Unsolved homicide, unruly behavior have Long Beach residents on high alert

Businesses on the Long Beach peninsula along the Washington coast made a killing during last year’s Fourth of July weekend, but the community paid a heavy price for its success.

Residents are hoping for a much calmer holiday this year, and they’ve made some changes to make that happen.

Last year, more than 100,000 people descended on the small community, spurred on by a perfect storm of conditions. For starters, July 4 was on a Saturday and it was more than 100 degrees in Portland and Seattle.

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That’s good for businesses. However, visitors left an unsolved homicide and more than 40 tons of trash in their wake.

KPTV reports the Pacific County medical examiner ruled a 36-year-old man’s death to be a spinal cord break caused by a blow to the head. The sheriff’s office reported the man was partying on the peninsula, about two miles outside city limits. Investigators trying to piece together the crime ran into problems while interviewing witnesses; KPTV reports many had to be re-interviewed because they were so intoxicated.

The sheriff’s office and fire departments couldn’t handle all the chaos; they just don’t have enough people.

“We’re overwhelmed every Fourth of July. In fact, it’s become our highest call for service — period — for the year,” Pacific County Sheriff Scott Johnson explained. “We’re just a small sheriff’s office and it’s very difficult to manage the number of calls that come through to us.”

Magen Michaud was so fed up she helped found a community group to address the problems.

“A lot of us thought that this particular Fourth of July, we were just one serious incident away from a real problem,” she said.

But here’s the rub, how do you make July 4 safer or more manageable without giving tourists the impression that they’re not welcome? Tourism is the life-blood of the peninsula.

People were pushing to ban fireworks, but that would severely cut the bottom line. Michaud and her group said right away that a ban was not the right approach. They just wanted a better plan. More enforcement of current laws and more help from surrounding agencies.

“There are things that are problematic no matter how many people you have here,” she said. “There’s beach camping, there are sanitation issues. There are illegal fireworks. And that’s not tied to how many people are here. We threw in how many people were here and it became a real mess.”

Michaud has had several community meetings over the past year. Community members have made changes that visitors will see this year.

There are going to be a lot more eyes watching you, enforcing the rules. State Park Rangers will be looking for beach camping, which is illegal, and managing bonfires. An additional five to seven rangers are expected to be working.

The sheriff’s office has canceled all vacations. All deputies will be working overtime during the holiday. The chief deputy told me they are throwing everything they have at this year’s Fourth of July.

Long Beach police hired three new officers and are putting in overtime.

The one thing the group would still like to do is restrict the dates and times of fireworks sales, but that is still working its way through legislation. Fireworks sales will begin as normal on June 28.

You can also expect to see a lot more signs reminding you what you can and cannot do during your visit.

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