A LONG-TIME American visitor to the island said he was horrified at the state of one of Bermuda's most beautiful South Shore beaches - and he said Bermuda needs to get a hold of its garbage problem before it's too late.

New Jersey residents Joe and Mary Severino have been coming to Bermuda for six years. On Thursday afternoon, in the middle of a Mid-Ocean News interview at the fouled Warwick Long Bay beach with former Works & Engineering Minister Quinton Edness, Mr. Severino approached with the question: "Gee, why is everything such a mess?"

The visitor's unprompted anguish at the condition of the beach underscores the problem Mr. Edness wants to see addressed - its deteriorating state. Mr. Edness wrote a letter to The Royal Gazette on Wednesday, begging Government to address the piles of seaweed, garbage and horse manure lining the sand.

Yesterday Mr. Severino said: "I've never seen the seaweed this heavy. And there is a lot of trash, cans and bottles on the beach. This is definitely putting a damper on my day at the beach."

Mr. Severino runs American Promotional Packages, a marketing and advertising company. He said he and his wife Mary wouldn't go anywhere but Bermuda for their vacations.

"Normally, we feel more comfortable in Bermuda than we do at home," Mr. Severino said. "But seeing all this garbage makes me feel like I could have stayed home and gone to a beach with garbage and 3,000 people."

Mr. Severino said Bermuda has changed in the last three years with the garbage situation getting worse all over the island.

"It is a real shame to let it go like this," he said. "You could get a handle on the problem the way it is now, but if you let it go it will become a major job to clean up."

Mr. Edness said he is disappointed at Government's lack of care for Warwick Long Bay.

"Lots of people use the beach," Mr. Edness said. "Horseshoe Bay is so crowded, but as soon as summer comes in people around here love to use Warwick Long Bay. It's normally a very pretty beach.

"More people would probably use it if it had the kind of facilities that Horseshoe Bay has, showers and that kind of thing, but maybe it is quieter because it lacks the facilities."

He said many families use the beach, because it is safer than some of the other beaches.

"I've spent years trying to get someone to clean it regularly," he said. "At Horseshoe Bay they have a machine that clears the beach and buries the seaweed. I'm not so upset about the seaweed. That is a natural thing, but recently, a lot of junk has been coming in with it."

In his letter to The Royal Gazette, Mr. Edness said he had seen "junk of all descriptions" including needles, bottles, plastic water containers, horse manure, and cans among other things on the beach.

"It doesn't seem fair when other beaches are cleaned, we (in Warwick) have to suffer," he said. "We pay our taxes too."

He said horseriding on the beach is a particular problem.

"They are not suppsed to ride on the beach in the summer time, but you still see horse droppings all over the beach," Mr. Edness said.

He said in the past he had been told that the Government didn't clean there, because they couldn't get the beach cleaning machines onto Warwick Long Bay.

"It would be a simple matter to open a passage through the dunes," he said. "Or it could be a great job for the prisoners to come down and clean up the beach. It would count as community service or something."

And he said there were other problems at the beach, such as dangerous and unrepaired footpaths.

"There is at least a two foot drop between the tarmac and the path to the beach," he said. "It is a gap caused by erosion. A person could break their ankle going down there."

Mr. Edness wrote in his letter: "I believe the beaches come under the Ministry of the Environment and are administered by the Parks department. Perhaps when the new minister (Neletha Butterfield) settles in she will remember to help us out at Long Bay Warwick and in the summertime in particular, cause the beach needs to be kept clean for the locals and tourists. It is after all, one of the most beautiful beaches in the world when it is kept clean."