Before I get into this week?s blog, I want to let all of you know that Cape Point access has been restored for ORVs and pedestrians along the shoreline on the north side.
Part of the area is still closed to protect least tern chicks, but the good news is that you can now drive to the Point and walk there without having to wade in the shorebreak.
This week, I am going to write about the blog because last week?s installment, ?Waiting for Cape Point to reopen,? has drawn many comments that have verged on being out of control at times.
In fact, several readers commented that I should stop blogging about the beach access issue.
?It seems as if no one on a blog is ever going to respect the opinion of the other regarding ORVs, and I am as guilty of this as the next person,? Billfish wrote in a comment addressed to me. ?Maybe it?s time to move the ORV issue into the objective reporting you do in your articles and just let this topic forever fade away on the blog.
?Let the courts and federal legislation decide,? he wrote. ?Besides, just think of all the others things we can argue, from flood insurance to the bridge, etc. No good, or healing, can ever come from these ORV-related blogs. It just brings out the devil in all of us and turns what are good people into nasty people because of our strong beliefs. None of us can truly influence the outcome from our postings any way. In the end, it?s your choice, of course, but then I?ve never been shy of adding my two cents.?
A few others agreed.
?I agree with Billfisher and don?t see the point in the continual ORV access Op Ed commentary by IFP but think it important to interject the road less traveled POV,? said Anon. ?Seems to me the same arguments are being made over and over by all sides. Continued poking on this topic is going to cause it to smell resulting in more division and discontent. This will (has) have a negative affect on the local economy.?
?You all continue to beat the poor dead horse,? wrote Anon Again. ?Please move on so people can heal the sharp wounds that have been inflicted. This repetitive pot stirring is absurd. And the SAME posts from the same ole people?This is not news anymore.?
Others disagreed.
?The give-and-take surrounding highly charged emotional issues such as this are never easy or pretty for either side, or spectators for that matter,? wrote Former Visitor. ?However, suspending discussions of this kind in the name of political correctness and/or a no-good-can-come-from-this mentality are of benefit to no one, and actually serve to stifle our First Amendment rights to air our grievances.?
First of all, I don?t intend to stop blogging about more reasonable beach access. This issue, along with Highway 12 and the Bonner Bridge, are vitally important to our islands, our residents, our visitors.
Next, I want all of you regular commenters to know that I am an equal opportunity deleter of comments. In this round, I?ve deleted more comments than usual ? from folks on both sides of the beach access argument.
And, finally, I want to say that I really try to keep the snarky comments off the blog, though perhaps sometimes I am too lenient so that all of you can have your say in the matter. And I have been too lenient this time with both sides.
I want to say again that my editorial view is not anti-Park Service. I and many others realize what our islands would look like if we were not a national seashore ? the first national seashore.
I am not opposed to an ORV plan. In fact, I think it?s a real shame that the 1978 plan, which was completed by seashore officials, got shoved in a file somewhere in Washington and was never enacted. And for years, neither park officials nor the community asked what ever happened to it or tried to find it and get it enacted.
Yes, we are required to have an ORV plan.
However, I ? and many others ? think that there are problems with the plan we have and the way it was developed. Furthermore, we have problems with the science that supports it and the economic study that says it won?t hurt island communities.
I do not think local seashore staff members are corrupt or at fault for any of this, as some commenters have suggested. The folks are working hard to do the best they can in a difficult situation.
This issue will remain a priority for Island Free Press ? in news stories and blogs ? because this plan has some problems that need fixing.
Perhaps the federal court or Congress can fix the plan, but that?s a longshot.
However, in just about three years, we will have an opportunity to give the Park Service our input on what we think should be changed when changes are allowed after five years.
Having said that, I will add that the comments on this blog become tedious — and even boring at times — because the same posters just keep posting the same stuff to make their points.
And part of the reason we have the same readers posting over and over again is that some readers are hesitant to jump into the fray and be shouted out and insulted by others.
But that?s not a reason to shut down the discussion.
Maybe some of you could stop making the same points over and over again in the same blog. Certainly, there can be less ?snarkiness? and fewer insults to those who disagree.
And I wish we could tone down the rhetoric about corrupt public servants and judges ? and even environmental groups. Personally, I wish SELC and its clients would just go away and leave us alone, but I believe the folks at those organizations are doing what they think it is right also ? misguided as they are!
And, please keep the comments on topic. Let?s discuss our issues here at Hatteras and Ocracoke not those of our sorry political landscape in general.
I appreciate and respect all of our readers and their points of views, but sometimes we will have to agree to disagree.
I will do my part to take down the borderline insulting comments that I?ve been trying to allow for the sake of public discourse.
Thanks to all of you who participate in this forum.
