28 Comments so far

1. sandra on October 17, 2009 6:52 am

   I have not witnessed the fact, but I spoke with his wife, and told me not ‘been a drowning, but a probable heart attack, her husband was an expert swimmer, is not found in difficulty and not asked for help, she was watching from the beach.
   all the people I spoke with who attended the incident and were unanimous in saying that it was NOT A DROWNING

2. Art on October 18, 2009 3:29 am

   Does anyone who happened to be present remember at what time of the day did this incident happen? The victim was my brother.

3. margo Wilkinson on October 18, 2009 6:14 am

   Dear Art. I am very very sorry for the loss of your brother. My condolences to you and the family! Margo

4. mike on October 18, 2009 4:14 pm

   First, my condolences to the gentleman’s widow and her family.

   Whether the gentleman drowned or had a coronary, the fact remains he is gone at far too young an age.

   I know what his family will go thru in the weeks ahead, given my oldest brother drowned, or maybe had a heart attack, while he struggled to succesfully save his two young daughters from a rip tide in front of our family’s long time summer home on the seacoast of New Hampshire.

   My thoughts and prayers are with you all.

   That said, I wanted to address the issue of the “questioning” of the Playa Cocles’ life guard services in this article with a question.

   Not that this would have made any likely difference in thursday’s tragedy, but I would like to know what happened to the megaphone, which cost more than 100 bucks that my good friend Frank Leon donated to the “life guard effort”, man, 5 or 6 years ago now, that never made it to the lifeguards?

   I asked Frank today if it was OK to raise this issue, and even quote him and, in his inimitable way, he all but ordered me to ask the question and quote him any way I felt like.

   I remember when he bought that megaphone to donate to the lifeguard effort, his mom warned him he was being foolish because such an expensive toy would never make it to where he wanted it to go.

   Dona Delfina was prophetic.The megaphone never made it to the lifeguards and nobody, not even the hotel owner Frank directly donated it to on the lifeguards’ behalf, knows what became of it.

   It’s why, as Frank said today on the beach, he will donate nothing anymore. There is no accountability and, when things go missing or smell fishy, everyone just says “oops, I don’t know a thing about it.”

   I love this place, but after eleven years, I have to say I have never lived in a comunity where the level of trust, be it between expats and ticos, ticos and ticos, or expats and expats is so close to totally nonexistent.

   That’s why I have winnowed my circle of friends and people I trust and feel I can rely to about 3.

   Most everyone else, expat, Tico, tourist, or wash ashore businessman, I take with a big old grain of salt.

   My experiences, like Frank’s, have taught me that is the only way to live happily here.

5. mike on October 18, 2009 5:40 pm

   After my last post, I spoke to Frank.

   We both have some questions about your PVSatellite donation page, as you encourage people to whip out their credit cards and “donate” to lifeguards, and God knows what else.

   Is this webpage a legitimately registered non profit or for profit organization? Does it have the proper documents any legitimate organization needs to solicit funds on line?

   Or, is this just the latest example of “send us your money, and don’t worry what we do with it any more than Frank should’ve worried about what became of the megaphone?”

   Just looking for some answers, all in the name of “consumer protection”.

6. Editor on October 18, 2009 9:12 pm

   No, of course Puerto Viejo Satellite is not a registered charity. It is a local business who cares about what happens locally.

   We have generously donated the credit card processing fees for various community fundraising projects in the past, channeling several thousand dollars to the flood relief effort to local organizations for example. And this is what we are offering again here.

   I’m sorry to hear about what happened to the megaphone Frank donated but I don’t understand your logic on this point. Because this donation was misplaced to we sit back on our hands and not take part in any community efforts?

   The lifeguard program, megaphone or not, has been generously supported by many local businesses over the years. The many dollars they have spent to fund the wages of the guards has not been misplaced or wasted.

   I am pledging this money will be passed on to the people who manage the funds for the ongoing operational expenses of the program (wages primarily). Not sure what else you would like to hear. Puerto Viejo Satellite is well known in the community for this type of fundraising, ask Alaine at ATEC if you’re not sure. Or, for that matter, ask Frank himself who has is an advertisers on and works with us.

   Doug Dosdall
   Puerto Viejo Satellite and Talamanca News

7. mike on October 19, 2009 5:04 am

   That’s all I needed to hear. As i said in my first post, a big issue holding this place back is a huge lack of trust among far too many people.

   Incidents like the megaphone disappearing, and that is just one of many such tales I’ve heard about items and monies donated to certain entities, just vansihing, are the reasons why so much mistrust exists.

   I’m glad something is getting done about the lifeguard situation. Even just yesterday, when we are in a time of the year when the ocean is generally calm, the rips were intense.

   And doug, all I can tell you is it was Frank who made it clear he will donate no more because of the megaphone incident and the fact that accountability, even of material items, not just financial donations, is lacking.

   It’s a shame, for sure, but it is the way it is.

8. Manuel on October 19, 2009 5:08 am

   I like many (most) other businesses participate in funding the program. Though it may not be perfect (few things on life are perfect), it is functional and HAS saved many lives int he recent past years.

   As a participant in the program, I receive a newsletter / flier about 2x a year with detailed accounting of all income and all expenses. I can see exactly where my funds are going and how they are being used.

   Again, there is always room for criticism…but of all the programs we have in town – this one is in my opinion one of the most transparent and necessary!!!

   For such an important program, if you do not feel it is being manged correctly, then one should join / help / be part of the effort so that it may be improved. Criticizing it will not make it better!

9. mike on October 19, 2009 6:37 am

   Manuel, that’s great. Any organization, especially one that handles money and donations from others has to have an accountability mechanism. I worked in the non profit sector for years, luckily for a great organization, but I saw some horror shows, and outright scams in other places because of a lack of accountability.

   The lifeguard program is absolutely necessary and if it were fiscally possible, it should be expanded.

   Living almost directly across from where the man died, I can tell you, especially in the months of january and february, there are many days when the beach should be closed to swimming completely.

   I may not have the exact numbers right, but the year before the lifeguard program got started, I think it was close to a half dozen, maybe more, people drowned at cocles between Xmas and Easter. At least according to the town rumor mill. Which is always an important caveat to add. LOL

   But regardless of whether the lifeguard program is all accounted for, Frank’s disappeared 100 dollar megaphone aside, this underlying issue of a lack of trust between organizations or groups of people trying to do something for the community is a serious problem

   As an old social worker, I got involved with a seemingly well intended group of people several years ago determined to do something to improve the public schools.

   What sent up the first red flag, and I;ve seen this with several other “organizations” in town some now defunct, others still operating,was the unwillingness of this largely ex pat group to affiliate in any way with established local groups and individuals already enagaged in such work.

   With no articles of incorporation in place, no even quasi board structure, and no real accountability mechanisms in place, this group began soliciting money with jugs in stores, bake sales, all the feel good, grassroots stuff you might expect.

   I argued, and was ignored, that for the group to be raising money, given there was no board, no accountability mechanisms in place, and not even a clear mission statement, was terribly premature.

   I left that meeting, never to return. And boy, was I glad I did. It wasn’t three months before the accusations were flying about money being mismanaged, even outright stolen.

   I hear similar stories all the time, or when I mention that i spoke to so and so to someone else when I’m iin town or at the store, I’ll hear, “Oh that one, all he/she cares about is money.” Don’t trust him he’s just a real estate scammer”. “She’s a thief, she raised money for this and that and then kept it”. etc etc etc.

   And I’m just appalled and, I can assure you, you no doubt know many of the people who say these things, you might even think they’re ur friends, and you also no doubt know the people who are being talked about, and probably think they’re ur friends as well.

   I, truly, have never seen a community so riddled with deeply engrained mistrust on the part of so many.

   It is why I have narrowed my circle of friends down to one so small, keep largely to myself except when in their company, and just try to savor the natural beauty that’s drawn me back here now for 11 years.

   I don’t know how you undo what is so deeply engrained, but I do know it holds this place back, and not just in terms of “development” but in so many other truly “communal” ways as well.

   It’s really sad.

10. Jane on October 19, 2009 7:18 am

    In all your bantor about the funding, you all seem to have forgotten that a man had lost his life…how does this help him and the family he leaves behind?

11. Chet Ohrt on October 19, 2009 7:25 am

    First of all, a big thanks is
    warranted to the businesses in the area who have
    historically donated to the Life Guard Program
    throughout the years, and especially to Eddie
    Ryan, who is a caring and honorable man. Eddie
    has personally supported the program and was integral in its formation.
    Last year I communicated with Eddie about the
    lifeguard issue, which was in danger of being
    phased out, due to the lack of funding. Eddie and other individuals have donated their time, effort and money to keep this program going and I
    am sure that any funds raised will be handled
    honestly. The implementation of rentals of surfboards and Boogie Boards at the Lifeguard tower in order to supplement revenue has begun and to a degree has been successful(The bottom line is that if people go in the ocean with any sort of flotation device, they have a much better chance of survival when they get in trouble in the ocean). We should also highly commend the Lifeguards themselves, who risk their own safety when rescuing swimmers in distress.
    Perhaps with additional efforts such as fund raisers/donations from tourists (who are the
    primary beneficiaries of this program)/as well
    as donations from caring individuals via the internet/etc. will ensure that there are Lifeguards present now and in the future.
    I will be moving to Cocles in the beginning of
    2010 and will be glad to take part in this effort.
    Should anyone care to contact me with ideas that
    I can work on while still here in the USA (signage/ equipment, etc)my email address is Ohrtchet@bellsouth.net. With a group
    effort we can ensure that this program continues to save lives at Cocles Beach, with the ultimate goal being zero drownings each year, making it the safest beach in Costa Rica.

12. mike on October 19, 2009 7:52 am

    Chet, it’s a great goal. And you are right on about Eddy Ryan. He has worked tirelessly on the project.

    Like I said, I’d like to see it expanded. It’s a big beach and, even with lifeguards, can be very dangerous when those rips are tearing up and down the shore.

    I remember a few years back when a guard got in trouble trying to save someone, and, if not for a nearby surfer, he probably would have drowned.

    It’s a shame that, with Costa Rica so heavily promoting tourism, that the governement cant’ find a way to supplement the funding raised locally, even with a “matching grant” or something.

    But, I’m not holding my breath on that score. LOL.

    I love Cocles beach, but having grown up on the beach in New England, and having lost a brother to a rip there, I have enormous respect for the ocean and there are MANY days when i will not go in the water here and I really believe the beach should be closed to swimming.

    Not even thirty guards could keep people safe when those rips are in force and the beach is heavily crowded. It’s a humanly impossible task.

13. Colin Brownlee on October 19, 2009 2:52 pm

    Eddie Ryan of La Costa de Papito has worked tirelessly on the life guard project and he the only reason that there is a lifeguard today. Had Eddie not persevered, it is very obvious that many more lives would have been lost.

    To suggest questioning his integrity or demand that he take more time away from his business and family because of lack of volunteers to satisfy “couch potato critics” is nothing short of disgusting.

    If you have self-justified reason why you don’t want to support such a worthy effort, or overly complicate things so no one is interested, go ahead… Do it with your 3 friends.

    But to publicly piss all over somebody’s years of unpaid hard work to save lives is a truly sad statement.

14. mike on October 19, 2009 5:37 pm

    Colin, read a a post or two back. I posted almost verbatim what you just said about the perseverance of Eddie in the project.

    It is, given how dangerous Playa Cocles can tuly be both a noble and almost impossible task to keep swimmers, especially inexperienced swimmers safe in such an environment.

15. Eddie Ryan on October 20, 2009 6:48 pm

    Let’s not get distracted. We want to save lives and nothing more. I must admit it is annoying though. The people who absolutely do not participate or contribute have such loud (and potentially destructive) voices.
    Mr. Roch Magnan from Crocodive, a Cocles dive business, is directly responsible for the erroneous information about a “drowning” and an “arts and craftsy” lifeguard in the Talamanca News??
    Crocodive has been formally solicited with all the information about the lifeguard program and has never contributed one colon. Mr. Mike Cook spends part of each year in Puerto Viejo, has no visible means of support and obsessively sends letters to the Tico Times.Another Cocles resident, another zero in participating or contributing to the program. Mike, your self imposed small circle has just gotten smaller. You’re cut off! You can no longer come to my bar and get drunk in the afternoon and ask to come back another day and pay.
    Remember folks, I did say this was annoying. If I had Frank’s goddamned megaphone in hand I’d begin to tell you how the hotel Camaleon refused to participate and how shortly thereafter I rushed our two Cocles lifeguards in my car to their beach to rescue and revive a very grateful solo swimmer. I’d tell you how I looked incredulously at Francisco, the administrator at Ferreteria San Francisco, and responded to his refusal to donate with “but with what my business alone spends here?” I’d want to tell you about……………..and then I’d have to breathe deeply and remind myself not to get distracted

    Note: Almost four years ago we changed the lifeguard staff and our former lifeguards (Junior and his brother) made off with Frank’s megaphone and some other equipment. I told Frank about it. I guess he forgot. Mike Cook hasn’t forgotten. And why are we talking about this? Oh yeah, Rock Magnan started the fire. Fire! Help! Fire! Where’s Frank’s goddamned megaphone when you need it?

    Second Note: We take in about ₡575,000 monthly in donations and we need ₡725,000 to pay the salaries and the 7% commission to our collection person. We can only afford one lifeguard for the next month. We need more donors. The ocean is now rough and indifferent. No mercy.

16. Allyson on October 20, 2009 8:01 pm

    Yes!!!! Mike and his drinking escapades….and his never ending bullshit stories….

17. Wendy Strebe on October 21, 2009 10:11 am

    Anyone who said the lifeguard was not there, trying to resuscitate this man, were incorrect. My son helped pull this man out of the water, WITH the lifeguard and another man. He did not appear to be living at that time. The lifeguard worked for quite awhile, performing CPR, to no avail. We all feel for the family, who is dealing with their untimely loss.

18. Colin on October 21, 2009 8:22 pm

    Sure glad Mike can not stand Playa Negra.

19. Roch Magnan on October 22, 2009 10:06 am

    Mr.Ryan writes: “Crocodive has been formally solicited with all the information about the lifeguard program and has never contributed one colon.”

    I´d like to know when that happened. I have never heard of, met with, nor have ever been sollicited to support Mr.Ryan in his efforts to maintain a lifeguard service at Cocles, since Crocodive opened its doors.

    As a matter of fact, the first I ever heard of his involvment and OF THE PROGRAM was with the initial reporting and clarification published by Doug on this incident.

    I am the one who reported this incident to Doug. 2 trained Emergency First Responders affiliated with Crocodive were present at the scene. Both intervened. Both were categorical about what happened. Both called me and met with me at the beach about 2 hours after the incident. Both pointed out the lifeguard on duty in his tower, actively spinning thread on an artifact. Maybe next time, I’ll come with a camera and put it on YouTube.

    But as others have pointed out, it really doesn’t matter. The net result is sadly one person dead, and on a more positive note, a better awareness through the controversy as to the plight this program and its sponsor, Mr. Ryan, are going through.

    The fact of the matter is the program needs support and is having problems getting it. I for one, while regretting some of the inaccuracies of the first report, am glad to see that this issue has hopefully reawakened the interest and need to support this endeavour.

    Mr.Ryan seems to prefer to shoot the messenger and I understand why. My intent never was to criticize the program.

    Crocodive will participate in this program with more than just money, Mr. Ryan, if you are so willing. For example, we have a fully functional Automatic External Defibrillator and the trained personel to handle events requiring its usage. Or Interested? Let me know.

20. Chet Ohrt on October 22, 2009 11:13 am

    I think Mr Rognan is correct in that it is
    counterproductive at this point to point fingers.

    The bottom line is the Lifeguard Program needs
    help and perhaps this unfortunate death will be
    the impetus to renew interest in seeing that the
    program is adequately funded and staffed, instead
    of falling on the shoulders of Eddie Ryan and
    those caring individuals who have graciously
    supported the program up to this time, I understand the frustration expressed, since without people like Eddie, Colin, and the businesses donating to the program to keep it
    running, there would have been and would continue to be many more drownings.

    Having worked for 30 years in the medical field in the USA, I have participated in hundreds of CPR
    scenarios. The offer to provide an automatic external defibrillator would be a HUGE asset to the
    Lifeguard Program, and would be the missing link
    in providing CPR to a drowning victim. It is the
    ONLY remedy to Cardiac standstill.

    Regardless of what has happened (or not happened) in the past, perhaps a renewed effort is in order.

    Puerto Viejo Satellite could serve as a medium
    to keep this issue in the spotlight (hopefully
    there are now more people donating to the program
    via the internet).

    Actions such as purchasing and providing more flotation equipment (Boogie Boards, Surfboards) at the lifeguard stand for rentals by the program would provide additional revenue.

    Signage and donation boxes at the stand requesting donations from goodhearted tourists, as
    well as in the lobbies of participating
    businesses, hotels and Restaurants (similar to the donation boxes at Juan Santamaria Airport)would also assist in funding. (Who has not left Puerto Viejo without a pocketfull of loose change, which could be donated to the program on the way out of town).

    Perhaps several times per year fund
    raisers/cookouts could also be implemented.

    The bottom line is its a dangerous ocean and although one would think that people would not swim when conditions are not appropriate, this is not always the case. The Lifeguard program is a critical need that needs to be addressed by the community as a whole, with cooperation rather than confrontation, which serves no useful purpose.

    Raising 10-15 thousand dollars a year to fund
    the program should not be an insurmountable goal,
    and would be returned to community many times
    over once Puerto Viejo gains the reputation as
    being the safest Beach in Costa Rica, a goal which
    through cooperation would be completely attainable.

21. mike on October 24, 2009 1:26 pm

    Man, talk about a tempest in a teapot here.

    If i spoke out of turn, I apologize, but I raised the disappeared bull horn issue with the permission of the person who donated it.

    Fund raising issues are so complicated that, coming from very rigid non profit background, my main point was, even if I did not express it well, that you have to be very careful about how money is raised and the accountability mechanisms that are in place.

    To say that is not to accuse of wrong doing. It’s common sense.

    The bigger issue, I believe, as threads after the last time post I posted here reveal, is the overall TRUST between people here.

    I have no idea what the issues are, for example between the dive business and costa del papito, but it’s obvious they are intense and bitter.

    I also am going to say someting that might get me in hot water again.

    Despite all the idealistic talk of raising 10 to 15k for a life guard program, the reality is there are many days when Playa Cocles is SO dangerous to swim at that the beach should be closed. Lifeguards making a fraction of what lifeguards do in the states should not be asked to risk their own lives to save tourists, or any one else for that matter, too stupid not to see that Neptune is VERY hungry indeed.

    Signs should go up saying, “Beach Closed, Swim At Your Own Risk”

    That is what towns all along Cape Cod are doing.

22. mike on October 24, 2009 9:31 pm

    You know, I have no idea what forming a non-profit corporation in Costa Rica entails, but would it make sense to consider doing that with the life gurad project, if it hasn’t already been done?

    There’s no doubt that Playa Cocles needs the service, especially with much rougher seas looming on the immediate horizon.

    I can only come at this from a US based non-profit background, so bear with me here a little.

    If the life guard project is not already an incorporated, non-profit entity here in Costa Rica, to create such an entity could well be a means to expand fund raising capabilities so that the service everyone agrees is sorely needed can be expanded upon.

    In the early years of the AIDS epidemic I was on the ground floor of the founding of an ASO on the North Shore of Massachusetts whose roots sprung out of our living rooms.

    We were all meeting and scrambling to organize to help friends who were sick and dying and we had NO money.

    When we started raising money via dances and cans in gay friendly stores and businesses in the town and region, it was a gay man with AIDS who told us to stop.

    He said, “You can’t be raising this money without a legitmate non-profit organization in place for it to be donated to. You are leaving yourselves wide open to all kinds of accustaions and, even though all of you in this room no doubt mean well, you really have no control over the money.”

    It was from him I first heard the term 501-3C, the legal term for a private, not for profit, charitable/public service organization.

    So we formed one. The legalities of forming the corporation were not terribly complicated, the logistics of forming a board of directors and finding a director to over see day to day operations of the fledgeling organization, however were a different story.

    People willing to volunteer to help suddenly got queasy about serving on the board of directors when they realized that, with the 501-3C status, they, if they served on the board, bore some degree of legal responsibility for the mgmt of any funds that were raised and dispersed in services.

    But, we finally got a board together, I became the day to day director, which basically meant I documented the numbers of people we were helping and the types of help we were providing, so that, a few months down the road, we would have real stats to show potential funding sources, other than the people who came to the dances and threw their spare change in the jugs in local stores.

    Within six months we got our first grant from the MA Dept of Public Health. within a year we had a small grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, and things just started to rock and roll.

    But it was all because that man, who died not long after, educated us about what we needed to do.

    Now, hypothetically, let’s say the local life guard project were to name itself the “Playa Cocles Safe Swim Foundation”. It gets incorporated as a non profit organization, whatever that entails here in Costa Rica.

    A board of directors gets formed with a prez, VP, secretary, and treasurer. Who, I would assume, by taking on those roles would have some degree of legal responsibility in terms of fiscal mgmt of the foundation.

    There’s a director, apart from the board who, initially, would go back several years before the program was initiated and tally up the number of drownings and near drownings, assuming those records are available somewhere. Then that person would tally the number of drownings, near drownings, saves, and rescuitations after the program was is in place so that there’s a data base/track record demonstrating how the program has improved swimmer safety since its inception

    With a board in place and that kind of data, the potential to expand fundraising beyond the local grasroots level, not that there’s ANYTHING wrong with that, would be enhanced.

    I’m thinking of organizations like the International Red Cross and the Surfriders Foundation, both of which I know fund grass roots groups involved in a variety of causes, but only when those groups are incorporated with a structure in place that assures such donors that their money is managed well.

    That is not to say lifeguard money has not been managed well to date, PLEASE, that’s not what I am implying.

    I am talking about a more formal structure that, not only would take the magmt burden off of one or two people, but also possibly allow for expanding those fundraising options and possibilities.

    Like I said, I am coming at this from a US based non profit perspective, so maybe everything I’ve said is a moot point. But let’s face it, we all agree that Playa Cocles, given its potential to be VERY dangerous, desperately needs a life guard project in place, and anything that would help secure its continued operation, and even its expansion, is something everyone should be willing to consider.

    Just a bunch of thougts about the issue, nothing more, nothing less.

23. Chet Ohrt on October 26, 2009 8:26 am

    Theres an old saying “Complicationitis leads
    to paralysis by analysis”. It would be unfair
    to ask those who are already donating their time
    and effort to the lifeguard program to shoulder any
    more in terms of time, effort, with the formation
    of posts, comittees, etc. People such as Eddie
    and Colin have businesses and families and families to take care of. Complicating everything is the very reason very little ever gets accomplished in the USA. People are either honest or not, and I believe honesty and integrity has already been proven by those who care enough to have been involved with the program up to this point.
    So, in the interest of simplicity, maybe when
    people come down for a visit, they could purchase
    a Boogie Board at home for use while there, then donate the board to the lifeguard program for rentals by this program at the lifeguard stand. (Boogie Boards float, most people don’t…except when they are attached to the board…. its that simple).
    The rentals, plus a few bucks spare change (the cost of a beer) donated by the thousands of tourists visiting each year would add up quickly, if donation sites were spread throughout the area. After all, visitors are the primary beneficiaries of the lifeguard program.

24. PV Resident on October 26, 2009 10:26 am

    Mike, what the hell are you smoking?????

25. mike on October 26, 2009 11:46 am

    PV R, i’m neither smoking nor drinking anything.

    I’m simply putting forth a possible means for the much needed life guard program to gain access to a broader array of funding sources.

    And Chet, with all due respect, it is not an issue of “analysis leading to paralysis”, nor is it an issue of unnecesary “complication” or that advocating for a more structured approach somehow impugns the eforts of earlier, more grass roots efforts.

    This place is growing, I sometimes think too rapidly for its own good, given the lack of infrastructure.

    More tourists on a beach like Playa Cocles, means more drownings and near drownings, given how VERY dangerous this beach can be.

    Your “grassroots” life guard effort, with all its simplicity, is no longer enough to maintain safety on this beach, no matter how many boogie boards tourists bring with them from abroad and then donate for resale.

    I love the grassroots concept, it’s just dangerously naive.

    In this latest incident, as i’ve done a little more inquiring, it’s become clear to me that the people who most tried to help the gentleman who died were not local lifeguards.

    They were two people trained in sophisticated life saving techniques by another concern in town.

    The one local lifeguard on the beach was more concerned with weaving something that, I’m sure, he/she hoped to sell later to a tourist.

    Ed Ryan has categorically said in these threads that the man did not drown.

    his death was the result of a “heavy lunch and a few beers”.

    My question is, “Is Mr. Ryan a coroner or licensed medical examiner?”

    My understanding is the man may well have had a heart attack in the water, but that the level of foam and sputum that came out of his mouth as people, other than the life guard on duty, attempted to save his life, was indicative of a classic case of drowning.

    PROFESSIONAL lifeguards on Playa cocles are desperately needed and need to be supported.

    What i don’t understand is why some seem so hesitant to explore new venues and mechanisms that might help bring that reality about.

    But, as a non Tico friend who’s been here much longer than me pointed out, “Mike, this isn’t really about lifeguards, it’s all about control.”

26. Editor on October 26, 2009 12:13 pm

    Chet’s comment is right on for me.

    Sure Mike, in a perfect world we’d have all that organization and legality around the program and a host of volunteers and plenty of funds to pay lawyers and accountants. But that misses the point — the point is to get lifeguards on the beach saving lives.

    I think this is why many find your comments not helpful because all they do is refocus the problem (which is a lack of funding and volunteers) on some other problem which was never the issue with anyone but you. Which just leaves people who might want to volunteer money or time feeling that the program is somehow not working when it has already saved many lives.

    Ryan and others have just gone ahead and got things done.

    Why don’t you put your energies similarly into getting things done around the community instead of endlessly arguing about accountability? The needs are great. If you start an organization to address another community need, then by all means go ahead and setup all the controls and legalities around it that you feel are appropriate. But don’t tell other people how to run things that they’ve been running for years when your only involvement is armchair critic.

27. mike on October 26, 2009 12:34 pm

    Doug, with all due respect, that’s a bit of a cop out.

    And I supsect, on some level, you know it.

28. Chet Ohrt on October 28, 2009 8:14 am

    With words being the cheapest commodity on the planet earth, why not step up to the plate and
    take action by helping to support the lifeguard program.. so that we can prevent future drownings? Please take out your credit card and donate to this good cause, by helping to ensure the continuation of the Cocles Lifeguard program
    through the Puerto Viejo Satellite donation link.
    This money will be wisely and honestly spent.