Residents by San Marcos River seek remedy for tubers’ transgressions
From the banks of his San Marcos River Retreat, a sprawling campground that includes Cowboy Chapel, Tom Goynes can spot the thousands of inner-tubers who float by his property on a summer weekend.
He has a view of “shotgun cove” — the spot where, he says, tubers are fond of collecting and shot-gunning beer. He can hear, from his home hundreds of yards from the river, “filthy- worded rap music” and he can point out the pic-
nic tables where inebriated teens, trespassing on the property from the river, have been known to have sex.
On the eve of Labor Day weekend, Goynes was one of many property owners along a several-mile-long stretch of the San Marcos just upstream of Martindale who are pushing for governmental relief to a situation they say is out of control. Aligned against them are the tubing outfitters, who say they already are paying for off-duty police officers to patrol the river and for a cleaning company to skim the riverbed for sunken beer cans.
The tussle on the San Marcos is the latest version of an issue that has played out on a handful of Central Texas waterways — one that gets at questions of property rights, water safety, environmental protection and business regulation.
Law unenforceable
Last year, a district court judge ruled that New Braunfels’ ban on disposable containers and large coolers on rivers within city limits is unconstitutional and that the city cannot enforce it. The city said the rule had cut down trash in the river by more than 90 percent, but the judge agreed with the recreation outfitters who argued the rule was too vague, left too much discretion to police officers and infringed on the public’s right to use state waterways.
The ruling meant that tubers and other people floating the Guadalupe and Comal rivers again could use disposable containers, such as beer cans, within city limits.
Nearly 30 years ago, the Legislature created the Water Oriented Recreation District of Comal County, a taxing district along the Guadalupe that helps pay for police and cleanup efforts along the river and Canyon Lake.
Goynes and others say the regulation of other waterways has pushed more of the action to this stretch of the San Marcos, which is within a 20-minute drive of Texas State University.
“It’s basically a tailgate party,” said Goynes, who says he has to shut down his campground during much of the summer or instructs Boy Scouts and church groups to go out on the river only in the mornings, to avoid witnessing the flashing for Jell-O shots and beer. “You can’t do this on a state highway or Capitol grounds. This river is state property. Why do we allow it?”
As they turn to the government for help, they haven’t gotten much traction. This past session, a bill to create a recreation- al district along the San Marcos River died.
The measure, which was passed by the state Senate but never reached the House floor, would have allowed voters in Caldwell and Guadalupe counties to create a district authorized to enact ordinances and collect rental equipment fees to protect the health and safety of the river and its users.
Tourism concerns
The bill was opposed by tubing companies, the Wholesale Beer Distributors of Texas, the Texas Travel Industry Association and the Schlitterbahn water park.
“We’re always concerned about laws that have a chilling effect on tourism in general,” said Winter Prosapio, director of government relations for Schlitterbahn.
Craig Coleman, owner of RKY, a tubing company that operates out of Don’s Fish Camp, says he and his competitor, Texas State Tubes, have pooled together thousands of dollars to pay for cleanup and off-duty officers along the river.
He said his company posts a rules-of-the-river board at the tubing expedition point and that staff members instruct tubers not to discard items into the river. He said his company provides trash bags, as well.
“We tell them to please be respectful on the river, to limit their music, to clean up as much as possible and to stay in the river,” he said. “We’re trying to educate customers and eliminate the problem.”
Goynes says that most tubers are perfectly well-behaved, and Coleman said his company has received compliments from landowners.
But law enforcement officials say they are struggling to maintain order in the river.
Caldwell County Sheriff Daniel Law told lawmakers in April that in 2014, his officers responded to 1,151 calls on the river, 80 percent of which involved drunkenness. Calls included disorderly conduct, rape and death, he said.
“We need some help for people along the river,” Law said.
The property owners’ best hope might come from a task force proposed last month by the Texas Parks and Wildlife Commission.
“We’ve heard you. This is very distressing to know a natural place is being trashed like it is,” Commissioner Ralph Duggins told landowners. “We’d like to help, but we have limited authority” because the river is not a state park.
Parks and Wildlife Chairman Dan Friedkin said he would suggest that the Texas House speaker and lieutenant governor study the issue before the next legislative session.