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No. 2 Vol. 5
mypaperonline.com
May 2016
Brookside Beach Gears Up For Another Summer Season Of Fun
By Anastasia Marchese s summer’s rising temperatures approach, now is the time to plan for a cool escape. It is the time of year when Mendham’s recreation director, Peter Wright, starts gearing up the town’s public beach for a summer of water based fun and activities. In recent years some municipal beaches have been forced to close down due to lowered attendance and memberships. When fewer people are using the beach, the townships need to address whether or not it is a valued public resource.
When the cost of paying lifeguards, staff and running programs keeps growing but the number of visitors is shrinking, it may be determined that using public funds to keep the swim beach open is not be the best use of those funds.. Thankfully, Wright is optimistic about the upcoming 2016 swim beach season in Mendham. Brookside Beach has been a part of the Mendham Community for more than 30 years. In the past couple of years there has been a decline in beach memberships, so Wright is working to get the word out
about this great local resource. There have been mailings sent out to former members from past seasons, reminding them about the beach and keeping them updated on this year’s event schedule. Also, social media is being employed to get the word out to area residents. One of the incentives offered to those considering a beach membership is discounted pricing for signing up early. May 12 was the deadline for the “early bird” savings. “There was literally a flurry a people coming into the office to sign up,” said Wright of the community reponse when the cutoff date arrived. “People habitually put things off to the last minute,” which is one of the reasons the Recreation Department decided to offer discounted savings to those who could join early. For those who missed the May 12 cutoff, there is still
a discount being offered to members who sign up before June 21. For residents, average savings of $25 is being offered for the family or couple (two person family) resident memberships. For non-residents, the savings per family membership is $35, $25 per couple's membership, and $15 for a single membership. The beach is staffed by certified lifeguards, which
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makes it a safer swim option and worth the investment. Some municipalities have continued to allow people to “swim at your own risk” after discontinuing their beach programs. It is difficult to put a price tag on safety however. According to the Center for Disease Control, “Drowning is the third leading cause of death from unintentional injury worldwide, accounting for 7 percent of all injury-related deaths according to 2004 data from the World Health Organization. Previous reports indicated that, although the death rate from unintentional drowning for persons aged 0–19 years decreased in the United States, drowning had become the major cause of death from unintentional injury among children
aged one to four years.” The vast majority of those fatalities in one to four year olds, occurred in swimming pools. In drowning incidents of five-84 year olds however, the majority of deaths occurred in a natural body of water. These may be grim facts but all the more reason for an extra level of safety when participating in watersports. A lifeguard is a trained set of eyes and ears watching at all times. Parents however should not rely solely on a lifeguard to keep their children safe, but also keep their own trained eyes and ears watching and listening for their children at all times when near water. In addition, swim lessons are a great way to increase water safety as well as encontinued on next page