Editor:

An answer to Dave Canarie, Mary Connolly and, of course, Gary Crosby who I see has transferred his “scare campaign” from the blogs to the newspaper!

The part that Mr. Canarie has missed in his citing of CDC Web sites is the advisory that says:  “This fact sheet is for information only and is not meant to be used for self-diagnosis or as a substitute for consultation with a health care provider. If you have any questions about the diseases described above or think that you may have a parasitic infection, consult a health care provider”

 There are no records of people and/or children (including my grandchildren) becoming sick from visits to Willard Beach.

The animal control officer has reported to the task force committee there are little or no problems with dogs off leash at Willard Beach. There are also no records of dog bites or dog attacks from the beach.

Mr. Crosby wants the South Portland public to think that conditions at Willard Beach are rife with dog excreta and people being jumped on by dogs, nothing is further from the truth as a visit to the beach would confirm. 

Mr. Crosby likes to describe the doctor as “biased” because “he’s a beach front property owner who wants to walk his dog on the beach in the summer.” Does anybody of reasonable intelligence think that a doctor would impugn his professional reputation and give biased and/or false information to a public body in order for his dog to walk on the beach?  If you wish to refute his findings, so be it, but you must have the necessary scholarship and qualifications to do so. 

It is also his contention that “six months on and six months off “ is reasonable. Reasonable to whom? Tax paying citizens? Well I pay taxes, along with many other dog owners, and “six months on and six months off “ means I can not go to the public beach at all with my dogs during the summer. 

Dog owners’ access to Willard Beach has been whittled down over the years from full access, a number of years ago, to now four hours of the 15 hours a day the beach is open during the summer. With the rules now there is an hour (6 a.m. to 7 a.m.) for early risers to be on the beach with out dogs being present. There are then 10 hours (9 a.m. to 7 p.m.) for people, who are nervous about or dislike dogs, to be at the beach without  dogs’ presence. I think the time for dogs to be on the beach “is not too much to ask for, it’s fair, reasonable” and was enacted by the city council after extensive work shops and city council meetings involving evidence from both sides of the question.

The problem with a referendum about dog access to Willard Beach is that it will probably be decided by two factors :

1) The side with the most appealing PR.

2) The number of South Portland citizens who like or do not like dogs.

Unfortunately neither one of these factors have anything to do with access for dogs to Willard  Beach.

Anthony Young

South Portland