation dollars, I am dumbfounded that OIB would pass such a rule.

I am a resident on the island. My family fought strongly against this ban. Armed police are now going up and down the beach requiring people to take down cabanas.

As for the arguments being made, as far as town revenue, many locals would love to see the housing market crash and people go away so that is not a valid argument.

As far as beach front property owners owning up to the water line,... that is just false. If you fell for a realtor telling you that you got duped.

The reason they gave for the ban is because of sea turtles. That is a load of ))))! The turtles nest at night so the only valid point that could be made regarding that is not allowing visitors to leave the cabanas overnight.

If you have a valid complaint:
Contact:
www.oibgov.com
www.brunswickbeacon.com
OIB town hall, mayor Debbie Smith

Thanks for the update.

I won't get to OIB this summer but my wife's family will be there for a week. They'll have a 10-month old and sure would like some shade on the beach for him.

I'm not sure they realize what's happening there ... yet.