YORK, Maine — The town's longtime chief lifeguard said he may leave his post at the end of the summer over what he described as town leadership turning a blind eye to blatant public drinking on the beach.
Jeff Patten said he has warned town officials for more than 10 years he was concerned about drinking on the beach. He said it's common to see beachgoers walk onto the sand carrying boxes of Bud Light and Budweiser with the logo in plain sight, and no one is doing anything about it.
Patten sent a letter to Town Manager Peter Joseph Monday stating he plans to resign at the end of the 2024 season if drinking on the beach is not addressed.
“If they address this issue, then I would come back,” Patten said. “You can never allow carte blanche open drinking and trust that people drink responsibly.”
Patten also wrote the lifeguard department should be placed under the purview of the Fire Department. He pointed to other fire departments, like in Ogunquit, that oversee their local lifeguards.
Town officials, however, say their call statistics do not reflect a problem with beach drinking.
York Police Chief Owen Davis said his department has received relatively few calls complaining about public drinking on the beach, and when they do, they’re addressed.
“I can tell you that not once has our department not answered a call for service down there,” Davis said. “We’re just not getting the calls for service from citizens complaining about people drinking.”
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Complaints about drinking on York Beach go back to 2011
Patten, a retired college instructor, said he began to see more overt drinking on the beach about 13 years ago. He pointed to emails and messages he has sent over the years. One from 2011 to then-Parks director Mike Sullivan stated, “drinking on the beach has become a much more prevalent issue” and that a lack of police response was the reason. Lifeguards do not have the authority to issue citations or enforce town or state law.
“People are even starting to gather around the lifeguard stand and consume alcohol,” the email states. “At least before, it was usually someone who felt it was safer to be out of the sight of ocean rescue staff.”
In 2016, Patten again wrote to Sullivan complaining about young men “throwing beer on each other, swearing and completely disrespecting any direction from the lifeguards.” He said when guards requested help from an officer on a bicycle, he said the officer did not remove the individuals “because ‘he knew them from school.’”
“Seems to be the same issue every summer,” Patten said. “It would be nice if the summer officers could realize that if we call them down, it is to take action, not watch as patrons verbally humiliate our staff.”
This year, Patten said he has continued to see drinking become more prevalent on the beach despite having voiced his concerns. He described a recent incident in which he approached a group of people playing beer pong and asked them to stop. He said he returned to find them still playing and was told they had replaced the cups with seawater. He said an officer was called down, but no action was taken.
Patten photographed another group last week playing with plastic cups on a table set up at Long Sands Beach. It was unconfirmed whether alcohol was in the cups, but Patten believes it was an indicator of York's reputation.
“The word is out on beer pong,” Patten said.
Patten said despite what he sees, he is continually told not to report drinking to police unless an incident is underway. He said he has seen police coverage at other beaches, like in Hampton, New Hampshire, where law enforcement have cracked down on drinking on the beach early on to prevent incidents later in the day.
“Owen says we haven’t had any incidents,” Patten said. “Well, yeah. You’re waiting for the incident.”
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York police: Drinking on the beach 'not a problem'
Davis said he is aware that drinking occurs on the beach. However, he said, the department’s call data indicates public intoxication is not a serious problem in York. He pointed to the Fourth of July weekend and said of the 639 calls for service in town, only one was for drinking in public.
“We received no other calls from any community members about issues stemming from drinking on the beach,” Davis said.
Davis confirmed Patten reported a table that appeared to be used for beer pong this summer, but he said there was “no alcohol whatsoever.”
“They were just trying to put a ping pong ball in a cup of seawater,” Davis said. “They weren’t drinking.”
Davis said most people do not know that drinking on the beach is against the law or town ordinance. Town Manager Peter Joseph said state law requires police to inform people drinking of the law, then observe people drinking a second time before they take action. Davis said interactions with the public have not escalated beyond the first encounter.
“People have been very compliant,” Davis said. He said last year he and Assistant Town Manager Kathryn Lagasse walked on the beach and asked people what their concerns were.
“None of them identified (drinking) as a problem,” Davis said. “The problems I heard about were parking, the cost of parking, parking tickets. No one raised drinking on the beach as an issue.”
Davis and Joseph also said limited resources are a factor. Davis said police “can’t obviously catch every single person” drinking on the beach, while Joseph said police weigh carefully how best to respond.
While Patten said he sees a growing number of open drinkers with beer logos visible on 30-rack containers, Davis said that’s not what he has seen.
“If me, or any of my officers, saw 30 racks of beer strewn about the beach, then we are absolutely going to go down there and handle that situation immediately,” Davis said.
Lifeguard chief takes a stand against beach drinking
Patten said he plans to finish out the season and would never leave his crew mid-summer.
However, he said it's important to take a stand in addressing what he believes is a problem.
He pointed to a drowning in 2019 at York Beach in which he said multiple witnesses corroborated the individual was in a group where heavy drinking occurred. He fears that letting people drink on the beach could lead to more deaths if left unchecked, including a danger to his guards who risk their own lives to save people in the water.
“I certainly don’t want any of my guards going into the water at an increased liability that they might not come out,” Patten said.
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