Neighbor Calls For Code Of Conduct As Beachgoers Trash Area

PECONIC, NY — The young men at the beach Monday in Peconic came bearing shovels and buckets, ready to build a dam at Goldsmith Inlet.

Resident Robert Dunn, who lives just across the street, told the young men that they could not be creating a dam, explaining that Southold Town works hard to dredge the area to prevent the flooding that socked neighbors in the area all winter long.

While the young men immediately began to dismantle the dam and were apologetic, Dunn came before the Southold Town board Tuesday night to speak about what he said is a general lack of respect for town beaches and public areas.

Dunn, who has spent months placing 5,000 grass plants at the beach, said he recently saw children playing, who "chose to march through the freshly planted grass," he said.

When he told the children's mother, "She assigned me a new name — 'Grandpa A--hole," Dunn said. The woman called Southold Police, who mediated the verbal dispute.

But the bottom line, Dunn said, is that people need to respect public resources.

"We need to establish some kind of behavior acceptable in public areas of town and decide what is not acceptable," he said. Despite ending up in intensive care for heart surgery after planting the grass, after a month, he was "back at it. I put my heart in it, and it's really hard to see people destroying things unnecessarily," he said.

Seeing the young men "damming up the channel," he realized it was an organized plan, since they'd come with shovels and buckets.

Kids, Dunn said, need to be taught to respect beaches and other public areas. "Their parents are responsible. If you can't control your kid, put a leash on them. I don't want to see any kids on leashes," he said, but kids need to be taught respectful behavior, he added.

"I lived through the 70s in New York City," Dunn said. "I see what happens when society lets loose. I've seen the outcome. That decay slow slips in."

Dunn said things are sometimes worse at Goldsmith, where there are no attendants, but said the problem of trashed beaches exists townwide. "People need to know the consequences of bad behavior. It's public property, and they can't do whatever they want to do."

Southold Town Councilwoman Jill Doherty said many people come out for the summer, see the open space and don't "understand the significance of our wetlands."

The behavior spills out into all sorts of egregious offenses, such as motorists driving the wrong way down one way streets, Dunn said.

"The town board needs to step up and create a code of conduct," he said.

Southold Town Supervisor Scott Russell said, in the instance of the kids trampling through the beach grass, the mother's response, "speaks volumes. . . That's bad behavior. I don't know how you create code to change that."

Of the young men building the dam, Russell said to give them some slack, since while they may not have known the potential impacts to the environment, they rectified the situation instantly.

Dunn said establishing a list of practices, pointing out what's not acceptable, might be helpful.

Russell said while the idea of a code of conduct is "compelling," the issue is enforcement. When faced with a child trampling the grass or a bar fight in a farm field, police will need to address criminal behavior, the supervisor said.

"There's so much bad conduct taking place, with the explosion of tourism — and I don't want to just pick on tourists," Russell said. "But they come to the country and think there are no rules. People take liberties. A lot of it is just rudeness and complete inconsideration. I don't know how you legislate to stop that."

"It's not just tourists," Dunn said, pointing out that the young men building a dam on a Monday in April were likely not tourists. And, he said, "A lot of people like to hide behind finger pointing at people from the city. I'm from the city."

Russell added, in an email after the meeting: "The problem is that we tend to focus on just tourists. Bad manners is a year-round problem. I get complaints about litter, debris, noise, etc. caused by some local residents — fishermen, dog owners, etc. — just to name a few. The overwhelming majority are good, decent and respectful. Some aren't, and we can't give ourselves a pass just because we are local. That said, we can't legislate away bad behavior."

Russell also said while Dunn may hail from the city, he had an "emotional investment" in the community.

Dunn agreed. "The town owns the beach — but there's a view there that's mine."

Patch photo by Lisa Finn.