Memorial weekend at Folly: Folly survives first assault of the season
By Lauren Dean
They came, they saw, they didn’t trash our island. When the three-day Memorial Day holiday was over what remained behind looked like the aftermath of a church picnic.
Maybe it was the $96,000 in fines (which does not include traffic violations) issued by Folly Beach Public Safety or the 30 tons of garbage picked up by the guys in the big orange trucks, but it might have also been because new mayor Tim Goodwin had made it clear that Folly Beach still plans to lay out the welcome mat, but is no longer willing to be a doormat to Lowcountry beachgoers. The “anything goes” attitude has gone.
“We want to send out the word that you’re still welcome at Folly Beach, but we expect you to be good guests,” Goodwin said. To make sure that message resonated loud and clear, Goodwin sat down before the Memorial Day weekend with department heads Chief Terry Boatwright (Public Safety) and Steve Robinson (Public Works) and together they launched “Operation Beachfront.”
This three-pronged attack focused on law enforcement, traffic and garbage issues. “We said ‘What’s the best way to handle this weekend?’ ” Goodwin said. “We knew what was going to happen and we wanted to go into the weekend with a clear plan in place.”
“We wanted an obvious presence,” Chief Boatwright said, “but we didn’t want to do it with a heavy hand.” To accomplish that Boatwright used a combination of Folly Beach Public Safety officers and State Constables to serve as “eyes and ears up and down the beach.” Some of the Public Safety officers were not in uniform, but still wore their gun and holster and carried proper identification, but state constables walked the beach in shorts.
Boatwright said he disliked using the term “undercover cops” to describe the law enforcement officers. “They weren’t there to catch people unawares,” he said but to advise them on things like littering and open-container abuses.
“We would rather give people a verbal warning and a chance to comply but if they didn’t, we did give them a citation. Under-age drinking, though, that’s another story,” he continued. “There’s no warning there.”
According to Boatwright, of the 159 citations issued over the three-day weekend, half were for open container but only one citation was handed out for littering. “It’s not litter until they go and it’s left behind,” the Chief said, which makes it a hard ordinance to enforce. But, word had apparently gotten out because Boatwright got feedback from officers and residents who overheard beachgoers talking to each other about keeping the beach clean and observing the rules.
“No one powered up on anyone,” Boatwright said, “We want people to come to the beach and enjoy themselves; we just want them to follow the rules.”
Steve Robinson, Deputy Director of Public Works, said he knew he had his work cut out for him so he and his sanitation crew mapped out a plan to empty all public trash, which includes Center Street and all the beach walkovers, on Saturday, Sunday and Monday morning.
“We took care of the public,” Robinson said, adding that 20 cubic feet of trash, weighing an estimated four tons, was collected from the walkovers alone on Saturday and Sunday morning. “That’s a whole garbage truck full of compacted trash,” he said, adding that a total of approximately 30 tons of garbage was collected from all sources over the holiday weekend.
“I’m satisfied we did everything we could,” Robinson said. “I concur with the mayor who wants our visitors to be good guests, but we have a responsibility to provide the means to help them be good guests.”
Chief Boatwright said he plans other initiatives including drivers’ license checkpoints. “We’re going to keep the pieces moving on the board and get a handle on misconduct,” he said. “When people say ‘let’s go spend the weekend at Folly Beach’ the alcohol is definitely a draw, but they need to play by the rules.”
