Dear Editor,Rockport is truly fortunate to have Rosemary Lesch and Scott Story for our harbormasters. They were instrumental in the search for little Caleigh Harrison, and just last Sunday the recovery of the body of the drowned student from South Korea.
We’re fortunate also for Front Beach, clearly the most inclusive, democratic and hospitable beach on Cape Ann. People from all over the world visit Rockport, and then, even if they didn’t bring a bathing suit, feel the need to walk down and put their toes in the water. For some of them, it is the first time they have every seen the Atlantic, or any ocean.
People come by car, by train, bicycle, motorcycle or on foot. They don’t have to pay a large parking fee, and the beach is contained by Lumber wharf on the east and the Millbrook outfall on the west. We rarely have a dangerous undertow.
In years past, we had a lifeguard, especially on summer weekends, and that lifeguard provided a pair of experienced eyes that in many cases detected trouble and stopped it before it got out of hand.
The lifeguard warned boaters who had brought their boats inside the line formed by the raft, kept kayakers and other small watercraft away from the beach, and provided an official presence to keep order. The lifeguard provided rapid communication with the harbormaster and the police.
No one can say if such a lifeguard, if on duty at the time, could have prevented the death of Si Jae Kim last Sunday, but it brings up a question Rockporters should be asking:
Can we afford not to have a lifeguard on this busy beach?
SAMUEL W. COULBOURN
Mill Lane, Rockport
