2 Parks Declared Off-Limits to Sailors

For the first time in several years, Navy officials have declared two San Diego parks off-limits to sailors because of widespread violence and drug peddling.

The Armed Forces Disciplinary Board banned sailors from frequenting the Southeast Athletic Field at 45th Street and Logan Avenue and the parking area of South Mission Beach Park, in the 600 block of Mission Boulevard.

“Yes, it’s a little bit like playing Mom and Dad, but on the other hand, in good conscience, I have to protect the sailors,” said Adm. John W. Adams.

According to regulations, a top-ranking official can declare an area or an establishment out of bounds “to help maintain good discipline and an appropriate level of good health, morale, safety, morals and welfare” of personnel. And an “off-limits” proclamation can refer to “any vehicle, conveyance, place, structure, building or area.”

For years, local officials have maintained an off-limits list that consisted mostly of brothels, massage parlors and stores that trafficked in drug or sex-related paraphernalia. The Navy has also imposed restrictions on sailors visiting certain areas, such as Tijuana, where petty officers 2nd class and below in rank are prohibited from visiting between dusk and dawn.

But an entire area has not been totally banned since the early 1970s, when a pier at Imperial Beach was declared off-limits because of drug dealing, said Cmdr. Doug Schamp, a Navy spokesman.

The bans are enforced by the honor system. But a sailor arrested during a drug raid of an off-limits area, for instance, would be charged by police and also punished by the Navy for violating an off-limits order.

After compiling tips from local authorities, the Armed Forces Disciplinary Board, a group of about 40 Navy lawyers and commanding officers, establishes the off-limits list. Six months ago, a commanding officer complained that a number of his sailors were being robbed as they traversed the Southeast Athletic Field. After studying the area and conferring with city police, the board decided to ban the two parks.

“Everyone said there’s no reason for a sailor to want to go there,” Schamp said. “There’s no good thing to do there.”