Unmasked group. Yoga class behind, with masks and distancing. Paul Goldfinger photo. 6/7/20, Sunday 9 am. Beaching is banned on Sunday morning. Click to enlarge.
Read sign. It only protects the employees. For the rest of us on the boardwalk and beach it says to maintain distancing. Blogfinger photo Sunday 6/7/20 Really?
By Paul Goldfinger, MD Editor Blogfinger.net
It was 9:30 am on Sunday June 7, 2020. The boardwalk was busy with bikers, joggers, walkers, and kids. It seems like the practice of masking is in freefall, with an estimated 10-15% on the boards being masked.
A few Neptune police were standing together, observing near the beach office. I didn’t see them berating anyone about masking or distancing.
As before, the contrast between the boards and the empty beach was startling. We have mentioned this before, but never got an answer as to why the active boardwalk on Sunday morning was acceptable, but not an active beach?
Until a lucid explanation is offered by the dictatorial CMA, people will continue to be baffled, and how can they be supportive without an explanation that makes sense? If this is religious based, then it makes even less sense because even though the CMA is in charge, they are given that charge in trust by the State of New Jersey on behalf of all citizens, and there is no other shore town with that peculiar practice.
I know that some longtime OG families point to the town’s history, but that doesn’t mean that the history of the Sunday closure must be continued. After all, there were quite a few historical practices, like the gates on Main Avenue, which were abolished suddenly with one ruling by the State Supreme Court in 1980.
However, putting that aside, one had to be struck by the happiness evident up and down the OG boardwalk on this Sunday morning. It was actually thrilling, after all the isolation and sickness here.
The sooner the governor can open up our society safely, the better. Meanwhile, the “folks” have seemingly tossed out the masking rules, and even the CMA, judging by its signage, and the NTPD are not taking it too seriously either.
In Ocean Grove there are many areas in our town’s culture and practices which should be changed, and Blogfinger has written about all of them, with very little opposition to those opinions.
We need a “Grovers’ Lifestyles Matter” movement in this town.
SAM BROVERMAN: from the album Dream Maker, Heartbreaker…Sam Broverman sings Johnny Mercer.
