Mookie Makes More News Than Muck : Trade of Mets Player Tops Catalina Beach Closure After Spill

They had a sewage spill that closed the main beach to swimmers on Santa Catalina Island for a day, but that wasn’t the hot news in Avalon on Thursday.

“Forget the spill,� scowled Joe Ortiz over a beer at Luau Larry’s, a bar just off the city’s harbor beach. “Here’s the real scoop--the Mets are done. They trade Mookie Wilson. Can you believe it? They traded my main man, Mooooooooooooookie.�

A friend, Bob Ferguson, nodded gravely. “Terrible,� he concluded, “just terrible.�

Along the sand, just about anything, including the dispatched Mets outfielder, seemed a far more significant topic for talk than the 200-gallon sewage spill that closed the main quarter-mile beach on Wednesday.

Precautionary Measure

“If you blinked, you missed the closure,� one city worker said.

The beach was closed as a precautionary measure by city officials after raw sewage flowed into the harbor of the idyllic town of 2,000. The sewage was traced to the Casino building, where corrective measures were being taken.

City Manager Chuck Prince had predicted that the swimming ban probably would be lifted by the weekend.

But at dawn Thursday, the beach was reopened after Prince announced that water-quality tests indicated that the waters were once again safe for swimming.

“Big news, eh?� asked Wayne Griffin, executive director of the Catalina Island Chamber of Commerce. “I didn’t even get one call about it.�

Across the way at Eric’s on the Pier, a burger stand that features buffalo burgers, a vacationing pair from New Jersey, John Doyle and Pete Adams, hooted at a reporter’s question.

‘What a Sight’

“Listen, we went out on a glass-bottom boat,� Doyle said in between bites of his buffalo burger. “I didn’t see nothing except the beautiful bottom of the ocean. What a sight.�

Adams glanced out over the harbor and shook his head. “I’m from New Jersey, where we lead the world in junk on the beach--beer cans, Pampers, all kinds of crud,� Adams said. “To me, this is beautiful.�

A short distance away, there was no hesitation about the water as two brothers from Huntington Beach and a cousin from New Jersey romped in the surf.

“Hey, this water is cold,� said Mike Freedman, 11, of Huntington Beach.

One sunbather, Mike Trujillo, 22, of Sun Valley, said he had an easy solution for Wednesday’s closure. “Do you know that there are 54 miles of beach in this place?� he asked matter of factly. “We just went to another beach on the other side of the island. No problems there.�