Robocop, Cliffwood Beach Seawall Style

I went down to the shore this evening to see the seawall now that the graffiti was covered or removed. There were a couple of  young teenaged boys walking in front of me. They stopped to check out the mystery telephone pole along the seawall. They walked around it, looking up at the top, studying it. When they continued down the seawalk, I went over and saw that the Township has installed two surveillance cameras to watch the little hoodlums who've been misbehaving. I was so pleased to see this improvement. Kudos to the Township.

I continued along the seawalk. The two young men in shorts and tank tops continued for another couple hundred feet, where they were met by maybe 5 more teens -- a couple of African Americans, one a large,  football-playerish leader type, two white boys maybe 15 years old, and a white girl about 15 as well. 

I walked by and stopped about fifty feet away, checking out the sunset and amazing moonrise. They had an animated exchange about the pole and the cameras. I got the impression from their comments that they might have been scared away earlier by an interactive speaker system on the pole. It seems the police used it to tell them to move along. Could that be true?

Well, they stood and talked quite a while, ousted from their usual haunt and seemingly uncertain what to do about it. The older boys decided to heave large rocks into the high tide, grabbing major stones from along the seawalk and throwing them as far as they could into Raritan Bay. When they picked up the pace and started hurling my taxpayer-funded seawall footings three at a time into the drink, I spoke up, pointing out that the rocks not only served to support the walk,they cost a lot of money. I'm sure I made fans of them. They didn't retreat, though. I mentioned the situation to some nearby fishermen, who seemed willing to keep an eye on our young miscreants.

So far, then, it's a partial victory. The cameras worked. But they just moved the show down the road.

By the way, the dunes are being restored. Every time I go down to Cliffwood Beach, the piles of sand are higher. I gather that the Township has truckloads of sand being brought in from somewhere. It will be a while at this rate, but it is progress. I'm glad to see it. Kudos again to the Township. (The crew left the gate open this evening and someone drove their pickup truck down the road and down near the dunes. That gate needs to be kept locked.)

Speaking of police, I heard that officers in ATFD jackets and the Aberdeen Police with multiple vehicles with flashing lights gathered in front of one of the newish split-level houses on Greenwood Avenue near the pumping station in Cliffwood Beach on Tuesday afternoon. Any thoughts on what that was all about? If they were looking for my still, they didn't find it.