Amendment will make crowding worse

To the editor,

We are writing to correct inaccuracies in the May 20 Sentry article “Council making moves to end dog-leash meetings.” In the second paragraph, the article incorrectly states that the council voted to amend the on-leash hours to 7–9 a.m. and 7–9 p.m.. In fact, as things currently stand, the existing off-leash hours of 7-9 a.m. will stay in place, while an amendment proposed in the last council meeting will change the existing 7-9 p.m. off-leash evening hours to 7–8 p.m. on-leash and 8-9 p.m. off-leash. This amendment will have a second reading/final vote at the June 7 council meeting. If approved, these changes will take effect on June 28.

SoPoDog opposes this amendment change, which will limit dog owners to three hours of summer off-leash time, some after sunset, vs. 12 hours with no dogs or leashed dogs only. One of the major expressed concerns about dogs on Willard Beach has been overcrowding, yet this amendment simply serves to crowd more off-leash dogs into fewer hours. This is exacerbated by the fact that for a good part of the summer, the 8-9 p.m. hours are after dark, which will push even more people into the popular morning off-leash hours.

To make matters worse, if this change is adopted, it will come into effect well after the May 1 commencement of the summer hours, almost halfway into the summer season. Last winter, the council made a similar change after the start of winter hours (which we note was also reported incorrectly in the local papers), and the result was mass confusion among dog owners and complaints about lack of enforcement of the new hours. This change is likely to result in even more confusion, especially as the beach sees more summer visitors who rely on outdated information published online.

We fervently hope that the title of the article comes true and that these dog-leash meetings are indeed coming to an end. We remind dog owners that our beach and parks are shared spaces, and that we share with even more people and dogs during our glorious Maine summer. Please model good dog and dog owner behavior for our community and our visitors.

Peggy Stewart

South Portland Dog Owners Group

City council ‘twists’ words to fit agenda

To the editor,

The South Portland City Council has declared racism a public health emergency. They are acting like an American Taliban. When they can’t win in the arena of ideas, they want to kill free speech by changing the meaning of words. Words like racism.

Instead of Webster’s definition, the council twists the real meaning to fit their political agenda. Then they can falsely accuse people, to shut down their speech. The city council, with its focus on race, is creating a problem where there isn’t one.

Frederick Douglass and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. encouraged Americans not to judge others by their race. Instead, judge others by their character. America is the most free and most beautiful place in the world. The city council is dividing people by race. They are racist. We won’t cover our faces and shut up. Freedom-lovers live by the rule-of-law and do not burn down our cities, cancel people, or shut down free speech.

Steve Gray

South Portland

Appreciate councilor’s perspective, courage

To the editor,

It is difficult to respond to both the general hostility directed at South Portland City Council members (“Anybody out there? Anybody care?”) and the very specific vitriolic targeting of one member (“Insulted and appalled by city council”) in the Letters to the editor of May 27, 2022.

Both letters are angry expressions of individuals who seem unaware of the distinction between white privilege and white supremacy. The former is one of entitlement, the latter racist ideology. We are a predominantly white city in the whitest state in the country. It should not be surprising that our city ordinances contain non-inclusive language and discriminatory biases.

Councilor Leighton’s reasoning regarding changes to the existing dog ordinance is not an attack on dogs or dog owners. In the case of Willard Beach, the city’s only public beach, among other considerations, she is mindful of people who have experienced attack dogs and/or who culturally do not consider dogs family members.

I very much appreciate Councilor Leighton’s perspective and her courage in speaking out. She is not intimidated by personal attacks from individuals or attacks from SoPoDog (The South Portland Dog Owners Group Steering Committee). Reasonable people support her.

Diane Gotelli
South Portland