South Beach

There are a few things to watch out for when visiting South Beach: old cigar stubs, razor sharp beer can tabs, stoned college kids, rip tides, sharks and unexploded ordinance. Aside from that it really is a lovely beach.

The Navy veteran slipped on a deep-sea mask, attached a long, oxygen-filled cord, and marched into the ocean to fish for something no tourist on this island would want to discover during an afternoon swim: bombs.

The Boston Globe explores the anti-tourist exploding effort underway along the south shore in Edgartown. It would seem, by reading the article, that the visitors are wary of visiting a beach known to be infested with rusty bombs. " The stark language and persisting danger has rattled local officials, who are already coping with a dip in tourism as a result of the cold spring and the recession. The number of visitors traveling to Martha’s Vineyard by ferry has dropped more than 3 percent during the first six months of this year, compared with last year, according to the Steamship Authority, which operates the ferries."

This assumes that tourists have any knowledge of the debris, the project, or that tourists even pack a brain when coming to the Island. Maybe the Globe staff are worried but local officials remain unfazed. "“I’ve been swimming off South Beach my whole life, and I will continue to swim there,’’ said Pamela Dolby, town administrator of Edgartown. “The greater concern right now is the weather.’’ The awful thing is that rather than using that quote form town administrator Pam Dolby to take a different tack in the article the quote is precede by, "... local officials hope potential visitors will be reassured by all the work being done."

Uh, that's what happens when a story has no legs, as we say in the biz, but the writer and editor get together to give it some crutches. Anyway, read more here if you dare...