DATE: Sunday, July 27, 1997                 TAG: 9707260003

SECTION: COMMENTARY              PAGE: J4   EDITION: FINAL 

TYPE: Editorial

                                            LENGTH:   30 lines

WATER SAFETY RESTRICT THEM

Virginia Beach officials have always been quick to outlaw even innocuous activities that threaten the safety and pleasure of visitors to the resort city.

Dogs are banned during daytime hours on the beach; so are surfers in all but a few locations. Frisbees can't be thrown on crowded beaches, and kites can't be launched. Bathing suits must cover crucial parts of the anatomy, and alcoholic beverages can't be consumed on the sand.

Why, then, are water scooters (or Jet Skis as they are commonly known) allowed to churn through the surf at the beach and Bay without regard for the safety of swimmers?

And why, in a city that even enforces a noise ordinance against car radios, are the equivalent of thousands of screaming chain saws allowed to drown out the sea gulls and disturb the tranquillity of the beaches?

Surely city officials can designate a small area as a water-scooter zone and declare the rest of the waters off-limits.

Proponents of water-scooter rights point out that no one has been killed yet this year from errant water scooters. Not yet, but there have been several close calls.

Let's not wait until someone dies or until a child is tragically mauled to get water scooters out of crowded waters.

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