Anacortes American, 11/20/02
Yes, Mr. Howard, both the herons at March Point and industrial production in the area can thrive together. Even when the issues seem so far flung in either direction, there is always a way to find common ground. It takes all the parties concerned to willingly come to the table and put aside any winner-take-all mentality.
There are no "opponents" of T Bailey, as Mr. Howard would like us to believe (Other Voices 11/13/02). These would-be opponents are groups who seek no financial gain, but only want to ensure that life as we know it in the heronry continues undisturbed, alongside the prosperity of industrial production.
Many of these same groups were at the table helping to develop a successful strategy to solve the fecal runoff contamination into Similk Bay, a process which was heralded for the ability of all the stakeholders to listen to all the concerns and find common ground from which to work. The outcome met the criteria of the Similk Beach community, the environmental community, the county and Washington State law. Recently in Anacortes, some of these same groups sat down with a developer to find common ground to both protect precious wetlands in the Community Forest Lands and to allow development to proceed.
There is always common ground, if we take the time to listen to each other and to engage in the process. It doesn't come from name-calling and random accusations.
Margaret Studer
Evergreen Islands
Anacortes