WILDWOOD — Holding a plastic bag filled with a blob, that at one time were paintballs, in one hand and a paintball gun, or marker, in the other, Gary Rutkowski questioned if the city approved plans for a paintball game on the beach, was it also ready for the clean-up and would-be-players traversing the sand with guns.
Rutkowski, who operates a paintball game on the boardwalk, told this reporter July 10 that he objects to the idea of mixing the beach with the game of paintball.
“I’m fine with having more competition up and down the boardwalk,” Rutkowski noted. “But not on the beach. That’s where it gets dangerous.”
“It isn’t a simple process to clean up, especially when this stuff leaks into the sand,” he said while gesturing to a gallon of paintball formula.
“And on top of that,” he added, “you’ll have kids walking across the boardwalk and onto the beach with guns. If this is anything like a tournament style, people will be bringing their own equipment.”
Daniel Wismer, of Shoot ‘n Scoot Paintball, who has plans to bring paintball to this city’s beaches, initially envisioned four paintball courses where teams would compete against each other in 20-minute sets.
The markers, Wismer said he would use, would be calibrated to shoot three balls per second as far as 300 feet. His company would also provide safety gear, inflatable barricades for the course and employ referees to make sure the games were conducted properly.
Despite the safety assurances, Mayor Ernie Troiano said he was worried about wayward gamers using tourists for target practice.
Troiano said that he wasn’t even going to consider the proposal unless a type of netting was installed over the courses.
Wismer asked commissioners at the last meeting what else he needs to do in order to handle potential concerns.
Commissioner Bill Davenport asked about Wismer’s plan when the sun goes down.
“I think you are going to need some sort of light source out there,” Davenport said.
Wismer responded that he had planned on shutting down when the sun sets, but would investigate the use of generators.
Gesturing to the plastic bag filled with a collection of old paintballs, Wismer noted that his team was going to rake up any ammunition left behind in the sand.
But Troiano said he was concerned about the residue getting buried in the sand.
When asked about the approximate time that it would take the paintballs to completely biodegrade, Wismer told commissioners that a rainstorm would totally wash it away.
Despite the rather lengthy list of concerns, Wismer said he wasn’t discouraged.
Although, with all the planning that still needs to be done, he said that this season probably won’t come to fruition.
Cape May – Governor Murphy says he doesn't know anything about the drones and doesn't know what they are doing but he does know that they are not dangerous. Does anyone feel better now?
