The Willard Beach (Dog) Task Force has now struggled through 10 meetings, talking mostly about dog poop. Their charge was to examine and make recommendations about the shared recreational use of the beach. The process stalled because three task force members would not agree to a consensus finding that “dog waste on the beach does not pose a significant health risk,” in spite of the fact that there is no evidence that it does. So much for fact finding.

In a desperate effort to prolong the discussions, they want to invite Dr. Robert Bogosian, a microbiologist, to testify before the group.

There is a very small, very vocal group, with a couple of allies on the City Council, whose goal is to ban the hundreds of dog walkers from the beach. So much for shared use. Understand that they have no special use for the beach themselves, especially between 6 and 9 a.m. on summer mornings, except maybe to look at it. They just don’t want anyone else mucking up “their” beach. They are trying to use fear and scare tactics as their weapon of choice.

One beachfront property owner has complained for 23 years about barking dogs running through his house. It’s surprising he hasn’t learned to close his doors. He called the police 39 times this summer. Another is a germophobe and fears his granddaughter will put her hand in the sand and then in her mouth and get sick. She’s far more likely to get sick from a ripe egg salad sandwich in his picnic basket.

Another had a grandchild scared by a dog, and wants all the city ordinances rewritten and rigidly enforced to address her fears. She confronted the animal control officer with a log of over 100 violations she witnessed and wanted to know why none had received citations.

What these people have in common is a demand that the City put their “quality of life” issues way ahead of the community’s recreational needs.

The dog walkers have as much right to the reasonable and responsible use of Willard Beach for recreation as anyone else. As a group, they are exceptionally careful to obey the rules (if they can figure them out) to keep their dogs in check around others and to clean up. The anti-dog people just want to cancel their ticket for personal reasons and ban them from the beach.

You should tell your city councilor to use common sense and fact-based reasoning, not emotion, before they make any changes to the existing arrangement. Let’s not let the angry fringe set the agenda for our city.

Peter F. Erlin

South Portland