June 30, 2005 Issue

The citizens of Destin and our many visitors can take heart and hope from the recent United States Supreme Court decision in the matter of Kelo versus New London.

Albeit a conservative court, the vote was close at 5-4 and ruled in favor of the city of New London, Conn. The decision affirmed the city’s right to take property through eminent domain.

If this ruling does not deal a deathblow to the shortsighted, misinformed, stingy, and at times belligerent handful of beachfront property owners fighting against beach re-nourishment, nothing will.

The long-standing decision in a case in Daytona Beach establishing the public has a right to “customary use” of the beach should have been enough for these few whiners. The court in that case ruled that beachfront property owners with deeded land bought their property burdened with the existing knowledge that people had customarily used the beaches for many, many years.

Actually it shouldn’t take a court to tell people who are zealous about privacy, that the beaches in Destin might not be as private as a farm in North Dakota.

The people spearheading the drive to stop re-nourishment blew into Destin and in short order began carping about their private property rights and their precious property values. Before their homes tumble into the Gulf and muck up the waters, I will offer to pay any of them exactly what they paid for their property. Any takers?

These jerks won’t win any legal battles here. Their first brilliant move was to hire the ultra-conservative Southeast Legal Foundation. They sent their tough-talking lead counsel (and head of the organization) to argue their case before our city council. As he was returning to Atlanta, the hired gun was arrested for fondling an undercover park ranger at a gay hangout along the Chattahoochee River. And it wasn’t his first illegal dalliance with aggressive homosexuality. Thank goodness he hasn’t shown back up in Destin.

Do these blowhards not realize if they have success it will be at best a pyrrhic victory? What could be more disheartening than to gain their precious beachfront rights as their mansions tumble into the Gulf of Mexico with the onslaught of our next storm? Personally, I’m pulling for a hurricane to end this madness for them.

These are the same people who bitch and whine about the cost of property taxes. In spite of spending a fortune fighting these people, our city does an admirable job of keeping our takes under the 2-mil cap. Mayor Barker and our city council have spent way too much time and money trying to educate these NIMBY’s about beach re-nourishment.

One thing these nuts do understand is that property accrued by efforts of the State of Florida belongs to the public. Period. So get used to it because that’s how it should be anyway.

Minorities are certainly entitled to many rights in this wonderful country. God knows I find myself in the minority more often than not, but we cannot let a ridiculously small group of shortsighted boobs hold our town hostage.

Bring in the dredges and let’s add 200 feet of sand to our beaches. The whiners aren’t bright enough to know it, but we’ll be doing them a favor.

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