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Beaches Stay Closed In NJ After More Needles Found

Officials Offering $10,000 Reward For Info Leading To Arrests Of Those Dumping

TRENTON, N.J. (AP) ― Medical debris continued to pose problems for the start of Labor Day weekend along some Cape May County beaches.

The town of Avalon allowed swimmers back into the ocean at some of its beaches on Friday afternoon, after closing all of its beaches in the morning because six syringes were found. An additional sweep turned up nothing.

Ocean City closed all its beaches for part of the day after five needles washed up, but reopened half of them by the late afternoon.

Some sections of beach also were closed in Sea Isle City and Strathmere after needles were found in those towns.

Earlier in the week, nearly 200 syringes washed up in Avalon, forcing the town to close some of its beaches throughout the week.

On Thursday, Ocean City banned swimming on part of its beach after six syringes were found on the sand.

State officials on Friday were tracking serial numbers from the Avalon syringes, and were offering a $10,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of those responsible for dumping the waste. All the waste that had turned up over the week was being investigated.

The New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection used a helicopter and boat to survey the coastline.

Avalon Mayor Martin Pagliughi said the syringes washing up in Avalon and Ocean City in recent days were much more deteriorated than the ones that washed up in Avalon last weekend. The earlier syringes had unrusted needles and legible labels attached to them.

"There's no doubt in my mind that the first batch that we found was deliberately set and the batch we found today seems to be similar to what's washing up in Ocean City and one or two other towns," he said. "It looks like it's been in the water for quite a while. It's different material, totally different."

Kevin Thomas, the director of the Cape May County health department, said the needles discovered last weekend resembled intravenous needles used in hospitals, while the needles found more recently were more like insulin needles used by diabetics.

One beachgoer, George Riley, told Philadelphia's WPVI-TV that the situation was "very frustrating, very maddening."

"I wish we had more answers too," he said.

Environmental activists say the discovery of syringes in Avalon is one of the worst single cases in years of medical waste washing up on the shore. In the 1980s, thousands of beach-going days were lost because of waste washing ashore, and that discovery sparked a ban on trash dumping off the New Jersey coast.

Thousands of visitors are expected to travel to the Jersey shore for the holiday weekend.

The problems in Avalon and Ocean City had other nearby towns nervously watching the water.

In Sea Isle City, Beach Patrol Capt. Renny Steele told The Press of Atlantic City that he was holding his breath as east winds were blowing in off the ocean and bringing possible debris with them.

"Some of the merchants are depending on this to make or break them," Steele said. "Everybody is nervous. I hope they find out who's doing the dumping and they take action against them."

Elsewhere along the New Jersey coast, beach operators were keeping their fingers crossed.

"Knock on wood, everything is great here," said Marilou Halvorsen, a spokeswoman for Jenkinson's Boardwalk, which owns and operates a beach in Point Pleasant Beach.

(© 2008 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)

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