By DONALD WITTKOWSKI
Anne Organ recalled Sea Isle City’s reputation as a raucous bar town in the 1990s – when rowdy groups of partiers would turn vacation rental homes into noisy “animal houses” disturbing the neighborhoods.
But things began to calm down when Organ and other Sea Isle residents banded together to form the Town Watch/Town Pride community group and successfully lobbied city officials to establish “Noise Free Zones” to restore peace and quiet.
All these years later, the 77-year-old Organ was the lone remaining member of Town Watch/Town Pride. She said she had no choice but to disband the group after she tried, but couldn’t, recruit new members.
“I couldn’t find anyone else to join,” she lamented in an interview Saturday. “It was only one or two of us left.”
But as a parting gesture, a $1,318 donation on behalf of Town Watch/Town Pride has been made to the city. Organ said the money is what was left over from the group’s membership dues.
The money will go toward the purchase of a drone for the Sea Isle Police Department, Mayor Leonard Desiderio said.
“Our Town Watch/Town Pride organization has graciously donated over $1,300 to the city. We are grateful for this generous donation and want to extend our thanks and appreciation to Town Watch/Town Pride,” Desiderio said.
Organ said she spoke with Mike Jargowsky, Sea Isle’s coordinator of emergency management, about the leftover money and he suggested that a drone would be a good purchase.
“He said a drone would be great. In case of flooding, they could send it out,” Organ said.
Sea Isle, a low-lying island, is vulnerable to flooding in coastal storms and unusually high tides. A drone would give the police department a bird’s-eye view of flooding in real time as it develops around the island.
Police departments around the country also use drones as a crime-fighting tool.
Long before drones became common, Sea Isle’s Town Watch/Town Pride group would keep an eye on things around town. Members would drive around looking for suspicious activity, calling police when they would spot open windows or doors in someone’s home during the off-season months.
Organ believes the group started in the 1990s, around the time Sea Isle was dealing with its former “bar town” reputation.
“In the ’90s, it was a bar town. Young people just came to drink. I was on 39th Street, in the heart of the bar zone,” she said of her house.
Starting in the 1990s, members of the Town Watch/Town Pride group began urging city officials to crack down on the loud “animal houses” by creating Noise Free Zones throughout town, Organ said.
“They got the city to make different streets quiet zones,” she recalled.
Organ said one of the first Noise Free Zones was established on 39th Street near her home.
“I had an animal house beside me,” she said.
Violators of the Noise Free Zones risked getting hauled into court and slapped with fines. Organ said members of Town Watch/Town Pride would go to court to monitor the cases involving excessive noise.
The Noise Free Zones still exist in Sea Isle. Town Watch/Town Pride has partnered with the police department over the years to see that the noise laws were enforced, Organ said.
“We were always connected to the police, and they always helped us with the noise,” she said.
Through her community involvement, Organ has become a well-known Sea Isle resident. Her family has had a home in Sea Isle since 1949.
Organ stays on top of local government affairs by regularly attending City Council meetings, often asking questions or making comments about city business.
For her, old habits die hard. Although the Town Watch/Town Pride group has been disbanded, Organ still keeps an eye out for anything she considers unusual or suspicious.
“I still do that when I’m walking around, if I see something that doesn’t look right,” she said.
