SANTA ROSA BEACH — The Walton County Board of County Commissioners on Tuesday approved the creation of a beach safety advisory group, a fact-finding body that will report to the commission on potential new ways of addressing beach safety issues.
Comprising at least representatives of the Walton County Sheriff's Office, the South Walton Fire District, the county's Code Compliance and Emergency Management offices and the Walton County Tourist Development Council (TDC), creation of the working group comes as the county recently has seen four drownings in the Gulf of Mexico among visitors, and ongoing issues with people disregarding double-red flag warnings that signal dangerous surf conditions have closed the Gulf's waters.