Our holiday dinner at Lupe Taqueria was a great success and a lot of fun. Thanks to everyone who came and took advantage of the special dinner and helped raise money for the Atlanta Chapter.

Steve Combs traveled to DC on behalf of the Surfrider Foundation Atlanta Chapter to hear oral arguments at the US Supreme Court on the Destin, Florida beach property rights case. Mike Sturdivant of the Emerald Coast Chapter and Julie Lawson of the DC Chapter also attended.

Steve has lived and surfed in the Destin area for over 20 years and also practices law in Atlanta when not surfing. Steve has seen the private beach signs popping up and the seawalls that threaten walks down the beach. As storms tear away at the coastline, private landowners are trying to hold their ground, literally and figuratively. Significant public tax dollars are spent to renourish these private beach areas. The State of Florida claims ownership of the new sand bordering the water. Now the US Supreme Court has a chance to settle this dispute.

Surfrider Foundation filed an amicus “friend of the court” brief. From the Surfrider Foundation press release:

“Private landowners should not have the right to unilaterally act in a manner that negatively impacts coastlines or public access to the beach. The State of Florida has adopted a reasonable approach that balances these important public and private rights,” says Steve Combs of the Surfrider Foundation Atlanta Chapter who travels to Florida beaches on the weekends.

The case is highly politicized. You can view the spectrum of summaries at TheDestinLog.com. A good general summary is at NPR. A more lawyerly analysis is at SCOTUSBLOG.

Platinum singer-songwriter Colbie Caillat is a huge fan and supporter of Surfrider and offered to have us to set up an outreach table at her “Breakthrough” concert on October 19th. This was a great way to sign new volunteers and educate people about Surfrider and our goals. Thanks to all who came out.

Thanks to all the Surfrider volunteers and several other volunteer groups, the Paces Mill Park is well under way to being re-opened! It was unbelievable to see the aftermath of the last two floods. Debris was still hanging 15′ – 20′ in the trees, mud was caked in deep around all of the picnic tables and fences were destroyed. With the help of close to 100 people we dug and hauled mud for two and a half hours to clean up the picnic area.

Oil drilling off of Florida’s coast is once again being considered by our state legislators This is more than just an issue for the Gulf of Mexico. Language is being discussed to allow drilling and pipelines to be within state waters, within 3 miles of your beaches on either coast.

You need to let the Governor, Speaker of the House and Senate President know of your objections. Please tell these electeds that we are against any attempt to open State and/or decrease protections in Federal waters regarding oil development off Florida’s entire coast.

To take action visit http://actionnetwork.org/campaign/no_oilflorida

On the weekend of October 17, 2009, Steve Combs attended a Volunteer Workshop for the southeast region of Surfrider Foundation. Steve drove to Jacksonville, attended the meeting on Saturday, stowed away on a friend’s catamaran for a couple nights, and caught some waves on Sunday. Thanks to our Regional Director Ericka D’Avanzo for putting on a great meeting. The main topic was Surfrider Foundation’s initiative to stop offshore oil drilling in Florida. Visit www.NotTheAnswer.org to learn more.  Below are the photos from the trip. Check our upcoming events to get involved. Sign up to be a member now! Get on our emailing list!

The October 2009 Chapter Meeting was a fun night.  Chapter Co-Chair and Artist Pam Longobardi spoke about her Drifters project, a series of installations and public works that address the interconnectedness of the land and sea, between humans and the ocean biosphere.

On September 18, 2009, the Surfrider Atlanta Chapter traveled to Seaside, Florida for a beach cleanup with the Emerald Coast Chapter. We had 120 people turn out, and we collected over 600 pounds of trash at 6 different sites. We picked up plastic bits, cigarette butts, and loads of other junk.

Steve, George (and family), and Korbi represented Atlanta. We met Mike and Megan from Louisiana at the campground, and they joined up with us for all the events, including the YOLO paddelboard race and beach celebration. We had a bonfire on the beach on Saturday night and saw a few shooting stars.

Check out the pics below. Additional pictures and a video of the race and beach celebration are here.