To the editor:

In response to your front page story in this week's Shorelines, I would like to take exception to some of the things said and positions taken by the Westport Beach Committee. Yes, dogs have been a big problem on the town beach for a long time. I have sent numerous emails to the Beach Committee, spoken to and met with former Selectmeb Chairman Vieira and current Selectmen Vice-Chairman Sullivan as well as the chairmanof the Beach Committee and several of its members. It has long been the “rule” of the Board of Selectmen to prohibit dogs from the town beach during the “season” (see an old sign posted in the trees of the beach parking lot).

In 2014 the Town Meeting (TM) gave the Beach Committee full unfettered use of the parking permit money (and “Enterprise” fund) to attend to beach business. The only “No Dog” sign they have posted since then is a small one at the parking lot entrance to the path to the beach. I have repeatedly asked them to post more signs and to specify all restrictions. This year's TM actually shortened the time period for excluding dogs. Because it was a TM vote, it became a by-law once approved by the Attorney General. But contrary to Mr. Leach's comment in the article, it has long been the rule; albeit an unenforced rule. It is also a bylaw of the town that dogs must be leashed at all times while on town property, subject to a $50 fine, per incident enforceable by the dog officer.

Leashing dogs is another rule that is openly defied by dog owners during  and post beach season. The lifeguards do their best to police the dog access and actually post an additional “No Dogs” sign on the beach. Most dog owners are savvy enough to bring their dogs to the beach before and after the lifeguards are on duty during the summer or access the beach by boat beach far from the lifeguard stands. Dog owners flock to the beach in the early morning and late afternoon and evenings, before and after the lifeguards leave; most of their dogs are unleashed.

Mr. Leach says there are some private pieces of property encompassed within the town beach. Months ago I checked the Westport Assessors map for verification; except for a few small “lots” near the shoreline (perhaps now washed away) and a few long thin slices near the lifeguard beach, the remaining beach, all the way to harbor entrance and around to the marsh, past boat beach, is town property, not private property.  If Mr. Leach is correct, the official assessor's map needs to be changed.

Mr. Leach further says that citizens would object to the cost of a daily police patrol. In fact the 2014 TM gave the Beach Committee the money it would need to monitor parking at the beach which is restricted to town residents with a permit. Whether monitoring is done by a special duty police officer who is paid by permit money or by college students hired to attend to the parking lot (with occasional police presence) as is done at the state beach, the money is there.  Labor Day was the only day when parking was monitored (by Beach Committee members themselves). The chairman of the Beach Committee told me that on Labor Day, a bright and sunny beach day, 20 cars turned away from the parking lot when they saw monitoring attendants. Imagine how many more un-permitted cars park in the beach parking lot on days when a police presence is not there and not likely to be there.

That permit money is paid by town residents who use the town beaches and should be used to enforce the rules of the beach, for the benefit of all, not just the dog owners.

M. Beck

Westport