Larry,

Do you remember the case on Bay Point last year where a man was
assaulted on the beach? It might have been provoked, but it ended
up with the Sheriff, DNR, and the Port Royal cops out there and
no one wanted to claim jurisdiction. This happened supposedly
below the high water mark which the owner's rep claimed was
theirs too. The problem then came up that 'IF' this property was
originally a 'KING'S' Grant from the 18th century, and if it was
still conveyed to them, then they did have the right to claim all
land to the water. One man went to the hospital and then it was
all sort of hushed up. I wonder just how many King's Grants that
are actually still valid within South Carolina. This new owner
developer has ruined a beautiful place to go surf fishing and
spend a weekend on the beach. For years people have gone out
there which is only reachable by boat.

Leanne


"Larry W4CSC" wrote in message
...
In South Carolina, the public has rights to the beach 100 ft
inland of
the high water mark, letting us use the beach at high tide
without
stepping on some rich guys domain.

To counter this right, the "cities", gated waterfront
communities like
Kiawah Island, Seabrook Island, Hilton Head Island, bought
their way
into another state law letting the municipalities have domain
over the
public's water out ONE MILE from that beach. So, they simply
write an
ordinance preventing the public from getting to the beach in
their
boats or some such nonsense.

I haven't seen any city gunboats protecting the billionaires
from the
commoners, yet, but that is just a matter of time.

State law says if I want to take the jetboat into the beach at
Kiawah,
I must do so in a no-wake condition. So, we went. Someone
from the
beach houses came out screaming and yelling at us, threatening
to call
the Kiawah Kops. I told him I'd be glad to explain to a cooler
head
South Carolina law. The cops came, in force! I had violated
their
"space". The cops threatened to arrest me if I didn't get in
my boat
and get off "their beach". I pressed for an arrest, but seeing
the
threat tactic wasn't going anywhere and not wanting to test
state law,
they got back in their pickup truck and drove away. We stayed
on OUR
beach for a couple of hours with the jetboat anchored off the
sand
before going elsewhere.

Property owners think just because their property BORDERS on
the
public's beach, the beach becomes their property. It's not
true in
SC....(c;

I'm still here......



On Tue, 3 Feb 2004 21:57:46 -0800, "Steve"
wrote:


"Rosalie B." wrote in message
.. .
x-no-archive:yes


I think in many cases, beaches are public from the high tide
mark
seaward. And in some cases, all of the beach part is
public.


I've lived in Rhode Is (beach property), Calif. and Washington
state. The
laws of beach rights vary according to state laws.. In RI and
Calif. the
public has rights to the beach up to the high water line (or
something like
that) but can't cross private property.. In Washington state,
a lot of the
beaches property owners own or have lease rights to the beach
out to low
water (or something like that).

It has never been made clear to me how these leases work but I
think it has
something to do with the the shell fish beds. The property
owner will have
jurisdiction over the sea bottom but not the water..

I have heard some lease holder complain about boat anchoring
near shore
because of their oyster beds.. I could understand that,
especially if they
are paying for the lease rights.

I think it is all very complicated and verys from region to
region..

Steve
s/v Good Intentions




Larry W4CSC

No, no, Scotty! I said, "Beam me a wrench.", not a WENCH!
Kirk Out.....