DAN'S PAPERS, November 7, 2008 Page 9 www.danshamptons.com
Corks New Weapon in EH Village’s Campaign Against Dogs on Beach By Dan Rattiner East Hampton Village, which has been seriously dealing with dog poop issues out on the beach for about a year and a half now, has finally taken action. They are purchasing dog cork dispensers for the five beaches in the village, Georgica, Main, Wiborg, Maidstone Club Beach and Two Mile Hollow. The five dispensers will be hung on a pole directly adjacent to the “pick up what your dog does” sign and clear plastic mitt dispensers already up at each of these beaches. Bathers going out on the beach with dogs next summer will be able to get either the mitt to clean up after their dogs, or, if they find that too disgusting, a cork so their dogs cannot go while out there. “We hope this works,” said Trustee “Boots” Bailey, noting that, up until now, the Village has been unable to control summertime dog poop on the beaches. The cork dispensers are being purchased from the Jiffy Manufacturing Company, of Venice, CA, which sells three different models, all veterinarian approved. The top of the line model, which costs $599 each, is made of polished aluminum and is guaranteed to be tarnish free for 10 years. It has three different levers and dispenses three different sizes
of corks, small, medium and large. You pull the appropriate handle and you get whichever you want. This level of opulence, the salesman from the company told the board, is what Santa Barbara and Palm Beach use. The next model down is the same thing, but made of steel and costs $499. Atlantic City and San Diego use this model. And the cheaper model, at $399, dispenses just one size cork, the medium size one,
The Village opted for the least expensive model, since the community is watching its pennies these days. And they ordered 10 of them, five for the beaches and five to keep in storage in case the first five get stolen. And they have also ordered an $85 accessory, which, considering corks cost about seven cents each, has a slot where you can deposit a quarter to get the cork. According to the salesman, this is a new version of the accessory, available for the first time this year. In an earlier version, the slot took tokens. You had to go to town hall to buy the tokens, a cumbersome business indeed. They are offering those early token accessories now for just $10 each as long as they last, but East Hampton Village declined. “We expect to get the money back for the cost of the corks, the dispenser and the accessory in no time next summer,” said Bailey. “There’s even a setting you can make where the slot requires two quarters. We’ll have to see how the economy is.” The problem with dogs pooping on the beach seemed to raise its ugly head two years ago, when some of the more well heeled beachgoers, when asked by the con-
The Village opted for the least expensive dispenser model since it’s watching it pennies these days. which the salesmen told the Village works just fine for about 90% of all dogs. Only Teacup Poodles or Great Danes have a problem with this. Fort Lauderdale uses this model. “When the day at the beach is over,” the salesman told them, “the corks can easily be removed with ordinary corkscrews, which are available at all hardware stores.”
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