from http://www.delmarvanow.com/
By Jon Bleiweis
January 15, 2012
DEWEY BEACH — The Dewey Defense Fund Committee — a 13-person group that is helping raise funds for legal fees for the four property owners suing the town and Dewey Beach Enterprises regarding the approval of the Ruddertowne project — has announced it is “getting close” to reaching its initial fundraising goal of $50,000.
While committee members refused to say how much money has been raised, co-chair Joan Claybrook said the numbers are changing every day.
“Getting close to $50,000 means getting close to $50,000,” she said.
The group was formed when the complaint was filed Aug. 15.
“When the lawsuit was filed, obviously we needed to have money,” said Claybrook, who filed the March 25 petition with the town’s Board of Adjustment to review the approved mutual agreement and release.
Lead plaintiff Tony Murray, who wrote the letter, said the group is pleased with the results.
“Through their generous donations, the property owners and friends of Dewey Beach are renouncing the (Mutual Agreement and Release) and the tactics of fear and intimidation employed by Dewey Beach Enterprises during the last five years,” he said. “Our supporters are delivering the emphatic message, ‘Dewey Beach is not for sale.’ ”
Murray wrote that the group is confident in its attorney, Michael McDermott of Berger Harris.
They say their case is first rate and they will prevail.
“The Dewey Defense Fund Committee believes the result of our first fundraising appeal, combined with last September’s re-election of Diane Hanson as mayor and the election of new Commissioners (Anna) Legates and (Joy) Howell, sends a strong signal that there is little public support for the Mutual Agreement and Release authorizing a 45-foot building on the Ruddertowne site,” he said.
In the letter, Murray said 2012 will be “a watershed year for all of us who have resisted the development plans for the Ruddertowne complex” and this campaign for financial support will deliver “an emphatic message” to the defendants.
“I don’t know about you, but I am offended that the majority of our commissioners, two of whom were voted out of office in 2011, felt so powerful that they could ignore the will of 86 percent of the voters who want our 35-foot height limit maintained,” the letter reads.
The money being raised in this campaign goes to paying for the lawsuit and communicating with donors, Murray said.
jbleiweis@dmg.gannett.com
302-537-1881, ext. 208