Thursday, July 13, 2006

"Virginia is for Lovers" slogan soon to be updated

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"State officials want to make it easier for water lovers to find relief by building a floating restroom.

"The buoyed bathroom would be like a barge away from shore, said Anne Smith, a consultant with the Virginia Department of Health's Marina Program.

"'They could just park and get in.'

"Connie Barbour, a long time fisherman and an owner of Long Bay Pointe Bait and Tackle in Virginia Beach said he doubts that people would do that.

"Keeping the water clean is a priority, Long Bay Pointe's Barbour said, though he's not sold on the floating commodes. Many smaller vessels have portable toilets, he said, and parks and marinas provide toilets.

"In a hurricane, someone would have to pull the floating facility to shore, he said.

"'That would be the last thing you'd want flipped over,' he said.

"And, Barbour said, 'you'd be surprised how many people would get seasick trying to get in one of those places.'

"'We would try and locate it somewhere that didn't have a lot of current and wave action to try and minimize that,' [Smith] said."