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McGlone gets his homework wrong again

July 4, 2014

Last week's letter from mayoral candidate Tom McGlone ended with his bragging, "this sounds like I have done my homework!"

This is simply untrue. Mr. McGlone has decided that the way to win the Mayor's office is to simply oppose, or "reconsider" anything positive that has happened in the city under Mayor Sam Cooper. But he refuses to do the hard work of researching facts and the will of the citizens of our city.

Let's look at the facts:

The mayor did not make the decision to proceed with ocean outfall as the city's wastewater disposal method. That choice was made by the mayor and commissioners, elected and supported by a majority of the citizens, as are all major decisions of city policy. They made that decision after hearing months of expert witnesses, public hearings, and investigations into the various methods of wastewater disposal.

The vast majority of environmental experts and an overwhelming majority of citizens supported ocean outfall. It appears Mr. McGlone did not do his homework by reading the record of these hearings.

Mr. McGlone's source of knowledge regarding spray irrigation is Middletown Mayor Kenneth Branner. While Mr. Branner is a qualified mayor, he is also the director of development for Artesian Water Co., a company which profits from spray irrigation and operates the wastewater disposal for the Town of Middletown.

If the City of Rehoboth Beach were to choose spray irrigation, Artesian and Mr. Branner make more money. This is hardly an objective observer. Mr. McGlone may not have done his homework to find out this fact, or if he did, he hid Mr. Branner's financial interest from the readers of the Cape Gazette in his letter.

Finally, Mr McGlone says "many" of his neighbors oppose ocean outfall. Really? I wonder how many and why they oppose it. They certainly were not in evidence during extensive public hearings attended by well over 100 citizens as the City of Rehoboth Beach considered the wastewater disposal issue.

Mr. McGlone says that much of what the city is doing now is a waste of money. He needs to do his homework and deal with facts, not just the opinions of his campaign committee who oppose Mayor Cooper. Reconsidering the method of wastewater disposal would be a huge waste of money and would go against the will of the citizens of this city.

The City of Rehoboth Beach does not need an inexperienced, unqualified mayor who refuses to face facts. We need a proven, knowledgeable and accomplished mayor.  Sam Cooper is that mayor, and should be re-elected Saturday, Aug. 9.

Doug Popham
Rehoboth Beach

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