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Bill authorizes DPS to close beaches
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Posted on Aug 20 2004
Lawmakers have introduced a bill authorizing the Department of Public Safety to close public beaches during dangerous conditions.
Authored by Rep. Arnold Palacios and supported by five other members of the House of Representatives, House Bill 14-219 said it is in the best interest of the public to allow DPS, in consultation with the Emergency Management Office, to close down these sites during high surf, tropical storms, earthquakes, typhoons, potential tidal wave, or other similar weather or environmental conditions.
“No person shall use any public beach when such notice of closure has been issued or published,” reads part of the bill.
It provides that the department can issue citations or warnings for individuals wading, swimming, snorkeling, scuba diving, boating, fishing, surfing, windsurfing, boogie boarding, or any other recreational marine activities when a public beach is closed.
Violators would be assessed a fine of not more than $100 for each offense.
This developed even as DPS ordered the closure of Sugar Dock this week in view of recent incidents of drowning in the area.
DPS commissioner Ed Camacho on Wednesday said that the beach would be off-limits for recreational activities pending assessment of the area.
Early this week, DPS rescuers recovered the body of a man, described as male Caucasian, who drowned while snorkeling beyond the reefline across the Sugar Dock.
Earlier, three Chinese females and a Chamorro male drowned on separate occasions on Sugar Dock’s waters.
