Monday, August 08, 2005
Vote may outlaw outdoor, alcohol games
Keep the beer pong and games of quarters inside.
In the ongoing tussle between summer renters and year-round residents of this seaside community, the Borough Council has banned outdoor games involving alcohol.
The "Beer Pong" ordinance, which goes into effect Aug. 17, prohibits alcohol-related games or contests on porches, decks, lawns, front and side yards or anywhere that can be viewed by the public and neighbors. Fines begin at $100 for a first offense.
Adopted last week, the regulation takes its name from a drinking game in which players bounce pingpong balls into cups of beer, with successful bounces triggering rounds of drinking.
Borough Clerk Margaret Plummer said residents near some rental areas have complained about people playing such games on their front lawns and getting progressively drunk and noisy.
Belmar, in Monmouth County, has an off-season population of 6,000 that Plummer said can surge to 70,000 on a hot summer weekend.
Some summer renters, such as Michael Todd, say the borough is trying to drive out young people who provide an economic boost to the area. Todd, 27, filed a complaint against a police officer who issued him a summons for playing Wiffle ball, the Asbury Park Press reported in Wednesday's newspapers.
"I didn't know Belmar all of [a] sudden turned into a big dictatorship borough," Todd said.
The borough also plans to establish taxi stands around bars. A public hearing on that proposal is scheduled for Aug. 10.&nbs ¶ 8:59 AM
In the ongoing tussle between summer renters and year-round residents of this seaside community, the Borough Council has banned outdoor games involving alcohol.
The "Beer Pong" ordinance, which goes into effect Aug. 17, prohibits alcohol-related games or contests on porches, decks, lawns, front and side yards or anywhere that can be viewed by the public and neighbors. Fines begin at $100 for a first offense.
Adopted last week, the regulation takes its name from a drinking game in which players bounce pingpong balls into cups of beer, with successful bounces triggering rounds of drinking.
Borough Clerk Margaret Plummer said residents near some rental areas have complained about people playing such games on their front lawns and getting progressively drunk and noisy.
Belmar, in Monmouth County, has an off-season population of 6,000 that Plummer said can surge to 70,000 on a hot summer weekend.
Some summer renters, such as Michael Todd, say the borough is trying to drive out young people who provide an economic boost to the area. Todd, 27, filed a complaint against a police officer who issued him a summons for playing Wiffle ball, the Asbury Park Press reported in Wednesday's newspapers.
"I didn't know Belmar all of [a] sudden turned into a big dictatorship borough," Todd said.
The borough also plans to establish taxi stands around bars. A public hearing on that proposal is scheduled for Aug. 10.&nbs ¶ 8:59 AM
Reliving Wiffle Ball memories
By Sara Hooker
Some are businessmen, others are students. Some have families and others traveled hundreds of miles to be here.
One thing they have in common: Most of them aren't kids anymore.
They didn't need to be on Saturday to play in the third annual Carol Stream Classic, an eight-team Wiffle Ball tournament at Armstrong Park.
"We prosecute by day and throw a Wiffle Ball at you by weekend," said Don Leist, 42, of three members of the Monkey Nerves, who are prosecutors for the DuPage County state's attorney's office.
The team's other members drove 15 hours from Louisiana to relive the countless days they spent playing as youngsters.
"When they'd visit, they'd spend the day playing Wiffle Ball," said Bonnie Leist, mother and aunt to several members of the Monkey Nerves. "I'm telling the truth - it was actually the whole day playing Wiffle Ball."
To relive those glory days, they picked a name, traveled cross country and practiced for a couple days.
"We've been training for it all our lives," Leist said. "We're too old to play, but it reminds us of being kids."
Organized Wiffle Ball is like the backyard game, but different. There are five players to a team. All of them bat, and three of them take the field.
The field is about one-third the size of a Little League field.
The bats aren't the skinny yellow plastic ones many remember. These have wooden handles and plastic barrels.
And nobody runs the bases. Pretend runners advance depending on the hits. An infield grounder is a single. A grounder to the fence is a double. Hitting the fence in the air is a triple. Hitting it over the fence is a home run.
To get an out, the batter must strike out, fly out or players must field grounders and throw them against the backstop.
As a kid, losing was the worst part for Leist's cousin, Danny McMillan, of West Monroe, La. Now it's the day after exerting himself on the field, he said.
The Monkey Nerves eventually finished fifth.
A Roselle-based team, The Bandits, won the title.&nbs ¶ 8:55 AM
Some are businessmen, others are students. Some have families and others traveled hundreds of miles to be here.
One thing they have in common: Most of them aren't kids anymore.
They didn't need to be on Saturday to play in the third annual Carol Stream Classic, an eight-team Wiffle Ball tournament at Armstrong Park.
"We prosecute by day and throw a Wiffle Ball at you by weekend," said Don Leist, 42, of three members of the Monkey Nerves, who are prosecutors for the DuPage County state's attorney's office.
The team's other members drove 15 hours from Louisiana to relive the countless days they spent playing as youngsters.
"When they'd visit, they'd spend the day playing Wiffle Ball," said Bonnie Leist, mother and aunt to several members of the Monkey Nerves. "I'm telling the truth - it was actually the whole day playing Wiffle Ball."
To relive those glory days, they picked a name, traveled cross country and practiced for a couple days.
"We've been training for it all our lives," Leist said. "We're too old to play, but it reminds us of being kids."
Organized Wiffle Ball is like the backyard game, but different. There are five players to a team. All of them bat, and three of them take the field.
The field is about one-third the size of a Little League field.
The bats aren't the skinny yellow plastic ones many remember. These have wooden handles and plastic barrels.
And nobody runs the bases. Pretend runners advance depending on the hits. An infield grounder is a single. A grounder to the fence is a double. Hitting the fence in the air is a triple. Hitting it over the fence is a home run.
To get an out, the batter must strike out, fly out or players must field grounders and throw them against the backstop.
As a kid, losing was the worst part for Leist's cousin, Danny McMillan, of West Monroe, La. Now it's the day after exerting himself on the field, he said.
The Monkey Nerves eventually finished fifth.
A Roselle-based team, The Bandits, won the title.&nbs ¶ 8:55 AM
