THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, June 5, 1994 TAG: 9406030270
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON PAGE: 04 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY BILL REED, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: 940605 LENGTH: Medium
It is a line of work that brings in $600,000 or more a year to the holder of a city franchise for the major portion of the resort beachfront. That includes revenues from the city for watching over bathers from Croatan to Fort Story and fees for renting beach umbrellas, chairs and Boogie Boards to tourists.
{REST} A one-time lieutenant on Ocean Rescue, now Virginia Beach Lifesaving Service and the largest of the bunch, Foxwell has been on his own since 1991 and seeks a larger slice of the pie.
He professed little interest in profits. Lifesaving is his primary goal, he insisted.
Foxwell said he is girding himself to launch yet another effort to win the franchise for the bulk of the resort beach now held by Virginia Beach Lifesaving until 1996.
His first effort in 1992, submitted under the signatures of two partners, was withdrawn because all three principals were and are city employees. The City Attorney's office ruled at the time that people employed by the city and bidding on municipal franchises or enterprises were in violation of state conflict-of-interest laws.
Foxwell, however, said he feels the bid failed because of behind-the-scenes scheming by his former employer, R.L. Kent Hinnant, captain and co-owner of Virginia Beach Lifesaving Service.
Hinnant, on the other hand, maintained that the bid submitted by the Foxwell group was patently illegal and was withdrawn by the authors at the insistence of the City Attorney's office, a fact confirmed by city procurement specialist John McConnell.
Animosity between the two began when Foxwell was fired from Hinnant's service in 1991 after nearly nine years as a lifeguard and lifeguard supervisor. The reasons both give for the firing: personal differences.
Foxwell, 34, has been a full-time city fire fighter since 1989 and runs a five-man lifeguard service at the Ramada Inn 57th Street during off-duty hours.
He is also president of the Virginia Beach Chapter of the United States Lifesaving Association, which includes 77 members from separate lifeguard services at the Cavalier Hotel at 42nd Street, Ramada 57th Street, Dam Neck, Sandbridge and Ocean View.
Hinnant's contingent of nearly 100 lifeguards is not a member of the chapter, although Hinnant said it has been a member of the national organization since 1983, when he organized a local chapter. His lifeguards are members of the Virginia Beach Lifeguard Association, a local group formed by their boss.
The two other principals in the franchise bid with Foxwell were Peter Langlands, an administrative analyst with the city's Department of Housing and Neighborhood Preservation, and George Acaraz, a planning technician with the city.
Foxwell has been in the lifeguard business since 1983, when he landed a summer job on the resort beach as a student at Virginia Tech. He said he and his group of lifeguards have sufficient experience and expertise to run an expanded service such as the one Hinnant now runs.
Like Hinnant's organization, Foxwell's lifeguard service would include a beach umbrella and chair rental business. However, he said, that would not be his main goal as manager of a major resort service.
``We're not out here to rent umbrellas and Boogie Boards,'' he said. ``We're out here to help somebody when they need it.''
Beach lifeguard services are basically divided into three parts. Hinnant's group oversees public beaches at Croatan, the resort beach from Rudee Inlet to 41st Street and at Fort Story. Foxwell's USLA chapter members guard beaches in Ocean View in Norfolk, at Dam Neck Fleet Combat Training Center, the former officer's club at 67th Street, the Cavalier Hotel at 42nd Street and the Ramada Inn at 57th Street.
A separate organization, Sandbridge Lifeguard Service, maintains a summer vigil with 16 to 18 guards at the Sandbridge public beach and at Little Island Park.
by CNB