Dover needs to be protected

I'll leave the technical specifics regarding law, ordinances and variances to someone else. I simply want to appeal to your heart, not your mind.

There are not many places like Dover. Dover is delicate and small. It cannot support the oil, gasoline and sewage in the water that a marina would inflict. Already the trees are coming down for "progress." How long will it be before the wetlands are compromised like a bad case of shingles creeping across the face of the land, causing much pain.

Please leave Dover intact. There are other sites more suitable for yet another marina. For some of you who were born here — perhaps the great stillness and beauty that still surrounds us — would merit a visit to place in urban area where marinas have replaced such treasurers. Is Sandpoint going to be another slick disaster down the road? Don't bring it here.

Developers have been known to promise a lot to get what they want in the long run.

We live in times where personal choices are asking for more awareness. Everywhere big money is involved, the destruction of our natural beauty follows.

Today, the love of dollar far outweighs the gift we receive from nature. We will never have back what we so love if we pose this style of "progress" upon it.

Places like Dover need to be protected and left alone — its uniqueness left intact, its fragile wetlands kept safe. What is really needed is a change in our outlooks — to return once again to values and respect for beauty and tranquility in exchange for self-interest. If not, then in a short while, Dover will no longer be, but instead just another congested area of homes, cars and pleasure boats.

In closing, for those of you who have not seen the inlets of the Dover wetlands, please do so while they still take your breath away.

EVIE LEUCHT

Sandpoint