Comments for Save Our Beaches

Comment on The Issue by J

Sun, 19 Jun 2011 02:57:57 +0000

My grandparents also purchased land in the 1930s, built a beautiful home that survived the great fire, and owned several cottages that they later sold (unfortunately for all of us – if he’d only known how values would go up!). I was raised largely on Goose Rocks Beach, and it was a considerable family tragedy when taxes and ill fortune forced my parents to sell that classic home (our homestead), and a further tragedy when the new owners tore it down (with difficulty, I heard, because it was so beautifully built).

As to the privacy of Goose Rocks, it is my understanding (by hearsay) that the reason the property owners are pressing this suit is that people have MIS-used the beach. We, too, living at the beach for so long, were saddened by the behavior of so many on the beach. As if it weren’t enough that the rampant (including non-native) beach grass has taken over the sand, pulling it up into the roots so that no longer are our ankles buried in white softness when we walk (and reducing the width of the beach of course), one-time or short-term visitors (one can only assume) with no stake in maintaining the quality of the beach build their fires above the high-tide mark, leaving behind blackened sand and charred remains where only soft sand should be. This is not to mention loud partying and left-behind trash.

The idea of tearing the beach apart into tiny strips of Private Property is, obviously, ludicrous… But when I consider some of the behavior I’ve witnessed on Goose Rocks, and imagine it being in what is in effect my own front yard, it becomes easy to see why the property owners might be upset.

If our society were a little less litigious and more reasonable, perhaps we could come to a quieter solution, involving the rights of people who (absurd as it may seem) do in fact own the beach to enforcement of a certain standard of behavior from those who use it. It is my understanding, for example, that bonfires were only ever allowed at the central, public portion of the beach. In the old days, we also all knew enough to build them where the returning tide would cleanse the beach of their remains. And, for heaven’s sake, it can’t be too much to ask that police enforce a certain degree of quiet in the evenings, etc.

Perhaps this is far too optimistic in a society that includes both those who do not choose to behave in a respectful and respectable manner, too few of us who feel that they should be required to do so, and a few who are truly grasping and ungenerous enough to limit access to a treasure that, surely, belongs to us all.

Comment on Signs, Signs, Everywhere! by Susan Hanlon

Susan Hanlon — Wed, 15 Jun 2011 15:32:32 +0000

Good Morning and thank you for this terrific website. This is a great tool for someone like myself who spends the winter in Massachusetts but has summered at Goose Rocks for the last 30+ years so I can stay in touch with the current legal issues. I am very supportive of your organization and have been from the beginning. Because I am only a summer resident, can I still attend the Town Meeting on Saturday? Or is it only open to registered voters from Kennebunkport? I would like to show my support in whatever way I can.

Thank you for your reply. Looking forward to warm & sunny days at the Beach.

Comment on Larry Mead, Town Manager–OP Ed Response by mic.harris

mic.harris — Tue, 31 May 2011 01:58:11 +0000

A beach is not a yard. Additionally, had I purchased a house with an area that had been used for frisbee throwing for 100 years, I would expect that to continue. These are people that appear to want a condo instead of a community.

Comment on Larry Mead, Town Manager–OP Ed Response by Anonymous

Anonymous — Mon, 30 May 2011 23:56:10 +0000

Private property is, and has always been, private. If the sand (beach) owned by the beach property owners is theirs (look at their deed), then they have the same rights to use their own property as non-beach property owners have to use their yards and gardens of their homes. Or, are all non-beach property owners ready to allow anyone else to use their yard and gardens to sunbathe, recreate, picnic, throw a frisbee, or whatever ? I don’t think so., be real.

Comment on New Filings Huge! by Larry Kelley

Larry Kelley — Sun, 27 Mar 2011 22:35:07 +0000

It is obvious to anyone who has lived at the beach or spent summers at the beach since childhood who the real players are for the plaintiffs and what the pathetic motive is.

The plaintiffs should all be ashamed of themselves but apparently are truly shameless.

Goose Rocks deserves better.

Sincerely,

Larry Kelley

Comment on The Issue by And We are Back!

And We are Back! — Tue, 01 Mar 2011 20:48:44 +0000

My family history goes back to 1926 when my Grandfather purchased the home at 15 New Biddeford Road from a close friend. The family had been coming here for five years before that and fell in love with Goose Rocks Beach. The original home burned in that awful fire in the 40′s and my Mother built a new smaller cottage to replace the one we lost – there was no other place we would go other than GRB!In 1997 we had the cottage removed and we built a year round home.Again, there was never any thought of any place to build other than GRB.So now 84 years of family history is trying to be destroyed by a group who feels so privileged that they will keep my grandchildren from the beach and creating there own history and love of GRB.How very sad !!! However, as someone else stated, we will walk the beach and sit, and sun, and life at GRB will go on despite the elite attitude of a SMALL group who have no history is comparison to my family!!!!
+1

Comment on 2010 Mover and Shaker by allan hodgkins

allan hodgkins — Sat, 19 Feb 2011 06:46:23 +0000

we have owned a cottage since late 1950,s and i have been coming there since 1938. we had always hoped our grown children could enjoy the beach and the friends they have made over many years. Is there any recent update on what is happening at the beach I have been to some of the meetings in the summer.

Comment on 2010 Mover and Shaker by Ann Corbey

Ann Corbey — Mon, 14 Feb 2011 18:44:01 +0000

Congratulations to the Movers and Shakers who continue to keep this great organization going. The GRB community owes the founders and board members of Save Our Beaches a very large basket of gratitude for getting us started and for keeping us going.

Comment on The Issue by William M. Auty

William M. Auty — Wed, 15 Dec 2010 18:47:33 +0000

From 1949 to the present my family have always enjoyed vacationing at Goose Rocks Beach in August of every year. I view it as a great tragedy that the selfish intentions of a few would close this treasure down for the rest of us. I don’t know what I can do to stop this event from happening, but for now I will send my donations to help fight this injustice from happening. Also as a practicing accountant perhaps my services may be of help to your organization in finding ways through federal and state tax law that may stop this issue from becoming a reality.

Comment on The Town wants your house? by SCOTT CONROD

SCOTT CONROD — Fri, 01 Oct 2010 20:27:46 +0000

Excellent information and links to even more information. You are suggesting that we who are not as yet into the law suit stay out. Is there any need for a donation? As a GRB owner since 1979 and a renter since 1973 is there any one to whom I should send my plea for all people to have access to the most beautiful beach on either the Atlantic and the Pacific coasts of North America.

Thanks for your good work.

Scott and Beverley Conrod