Dear Ms Averyt

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Letter to Caller/Times Editor Libby Averyt

The following is a letter I wrote to Caller/Times Vice President/Editor Libby Averyt. In this mornings' paper(Sun. Dec. 18, 2005) she seized on an expression uttered in one of the public forums where views on this issue were put forth. If you didn't read the editorial she spent several hundred words disparaging "rednecks" and stating her distaste at promoting such an image for our area. She went on to say that she wanted to improve our pedigree by installing a huge luxury, upper class resort on the beach where the hoi polloi would not impose their presence upon the well to do.

Dear Ms. Averyt,
The term "Red Neck Riviera" is not in vogue here, it is not a description I would use or would anyone else I know of that supports keeping our local beaches open and accessible for all.
It is an unfortunate turn of phrase uttered by one individual and you seized on that to smear the efforts and distort the goals of all of us opposed to banning vehicular traffic on the beaches.
I have been visiting these beaches, and driving on them for forty years. I have surfed, fished, swam. cooked BBQ in my pit and have enjoyed the wide open spaces. I have been over every inch of the beaches from Saint Joes to Port Mansfield. This will be gone if this idea of closing beaches to vehicles catches on.
Now I imagine that a lot of "rednecks" use the beaches but so do surfers, fishermen, families, tourists, beachcombers, artists, professional people, laborers and ...well just about everyone. That's what I support.
If they want to build a resort fine. But not right on the beach, which is illegal anyway, and certainly not with an exclusive beach for that resort, which would be the result of the notion you support.
Far more people will come here for open, pristine beaches because that is becoming a real rarity these days. In all other areas developers have covered beaches and adjoining areas with development!
People come to enjoy the beaches, not because of "fancy hotels!"
Happy Holidays,
Dicky Neely