To the Expositor:
I have just heard that as of August 11, 2011 there will not be swimming allowed off of the town docks anymore and that the ladders were removed from the docks due to tourists complaining about the local kids swimming.
It is not right to ban swimming at the town docks when locals have been swimming off of those docks for years. The special treatment the town is giving the tourists is just utterly ridiculous. We are here 365 days of the year and the tourists are here for what, two to three months? They have no right to complain about people swimming. I walk down there all the time and see the tourists swimming off the docks and/or their boats.
The local kids are not harming anyone and I do not understand how they are bothering the tourists by swimming. I would understand if people were swimming off the docks at night how that would be an issue, but during the day is when it’s hot and they just want to cool off?
There is no reason why they can’t jump in. I would like to hear the complaints and hear the reasons why the public cannot swim off the docks. Yes, there has been once incident involving a picnic table and one immature young teen who threw it in the Channel and that was dealt with and thankfully no one was hurt.
Tourists, with their expensive boats and their money, think that everything should be done to accommodate their every need, and that when they need something now we should drop everything and get it for them. Yes, they bring lots of business to the Island, but the town giving them everything they ask for, even if it means taking something away from us, is rude, cruel, and uncalled for.
Marissa Case
Sheguiandah
