Area has become a playground for the rich

East Bonner County is being targeted for takeover by the super rich.

A couple of years ago, the Hidden Lakes Golf Course was taken over by the Idaho Club, and when the reconstruction is completed, it will no longer be open to the general public. Gates and guardhouses have been installed at the entrances to the golf course and to the developing community of several hundred homes across the highway.

Protection of the environment is almost non-existent. Wetlands in the subdivision were filled in. The golf course under the previous owners was given heavy treatment of agricultural chemicals that found their way into the Pack River, and there is little chance that things will change under the new set up. The foxes are doing a good job of guarding the henhouse.

Now the trailer parks on the Lake at Trestle Creek have been taken over by the same Idaho Club, and things look dismal for the snowbirds who used to spend their summers there.

In addition to the redevelopment of the trailer park, the Idaho Club has been trying to sneak in a marina and float plane dock there without a required public hearing on the matter. What Is Iittle known is that currently there is public access to both the beach and boat launches. The Idaho Club is asking for the public domain be eliminated from this area and that it be made strictly private. Once gone — gone for good.

More organizations and people need to be informed what we are quietly loosing.

Is it not about time that the citizens of Bonner County take a long and hard look at the present trend in making this area a playground for the super rich, many of whom are only part time residents here? Do we really want the effects here to be similar to the disasters that happened at Aspen?

JOSEPH HENRY WYTHE

Sandpoint