Walton to confiscate items left on beaches
Walton County officials want people to take their stuff with them when they leave the beach.
Starting Monday, the Sheriff’s Office and county Code Enforcement will patrol beaches to look for items that have been left unattended. Items left on the beach for an extended period of time or overnight will be tagged.
If tagged items are not removed within 24 hours, the county will confiscate them.
That does not include items stored under private boardwalks.
Officials want to ensure that beaches are clear at night and in the early morning so county crews can perform beach maintenance and nesting sea turtles can come ashore to lay eggs.
A nesting loggerhead turtle recently crawled into a beach umbrella that had been left out overnight, said Sharon Maxwell with South Walton Turtle Watch. The umbrella distracted the turtle from laying her eggs, she said.
“(Items on the beach) can cause false crawls,” said Maxwell.
A false crawl occurs when a female turtle comes ashore but does not lay eggs.
Walton has an ordinance that prohibits people from leaving articles such as umbrellas, tents and personal items on the beach overnight. Until now, law enforcement has been lenient with violators.
But so many beachgoers have been leaving items on the sand overnight that they are causing problems