What Price Safety?

The sea surrounds us, its unpredictable moods commanding respect and sometimes fear. But there can be peril on the shore as well, where few would think to look for it, as last week's horrifying accident at Wiborg's Beach in East Hampton once again reminds us. Treacherously shifting sands caved in on an 11-year-old boy playing in a pit he had dug, burying him and leaving him fighting for life this week.

It was not the first such incident in recent memory. About 10 years ago, something similar happened at Indian Wells Beach in Amagansett, where an adult crawling through a deep sand tunnel was suffocated when its roof collapsed.

Last Thursday's incident, though, was every parent's nightmare. It "wrenched everyone's hearts," as Larry Cantwell, the East Hampton Village Administrator, said the next morning.

Over and above the sadness, the incident raises the issue of emergency monitoring in public places, particularly beaches.

In East Hampton Village, where there are five ocean beaches, only two - Main and Georgica - offer lifeguard protection. The others - Two Mile Hollow, Wiborg's, and Old Beach Lane - are considered "road ends," not public beaches. Under state health laws, the latter must have both lifeguards and restroom facilities.

From time to time over the years there have been moves by Suffolk County to shut down beaches used by the public despite their lack of lifeguards. Just how that would have been accomplished, much less enforced, was never made clear, but the matter eventually wound up in court, where a judge decided municipalities were under no obligation to provide either bathrooms or lifeguards. Instead, as a compromise, signs are posted indicating where a beach is unprotected and warning swimmers that they enter the waters at their own risk.

With each summer bringing more and more people, however, and more and more of them seeking out the less populated beaches, it may be time to rethink matters. Mr. Cantwell himself said as much this week. He also noted that the village, if it saw fit, could well afford to provide both the facilities and the personnel. It would cost a total of about $500,000 to build bathrooms at the three beaches, plus $25,000 annually to maintain them and about $100,000 a year for the staff.

The people at Wiborg's and the nearby Maidstone Club beach last Thursday responded with heroic alacrity and everything that could have been done was done. And, of course, even the presence of emergency personnel would not have prevented the accident. It's not a lifeguard's job to supervise children on the shore.

But the benefits of having trained people near at hand who have both lifesaving skills and two-way radios connected to ambulance dispatchers are clear. The question is not, "How much is too much to spend?" but rather, "How many tragedies must there be before we act?" There is no price on the value of human life and safety.

In a split second a carefree day at the beach can turn into a life-or-death crisis, on land as well as sea.