100-Year-Old Badge Checker Has Been Working Spring Lake's Beach For Decades
SPRING LAKE, N.J. (CBSNewYork) -- Dottie Weierman is somewhat of a legend down the shore in Spring Lake.
As CBS2's Steve Langford reported, she has worked as a beach badge checker for more than 40 years. When her boss hired her, she was was the only woman.
"When he fired the man he said, 'Dottie, you go in and sell the tickets until we find a man," she recalled.
She never left her beach hut, and this year Dottie celebrated a major milestone.
"It's a big secret, but yes she is 100," Borough Administrator, Bryan Dempsey said.
Still working the boardwalk at 100-years-old.
"Unusual you get to meet someone 100-years-old, very unusual that the person you meet is still working every day and Dottie always calls when she is not working to see if she can get a shift, because she loves the beach and Spring Lake," Dempsey said.
Daily beach tags currently cost $10, back in the 1970s when Dottie started a badge cost $2.50. Her salary back then was $1 an hour.
Brown Ave beachgoers have grown up knowing Dottie.
"Since 1973 actually I've known Dottie," Cheryl Castro said.
"She is very strict, but she has to be. That's her job and she does it well," Susan Nitti said.
Dottie is not teaching the younger ones the rules of her beach hut.
"Very tight ship. Not too many people get by Dottie," co-worker Mark Jarmon said.
"They don't dare go on the beach without a badge.
Dottie has worked as a crossing guard during the school year for just as long. It seems the ocean air has done her well.
The township does not let Dottie work if it is hotter than 90 degrees.
