Steve Jones - City Council Place Five
April 20, 2010, the Deepwater Horizon Incident directly claimed the lives of eleven men and later indirectly led to the death on at least one, Allen "Rookie" Kruse, a charter boat captain in Orange Beach, Alabama. He was in such despair over the event that on June 23, 2010, he took his own life fearing his future was gone. It impacted every person that lives in coastal Alabama and changed the lives of many. I think about this place we are blessed to call home in a very different way than I did before. Having worked on the beach from 1991 to 2004 and subsequently changing jobs disconnected me from appreciating what we truly have here. Although our tourism industry has returned to record levels, none of us will forget the fear of losing our way of life and our quality of life. The fear did not last long; our resolve to overcome and emerge stronger will last forever, and my rediscovered appreciation for our white sand beaches will as well.
Prior to any oil ever reaching the shores of Gulf Shores and Orange Beach, the media frightened anyone that would watch. Fear of contamination had thousands of vacationers cancelling their reservations and seeking other destinations even though there was no immediate threat. The truth needed to be told whether it was pretty or ugly. Our credibility had to be maintained. Outside of what Gulf Shores Orange Beach Tourism (fka Alabama Gulf Coast Convention and Visitors Bureau) would do to tell the true story of what was actually happening on our beaches, I decided to visit the beach early in the mornings before work to take pictures of what "was" or was not on our public beaches and post them on Facebook. At least anyone that would view those pictures, all dated and identified by location, would believe that what they were seeing in the news was not accurate and might visit us anyway. If only one family would believe our truth and visit our destination, thereby salvaging part of our tourist season, it was worth the effort. I am very pleased to report that there were hundreds; reporting that after seeing the pictures I was posting that they decided to come anyway and did not regret doing so.
The first day pictures were posted was June 6, 2010; there were 211 eleven "friends" subscribed on my Facebook page. As of this writing there are 2,338 "friends" that repost and share these albums with their friends, possibly reaching upwards of tens of thousands of other viewers. It has brought a certain amount of recognition which is quite humbling. I am just pleased that it seems to have made a bit of a difference, and that viewers check every day to get a peek at a place they like to visit and miss between visits. BP heard the story and elected to produce a story about it in their "My Gulf" series of video productions called "Sharing the Shoreline". It has been viewed over 13,000 times to date. They call me a "steward" of the beach I love, but I know we are all stewards of this delicate natural resource. If you visit us, welcome. Please don't leave anything on the beach you brought with you; your footprints are enough and the memories you take with you should have value beyond measure.
In the last 532 days there are a handful of days I was unable to visit the beach due to being out of town, or from volunteering at our Annual National Shrimp Festival which absorbs five full days of can till can't. I don't know when viewers will tire of seeing the pictures or how long I'll be able to continue to take them, but at least for now it's a daily habit that I don't want to lose.
Yes, tar balls still wash up and there are still contaminated areas offshore that need to be cleaned, but rest assured that from seeing the water and the sand for a year and a half, I can tell you that the Gulf appears to be healing very nicely at least for now. If anything washes up, it is photographed and reported, sometimes that very morning by flagging down the vehicles carrying cleanup contractors and pointing it out. We can't change what happened but we can fix what we can see, and we will. BP is not off the hook for cleanup and our watchful eyes intend to keep them there. At least my eyes will be watching anyway.
Thanks for noticing!
251-968-8447 Home
251-609-5292 Cell
Post Office Box 3786
Gulf Shores, Alabama 36547
or email steve@jonesgulfshores.com