Paul Goldfinger photograph. Paris.LL
By Paul Goldfinger, Editor Blogfinger.net
In 2021 we had a discussion about crosses on beach badges. See link below.
Now, in May 2022, there still is a cross on the badge, but it is much less obvious. It is an interesting topic.
Should OG beach patrons be required to wear a beach badge with a prominent cross?
2022 Senior Season Beach Badge. Blogfinger photo.©
Today, May 9, 2022, after struggling with Viply on line, I went over to the CMA to collect two senior badges. It’s good that an employee was there to fiddle with my iPhone in order to take the necessary steps to prove that I had paid. The last step involved a scan using my phone. Even a badge purchase is now complicated.
Then I was handed the badges. At that point the high tech was done, and I was given a low tech piece of advice, “Don’t lose your badge.”
The badges were in a plain brown paper envelope. When I took one out, there was the cross again, but smaller than 2021.
Doesn’t the beach badge represent that the public space (beachfront) is allowed by the State to be managed by the CMA and that, as was argued with FEMA over public funds for boardwalk repair, the beach is a public thoroughfare?
And, as such, shouldn’t it be represented as non-denominational?
Once again we experience the CMA’s dual personality, public and private, which continues to create a murky situation in the town of Ocean Grove.
TIERNEY SUTTON “Where or When.”
New York Times, 4 June 1907:
“By decision of the Monmouth County Board of Taxation handed down today, Ocean Grove’s $3,000,000 beach front, the property of the Camp Meeting Association, is to escape taxation. It was shown to the board by the association’s legal representative, Samuel A. Patterson, the valuable strip of land, with its board walk, had been dedicated years ago by the association as a public highway, and was not therefore subject to taxation.”
Of course, crosses have been erected on the sand over the years. The future fishing pier is rumored to be cross-shaped. I can imagine some of the faithful assuming a crucifixion position at its center as a pious act.