By Roger Bütow
“Much mahalos” to retiring Marine Safety Chief Kevin Snow, who answered the call of duty for 44 years, basically his entire working adulthood. Like police and firemen, lifeguards also “serve and protect.”
My non-governmental organization, or NGO, now simplified to Clean Water Now, was happy to share the road with Kevin these last 27 years since it was founded. A little-known fact is that the Laguna Beach Lifeguard Association was a member of the (then) Clean Water Now! Coalition’s beach cleanup programs.
We gladly included the lifeguard association’s logo in our press releases, ads and event promos. Under the California Coastal Commission’s sponsorship umbrella, I was honored to be named a certified South Orange County supervisor for beach cleanup programs.
From 2000 to 2012, the Clean Water Now! Coalition performed over 80 Adopt-A-Beach cleanups from China Cove in Corona Del Mar down to San Clemente. When we started, no other organization regularly scheduled cleanups, just random ones.
We also hosted International Coastal Cleanup Day on the third Saturday in September every year and focused primarily on Laguna Beach. It took me a year or two to realize that one singular, centralized contact and dispatching location at Main Beach wasn’t getting the job done.
With the help of our new family of eager friends, we expanded our coverage and eventually created six or seven stations evenly distributed along our coast for the annual clean-up event.
We couldn’t have had the tremendous success we did without the coordination and cooperation of our Marine Safety Department, not just for our annual clean-up day but also for our Adopt-A-Beach ones.
Public awareness and education eventually led to less littering and a decrease in our reported trash volumes over those 12-plus years. The now-defunct Laguna Beach Chapter of Surfrider helped establish initial credibility and benefited our networking.
When Chief Mark Klosterman retired in 2009, at the appreciation dinner attended by hundreds at Tivoli Too, we gave him a scroll declaring him an honorary lifetime board member of CWN!C.
We remain close friends to this day. Having never assisted in a ceremonial paddle out, I recently turned to Mark for guidance. He helped me network and organize the June 1 memorial for one of Laguna’s iconic surfing legends, Corky Smith.
I touched base with then-Interim Chief Kai Bond, just as I did our Fire and Police Department Chiefs. I gave all three a one-month advance notice, a courtesy “heads up.”
If you didn’t know it, anytime you host an event with a possible large crowd at a street end, on the beach and/or in the water, where a possible injury or mishap could occur, notifying these three should be “pro forma.” A coordinated, practical and respectful outreach approach.
I’ve known native Kai since he clocked in, just a year or so before CWN!C was formed. He’s always been the same gracious, personable and firmly committed guard.
Props and kudos to the city of Laguna Beach for promoting from within, just as it did in Chief Jeff Calvert’s situation. Both were excellent choices.
If some of you “haoles” didn’t know it, in Hawaiian, “ma” means facing or towards, and “kai” means sea. So, how appropriate is that? Maybe his folks named him that intentionally.
Regardless, he bears the name of his love and dedicated passion, such a great front door to one’s workplace, the Pacific, huh? In Persian, “Kai” means king, but he’s not affectatious. Since meeting him, he’s always been not only very approachable but quite humble.
Through education and prevention, over the years, our lifeguards have ramped up their reaction to emergency response timelines, reflected the core values of our waterman tribe with honor and dignity, and continue to extend that serve and protect tradition going back to 1929.
Mark, Kevin and Kai have been integral in transitioning from old-school guarding, with little technological assistance or infrastructure (like our recent acquisitions of jet skis and a boat), to where we are today.
Another Hawaiian word seems to fit in this instance: “Aloha,” which can mean both a welcome “hello” or a sincere, heartfelt “goodbye.”
“Aloha, Kevin,” I hope your golden years are plentiful and joyous.
“Aloha Kai,” knowing you’ll perform as Kevin and Mark did before you: The torch is being passed. We know that in the tradition of your predecessors, you and your command staff will keep us all safe, proud and Laguna strong.
Roger E. Bütow moved to Laguna Beach in 1972. A former general contractor, he is a professional land use and regulatory compliance analyst specializing in environmental and construction-related advisory services.
