J
History on the Oregon law here, passed in 3 B.W. (before whale).
https://www.opb.org/news/article/history-oregon-tom-mccall-public-beaches/
While California has public beaches, they have private beaches as well. In Oregon the entire coastline is public.
https://www.californiabeaches.com/california-state-beaches/
Looks like WA is the same, public/private mix.
My favorite part of the video is the little old lady voice going “Here come pieces of… whale!”
“I’m the 8 ton whale that washed up on your beach and when the local highway department tries to make me go away with 1/2 ton of TNT, your cut rate insurance might not cover a 700 pound slab of me trashing your passenger compartment.”
Cue Farmers… “We’ve seen a lot of things…”
Oh, man, have I got a story for you…
If that link doesn’t work… In 1970 an 8 ton dead gray whale washed up on the beach in Florence.
Now, in Oregon, all the beaches are public beaches, under the control of the highway department, and they didn’t know how to remove a dead whale.
So they packed it with 1/2 a ton of dynamite and blew it up thinking the seagulls and crabs would eat the bits remaining.