I feel compelled to respond to Mr. Heuisler's Letter to the Editor July 22.
As for our citizens' voting rights, no one would have needed to bypass the city government if the mayor and commissioners put the interests and rights of our residents ahead of their own interests to be re-elected. Our city officials publicly acknowledged the issue last year and did nothing to protect our rights. Instead, they fought against granting our residents their constitutionally guaranteed rights in Dover.
Mr. Heuisler's suggestion that some investor/speculator/LLC group was behind the effort to change Rehoboth Beach's blatant disregard for constitutionally protected voting rights is simply false. In fact, an individual who is a property owner/registered voter in Rehoboth Beach was responsible for going to our legislators to enforce the voting rights of the citizens of Rehoboth Beach. Get your facts straight.
Mr. Heuisler's attack on Rick Perry is also off base. Mr. Perry has tried to bring the divided and splintered community of Rehoboth Beach together. The only problem is those who disagree with some of Mr. Perry's positions and the house he built are unwilling to even come together at his invitation to try and work together and build consensus on issues.
As for the lawsuit Mr. Perry and his close friend filed against the city, if you were in their shoes, given the blatant disregard of their property rights, due process and the retroactive application of the pool moratorium to their building permit application that was filed before the moratorium was proposed, you would have filed a suit against the city as well. Once again, if Mr. Heuisler knew all the facts, he might have a different view.
I know Mr. Perry well. While he believes that his building permit application that included a swimming pool (and that of a dozen more citizens) was wrongly denied, his lawsuit is based more upon principle than it is on a swimming pool. That is because Mr. Perry is principled. Mr. Perry believes that doing the right thing and being governed by law and not politics is how we should be governed.
The city has a history of thumbing its nose at its citizens and leaving them no alternative but to sue the city. That's probably because the city pays less than $15K in insurance premiums, has a $10K deductible, and lets the insurance company carry the load. If any "inhabitants" are bearing an unnecessary burden, financial and otherwise, it is Mr. Perry and the other property owners who were similarly denied their building permits.
It is time to move forward and elect Rick Perry to the board of commissioners. He understands that we should be governed by laws, common sense and respect for the rights of all our citizens, not just the rights of a few.
I urge everyone to cast their vote for Rick Perry Aug. 13.
John Swift
Rehoboth Beach
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