To the editor:

An answer to Terry Otey about his opinion on Diking District 1:

Excuse me, all those calculations, an inch here, an inch there and pretty soon you are talking about some serious real wetland drainage. Where will the drained polluted water go?

It will go directly into the delicate ecosystem of Deer Lagoon. Both Deer Lagoon and Useless Bay are becoming more shallow.

Also, this is about three people (Diking District 1), who have not been legally elected by anyone but themselves, telling Island County that they had better assess a few home owners of Sunlight Beach Road to pay for a $450,000 pump (plus future maintenance costs). This pump really will only benefit the three Diking District 1 commissioners.

Dah! Wake up. If Mr. Otey wants so called progress and safety, then why does he not have a highway built next to his home?

Otey does not see the problem because the pump, draining wetlands and future development of the area does not affect him in the least. He is not paying one thin dime in assessments nor does he seem to care about the future of Deer Lagoon and Useless Bay. It is easy for one to advise others when they are not affected by the problem. He should put a little skin in the game ($10,000 + future expenses + future development).

Let me guess, he has lived on the Island for probably 10 years and is well-liked. I have lived here for 60-plus years. A storm in 1998, I wonder how we made it. Let me look. We are still here. That was really close. What about other storms?

The dike was built to create the farm lands.

People, like my parents, in 1948 purchased sand lots on a beach and then built a summer cabin for their family. They had no idea that the land would be as valuable as it is now. All they knew is that it was beautiful.

Our families for generations after us will still be here. We all love the Island. We all love the beach. We all grew up with the freedom of roaming the dikes and back fields. We love our home and we are not going away. We do not want it destroyed and polluted by a poorly advised pump project.

Why won’t they wait for the Department of Ecology water test results before installing a huge pump? What is the rush?

Also, what about all this safety from a flood stuff? That is like Safeco Field saying no more outside the park street vendors because of the health risk to the people. It is phony and transparent as the day is long.

Where is all this water coming from? It seems to me that it comes from the hills of the Useless Bay Golf & Country Club, Sun Vista and Olympic View Manor.

Another point is about the tide gates failing, so what! They have not been maintained at all for the last eight years. Then, last month there was a flurry of activity and now miraculously, they work just fine. Maybe they could even be updated with newer technology.

Leo Cruise

Sunlight Beach