Share: 

Hocker, Atkins not looking at the future

September 5, 2013

I need to respond to the joint editorial by Sen. Hocker and Rep. Atkins about the South Korean Allen Harim takeover of the now Brownfield status site, formerly of Pinnacle Foods-owned Vlasic plant on the Indian River. The position expressed by our legislators, that slaughtering two million poultry on the Indian River is an investment in our air and water, is either extremely naive or delusional.  The current status of impaired waters in Delaware - over 85 percent are not swimmable - should explain the result of such poor decisions.

In case our elected officials need to be reminded, the growth in Sussex County is due to people investing in the natural treasures of our environment. Tourism is responsible for the positive economic growth. Cape Henlopen is a treasure that photographers come to capture from all over the country. The beaches are clean and couples come to get married because of the natural beauty here.

People do not wish to invest in vacations where they cannot swim or need to run into their homes because they cannot breathe. The time is now to stop the thought process of “well, it’s contaminated now - can’t let it sit empty.” The people deserve forward-thinking elected politicians who recognize the value of true investment in our communities. Invest in projects that will attract positive growth while investing in healthy communities.

Beverly Fink
Long Neck

  • A letter to the editor expresses a reader's opinion and, as such, is not reflective of the editorial opinions of this newspaper.

    To submit a letter to the editor for publishing, send an email to viewpoints@capegazette.com. All letters are considered at the discretion of the newsroom and published as space allows. Due to the large volume of submissions, we cannot acknowledge receipt of each submission. Letters must include a phone number and address for verification. Keep letters to 400 words or fewer. We reserve the right to edit for content or length. Letters should be responsive to issues addressed in the Cape Gazette rather than content from other publications or media. Letters should focus on local issues, not national topics or personalities. Only one letter per author will be published every 30 days regarding a particular topic. Authors may submit a second letter within that time period if it pertains to a different issue. Letters may not be critical of personalities or specific businesses. Criticism of public figures is permissible. Endorsement letters for political candidates are no longer accepted. Letters must be the author’s original work, and may not be generated by artificial intelligence tools. Templates, form letters and letters containing language similar to other submissions will not be published.