‘Hands Across the Sands’ from OB to the World

Hands across the sands at Ocean Beach, June 26, 2010. All photos by Kelly McD.

At least 80 people left the OB Street Fair on Saturday, June 26th, to join the “Hands across the sands” movement. They literally crossed the beach and linked hands with each other at the ocean’s edge to form a human wall against any further off-shore oil drilling.  The line stretched from close to the pier all the way past the lifeguard station.

Some of the "hippies" that were attracted to this event, according to SDNN.

The OB event was one of over 800 such happenings across the country, and it was coordinated by Mike James.

Here’s the report of the movement by Mike Lee of the Union-Tribune:

The epic oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico has turned a Florida-based beach rally into a large-scale international protest against offshore oil drilling. Organizers of the Hands Across the Sand campaign said tens of thousands of people participated in more than 800 related events Saturday, including 16 in San Diego County.

They hoped to create an iconic image — people of all ages and races holding hands to oppose what they view as a dirty and dangerous industry.

“We don’t want more offshore drilling. We want clean energy,” said Bill Hickman, coordinator of Surfrider Foundation’s San Diego chapter, which organized a demonstration at Pacific Beach that drew more than 200 people. Similar events took place in Oceanside, Carlsbad, La Jolla, Encinitas, Ocean Beach and Mission Beach.

For the remainder of the article, go here.

But what’s with SDNN (San Diego News Network)? Check out their headline and report on the same event:

Here’s their headline:

‘Hands Across the Sand’ attracts SD hippies against BP oil spill

Protesters in La Jolla, Oceanside, Pacific Beach, Mission Beach, Encinitas and — yep, you guessed it — Ocean Beach joined hippies across America on Saturday to hold hands in an effort to end offshore drilling. ….

(Ed: there’s more to their article, but we’re weirded out by their headline too much to provide the link. Okay, here it is – see for yourself.)

SDNN makes it sound like only “hippies” would be drawn to some event like this. And they report it in a disparaging way.  “… yep, you guessed it – Ocean Beach joined hippies across American ….” (For some reason of late, SDNN has been dissing Ocean Beach.)

For the record, SDNN, it wasn’t just hippies who lined up in the sand on Saturday. Get your facts straight. This is a worthwhile movement, a serious movement, more worthy than you make it.

Nearly one hundred people linked hands to protest off-shore oil drilling in Ocean Beach, June 26, 2010, while the annual Street Fair was going on.