Windham News : beaches

Swim at your own risk – High E. coli prompts town beach warning

Salem Editor — Wed, 18 Jul 2007 17:07:00 GMT

Residents were recently advised at Windham’s town beach to swim at their own discretion after goose droppings led to a high E. coli level in the water.

A water quality test conducted around July 6 discovered an E. coli level of about 190 per 100 milliliters.

E. coli levels at swimming beaches should not exceed 88 per 100 ml, according to the New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services.

Signs were posted at the beach alerting people to swim at their own discretion due to the high reading. E. coli is one of the most common species of coliform bacteria, which can cause nausea, diarrhea, vomiting and headaches.

Lifeguards did not work for most of Tuesday, July 10, because they did not feel comfortable going into the water after learning why the E. coli level was so high.

“They didn’t mind guarding,” said recreation coordinator Cheryl Haas. “They didn’t want to go into the water.”

Haas said six to eight Canadian geese were flocking to the beach. The birds typically leave about a pound of droppings each day. Lifeguards shoo the geese away, but the birds would settle at the pond around sunset, Haas said.

To deter them, yellow caution tape affixed to stakes was put up around the time of the high reading. The geese don’t like things blowing in the wind, Haas said.

Another test found the E. coli level had dropped.

“Once we were able to deter the geese, the E. coli was down,” Haas said.

A water company tests the water for the town weekly and the state checks the water every month, Haas said.

No butts – Smoking banned at Windham’s town beach

Salem Editor — Wed, 23 May 2007 16:48:00 GMT

BY DARRELL HALEN

You better think twice before you light up your cigarette at Windham’s town beach.

Selectmen have voted to ban smoking at the beach and its parking lot.

“I think it’s a good example to set for the kids in town,” said Selectman Bruce Breton. “It will keep the beach clean. It’s a good thing to do.”

Breton joined Dennis Senibaldi and Margaret Crisler in passing the ban at the selectmen’s Monday, May 21 meeting.

According to Cheryl Haas, the town’s recreation coordinator, Selectman Roger Hohenberger, who voted against the ban, wanted to allow smoking in the parking lot.

Several residents, on both sides of the issue, voiced their opinions during the meeting.

The beach officially opens for the summer on June 9. Haas said signs announcing the new rule have been ordered.

“The lifeguards will inform people of the regulation and ask them to put their cigarettes out,” Haas said. “If they don’t, they will call the police.”

The issue arose several weeks ago when Haas approached selectmen with the idea of creating a designated area for smokers at the beach. Selectmen invited the public to weigh in on the idea of broadening the town’s smoking policy – which regulates smoking at town buildings – to open-air facilities.

Eventually, they narrowed the focus to the beach.

Advocates of banning smoking said they were concerned about children being exposed to secondhand smoke, possibly being burned by cigarettes and kids sticking cigarette butts into sandcastles.

Others raised concerns about a ban infringing on smokers rights and whether a ban could be effectively enforced.

The new regulation bans the carrying or holding of a lighted pipe, cigar, cigarette or other lighted smoking product. People who break the rule are subject to a fine of up to $1,000.

Selectmen to draft smoking ban

Salem Editor — Wed, 16 May 2007 18:56:00 GMT

BY DARRELL HALEN

Selectmen could soon snuff out smoking at Windham’s town beach.

In a 3-2 vote, selectmen decided during their May 14 meeting to draft a policy to ban smoking at the beach.

Residents can weigh in on the idea during a public hearing that will be part of the selectmen’s Monday, May 21, meeting, before the board votes whether to approve it.

While selectmen Bruce Breton, Dennis Senibaldi and Margaret Crisler supported the ban, Roger Hohenberger and Alan Carpenter favored establishing a designated smoking area at the beach instead.

“If we have 10 percent of our residents who smoke, they’re still our residents, they still pay taxes, and they have the right to use our beach,” said Carpenter, a former smoker. “That’s not my preferred way of enjoying it. This is not only America, this is New Hampshire, and if they want to do that to themselves, they have the right to.”

Last month, Recreation Coordinator Cheryl Haas suggested that a designated area be established before the beach opens June 9.

Selectmen decided they would take up the issue of whether the town’s smoking policy, which regulates smoking at indoor facilities, should be broadened to open areas, such as the beach, parks, ball fields and other places.

During the May 14 meeting, Breton said he preferred to see a smoking ban on all town-owned recreational areas.

“It may not be a problem in Griffin Park, but it is an example we can set, and lead, and it won’t become a problem,” he said.

Much of the meeting’s discussion focused on the beach.

Haas told selectmen that her beach supervisor had informed her that she warns children not to put cigarette butts into their mouths and sandcastles.

Beth Lippold, a mother of four children and a member of the town’s recreation committee, spoke in favor of a beach ban. She voiced concern about children being exposed to secondhand smoke and possibly being burned by cigarettes.

“I don’t think it’s fair to the little kids who are not paying attention, running around,” she said.

Lippold was one of only a few residents who attended the meeting, despite public interest in the subject. Breton said he had received many phone calls from residents.

Carpenter, the board’s chairman, encouraged his colleagues to focus their attention on the beach, saying he doesn’t believe there’s a problem at Griffin Park and ball fields.

At baseball games, he said, a smoker can move away from other spectators and still watch the game.

At the beach, however, families “set up camp” with their blankets. If there there is someone nearby “burning up a pack of Marlboros,” he said, the family must move or ask the smoker to stop.

Hohenberger said he favored a restricted area for the beach, but expressed concern the town could be going down a “slippery slope.”

“As much as I don’t condone smoking around children, I also don’t condone trying to legislate lifestyles,” he said. “I think we’re really pushing it here. If this is totally about health, there are so many other things we should probably look at legislating – like trans-fats.”

Senibaldi replied that “you don’t die of second-hand french fry inhaling.”

“It’s not social engineering,” he later added. “It’s keeping kids safe.”

The May 21 meeting will be held in the town’s planning department room.