Here’s my plea to the Scarborough Town Council and Ad Hoc Committee with regard to the task of establishing an acceptable leash ordinance in Scarborough: Please remember that an overwhelming majority of voters voted to overturn the extremely restrictive ordinance that the council voted to enact. Please review all the facts, and not just the one fact that one dog killed a plover on Pine Point Beach this past July.

There are many reasons why plovers are on the endangered species list including overbuilding, crowded beaches, fireworks, higher tides and more importantly, other predatory animals. Please help the dog owners to enforce the laws that are currently in effect, which to date have not been enforced by our town.

With the threat of losing off-leash beach time, you can bet the dog community will all be out and on the prowl for any offenders. As you have seen through our campaign to overturn the ordinance, we are not a quiet bunch, and we will stand up to those who are not obeying the ordinance. That you can bet on. The dog community is willing to work with the town to make the current ordinance work so we can all enjoy our beaches together, along with our dogs.

Please keep the current ordinance as is and help us to enforce it. That is the way the people voted. Thank you.

Dory Hoy

Scarborough