Park And Rec Votes To Prohibit Swimming At Lighthouse Beach

     CHATHAM --- The park and recreation commission voted Wednesday to post signs at Lighthouse Beach prohibiting swimming, pending a thorough review of ways to improve safety there. The vote comes three days after a Groton, Mass., man drowned while trying to save his 10-year-old daughter from being washed out to sea.

            According to Harbormaster Stuart Smith, the ban covers a section of the beach about 3,000 feet south of the Lighthouse Beach stairs, where a sand spit forms regularly at low tide.  The incoming tide creates strong current believed responsible for the death of the 46-year-old father last Sunday.  Smith's office erected temporary signs in the area last Friday

            Smith said swimming is still allowed in the immediate area of the Lighthouse Beach stairs, were the waters are safer.

            Commission Chairman Gary Anderson acknowledged there is no way the town can police the prohibition, but the commission took the vote following Sunday’s tragedy “to at least do something.”

            “We’re just trying to make people more aware of it,” he said of the dangerous swimming conditions at the popular beach.

            ATV patrols of the beach were slated to end Labor Day, but will be continued on weekends and good beach days for the time being, officials said.

            Watch for an update of this story Thursday.

9/4/08