District Daily, Staff Infection

YUCKLAHOMA! LITTLE OKIE DISSES L.B. DOOKIE!

Dave WielengaThu. August 14
 

Seven paragraphs into Press-Telegram reporter Kelly Puente’s story on the latest closed-because-of-contamination of Long Beach’s shoreline comes perhaps the most-damning judgement yet of the local waterfront.

“Long Beach is a sewer,” said Kat Johnson, a 16-year-old who is visiting from Oklahoma.

Yes, Oklahoma!

And the teenaged Okie clearly knows her dookie. Long Beach’s waters were off limits Wednesday because 20,000 gallons of raw sewage leaked into Compton Creek, then into the Los Angeles River and then–thanks to a reconfiguration to steer it away from the Port of Long Beach–onto the city’s recreational beaches.

It was the fifth time this year that a sewage spill closed the local beaches, reports Puente. Three of the spills occurred outside of Long Beach and leaked down the L.A. River, but two apparently originated in the city.

  • Aw haaaaaaaaale no! Not that I'm defending our disgusting oceans, but I'm just saying: I've been to Oklahoma. At least our stench is limited primarily to one spot.
  • That should read "ocean" or "beaches." I do realize we only have the one ocean.
  • howardx
    i used to work for a biotech firm that made test kits for venereal diseases, of all the states we shipped to oklahoma bought the most kits by far. just sayin......
  • Mano Lamancha
    From the mouths of babes… well, she was asked for an opinion, and she gave it. Gotta respect the kid for that. Hopefully Long Beach leaders are paying attention to how out-of-staters perceive Long Beach’s waters.

    A Los Angeles Times headline of “Another Long Beach sewage spill forces beach closures” (08/13/08) doesn’t do much to help perceptions either – and is quite unfair, as the sewage spill actually occurred in Watts; Long Beach was just the downstream recipient of the wayward turds.

    I dunno, maybe this kind of negative publicity is just what Long Beach needs to spur its leaders to do something about the water quality out of embarrassment - but more likely they’ll be motivated by the potential loss of tourist dollars, as politicians seemed seldom shamed by anything.
  • heck, my kid swims in the water all summer long with LBJG and he's just fine...
    'course I did have to have him tested twice this summer for mysterious stomach ailments...
    Tell Okie to toughen up.
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