Government got the geezers

One of the least threatening places you can go is a beach in late afternoon where a couple of old anglers are quietly staring at the water, waiting for a line to move.

If anybody understands the unwritten rule, the need for common courtesy, the paramount importance of everyone doing his or her part to maintain the norm, it’s people who like to sit quietly and fish.

That could have something to do with why no instances of unsafe or uncivil behavior come to mind, over the last several decades, at the place that has come to be known as Geezer Beach.

That’s also why this week’s decision to close that beach to parking, and hence evict elderly fisherman who will have no other place to fish from shore, is a travesty.

The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation cites safety as its main concern, but has not offered even one instance when it actually has been. Despite overwhelming public sentiment against it, the bureau has chosen to only allow parking in designated areas.

That will not sound like a big deal to most. But to those folks who cannot make the trip down the beach, and certainly not up it at the end of the day, it means an end to one of the few, favorite activities remaining in the twilight of their years.

Holding out hope for fishing piers elsewhere that comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act will offer little to these folks. They won’t want to fish for crappie in the dead of winter on tiny Crescent Lake even if the National Park Service ever decides to build one, which is doubtful. And the Rotary Club-built pier at Steamboat Rock State Park is a far hike from that summer-oriented parking lot.

The decision is unfair, unwarranted, and should be reversed.

Scott Hunter

editor and publisher