County Fireworks Violations Down; So is Beach Litter

The Santa Cruz Sheriff's Office reported a quieter Fourth of July in 2013.

There were 192 fireworks seized, including 425 pounds of dangerous fireworks and 20 pounds of safe and sane ones, being shot where it was unlawful.

The office wrote 40 parking citations; two misdemeanor citations and one infraction. Countywide, 31 people were booked into county jail between 7 p.m. and 7 a.m.

In 2012 the sheriff's office issued 15 citations in the unincorporated areas of Santa Cruz County and they confiscated more than 300 pounds of explosives, authorities reported.

Deputies made 19 arrests for crimes such as being drunk in public and for outstanding warrants in 2012. Six people got tickets for alcohol-related violations and four other citations were issued for crimes such as urinating in public, according to April Skalland.

On its annual Beach Cleanup, Save Our Shores (SOS) and 269 Star Spangled Beach Cleanup volunteers prevented1,497 pounds of trash and debris from polluting  beaches at 11 sites at the the annual July 5th Star Spangled Beach Cleanup.  This is a great improvement from last year where they had 238 volunteers and 1,587 pounds of trash at just 7 sites

 The Star Spangled Beach Cleanup is the second largest community cleanup of the year on the Central Coast. Santa Cruz cleanups took place at Cowell/Main, Seabright, Twin Lakes, Moran Lake, Capitola, Panther, It’s Beach, Davenport Main and Seacliff/Rio Del Mar Beaches. Monterey County cleanups took place at Del Monte Beach at Wharf #2, and Carmel Beach

The group reports: "In past years, Save Our Shores has seen trash cans overflowing at the beach on July 5th so we decided to fund the rental of four large dumpsters for Twin Lakes, Davenport, Cowell/Main and Seabright beaches.  The trash at these beaches was severely decreased because of these dumpsters and State Parks staff mentioned that they made a huge difference for their cleanup efforts since the trash cans were not overflowing as much as in past years."

Top 3 dirtiest beaches, in order, determined by total poundage removed only, were: Cowell/Main Beach with 332 pounds, Seabright Beach 213 pounds and Moran Lake Beach with 167 pounds.