Brick Beach Guards Will Be Checking Coolers For Alcohol This Year

BRICK, NJ -- Beachgoers headed to Brick Township's beaches would be wise to leave the alcohol at home this summer, after the Township Council approved an ordinance Tuesday night that will tighten enforcement of its alcohol ban.

The township has banned alcohol from its beaches since 2008, according to township records. But an update to the township's parks and recreation ordinance includes a provision for lifeguards staffing the beach entrance to check coolers and turn away those who try to bring any alcohol -- beer, wine or hard liquor -- onto the beach.

The ordinance also includes provisions specifying times that surf fishing is permitted in areas used for swimming and bathing hours, as well as updating fees for various facility rentals, as well as adding fees for kayak and paddleboard storage at Traders Cove.

The cooler check portion of the ordinance, however, generated most of the discussion, including dissent from Councilman Jim Fozman.

"Why would we put this responsibility on 17-year-olds?" Fozman asked. "We have a law banning alcohol."

Fozman said there is a procedure in place for someone violating the alcohol ban: if a lifeguard sees someone drinking, the guard calls a supervisor and the supervisor addresses it. If the person becomes combative, the police are called, he said, and police address it.

There have been just a handful of incidents involving alcohol on the beaches, he said, not enough to justify the cooler checks.

"Are we going to enforce no ball-playing, no boogie boards?" he asked.

Councilwoman Andrea Zapcic said she researched alcohol rules in 13 other beach towns in Ocean and Monmouth counties and almost all of them had cooler checks in place. Some ban coolers outright, she said.

At Island Beach State Park, there are undercover employees checking for alcohol violators, she said.

Council Vice President .....woman Marianna Pontoriero said the cooler check provision was prompted by an incident that occurred when a person got into trouble in the water and when the lifeguard went to rescue the person, discovered he was intoxicated. The man then became combative with the lifeguard, she said.

That kind of incident puts lifeguards in danger, Council President Paul Mummolo said, recounting an incident that happened while he was on a beach while on vacation. An intoxicated man was unconscious and not breathing and he and another bystander performed CPR.

"If not for me and that nurse he would not be alive," Mummolo said. "I was a lifeguard; there's nothing worse than having to rescue someone who's intoxicated.

"One incident regarding alcohol is too much," Pontoriero said. "It doesn't seem to be prudent not to check the coolers for it."

Fozman asked if the town would start administering breathalyzer tests to boaters coming out of F Cove, "because that's the mentality" of the ordinance, he said.

The council passed the ordinance with only Fozman voting against it.

During council comment, Councilwoman Lisa Crate said she felt like the cooler check was "minimally invasive."

"You walk on, you get your badge, you get your cooler checked," she said.

Zapcic said the lifeguards performing the checks are not pulled away from the beach to perform it; lifeguards rotate hourly at the beaches, as dictated by U.S. Lifesaving Association rules, because more than an hour of watching the water can hypnotize them, she said.