It appears that the Scarborough Town Council is now poised to ignore the 73 percent of the voters that overturned their decision to leash dogs on beaches without any summer time for running and swimming. The referendum returned us to a fair and balanced leash law that requires leashes within 150 feet of piping plover nests and dogs off the beach from 9 a.m.-5 p.m. in the summer, with leashes after 5 p.m. Your paper could help by encouraging the council to be be reasonable and enforce what we already have, instead of adopting something the town never intends to enforce. One accident in 30 years does not warrant this overly restrictive law, especially on beaches that haven’t had nesting plovers in over 10 years.
We all want the plovers protected; we just don’t want the federal government to tell us how to do it. We have volunteers that are willing to man beaches during the 6-9 a.m. off-leash time all summer. With additional enforcement and education successful volunteer programs can work. I urge the council to listen and represent their citizens and the message of the referendum.
Suzanne Foley-Ferguson
Scarborough
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