To the Editor:
I have been wondering when Pat Wright would re emerge from her home at Kings Creek Country Club to take up the cause of Dewey Beach Enterprises again.
When I first read her letter to the editor last week, “ Outside Dewey interests need to pack bags” I thought she was talking about herself. Since she doesn’t live in Dewey and only owns commercial property here, it is not surprising that she favors commercial developers.
What is surprising is that she attacks the homeowners here who also own homes elsewhere and yet love Dewey so much they volunteer hundreds of hours to work for the town. She filed ethics charges three years ago against volunteers trying to serve the town, including Commissioner Diane Hanson who has served this town selflessly and bravely, charges later dismissed. Pat Wright also attacked David King, who was later recognized for his outstanding service and named Volunteer of the Year. Why would a former mayor do that? Unfortunately, Pat speaks out for Dewey Beach Enterprises who has sued the town five times, and also for commissioners who sexually harass their colleagues. She contributes to the Alice in Wonderland fantasy that somehow Dewey Beach Enterprises ( DBE) is the victim rather than the aggressor. The facts say otherwise.
A number of us who have homes elsewhere spend more time in Dewey Beach than “ fulltime” residents who spend much of the year in the Bahamas or Florida. Property owners from Newark and Wilmington and Philadelphia and Washington, D. C. serve on town committees in Dewey year round, and if we didn’t, we wouldn’t have the results or the volunteer spirit that makes this town so special. We work side by side together, property owners from all areas, making Dewey a great East Coast beach town.
When the nor’easters strike, we’re the ones calling our neighbors who are away and worried about their properties flooding, whether those neighbors are “ locals” who happen to be in Florida or Wilmington or part time residents. We all join together to decorate town beach fences, organize holiday parties to promote festive spirit and pull weeds for town beautification. It takes all of us working together to make the town special and it shows. The town has some issues like noise, public intoxication, litter and a little too much partying, but most of us like the live entertainment here and enjoy the big venues as well as the small ones.
By far the most important issue here is that over 86 percent of the town’s voters voted to keep our height limit at 35 feet. A month ago, almost a hundred locals and out of town owners spent three hours at a town meeting to support the town commissioners in strengthening the 35 foot ordinance. Whatever our other differences, we are all united in preserving a beach town we live in and love. Unfortunately, we have one citizen here who doesn’t want to be a good neighbor. DBE wants to violate two of the town’s laws by building a 68 foot hotel. We now have five lawsuits against the town from a bully who doesn’t respect our laws. Who do you stand with? It’s not too late to join with us and ask big and small, in town and out of town property owners to respect our laws.
Joy Howell Dewey Beach