Editor:

    According to our recent tax bills here in Cape
Elizabeth, the budget is allowing $123,137, or 0.4 percent of our taxes
for maintenance of Fort Williams!

    We feel privileged to live in this town, with its
strong emphasis on conservation, its foresight in tucking away Fort
Williams in the 1970’s. The passive and active recreation there means a
lot not just to the residents of the town, but also to visitors from
all over the world. The prominent lighthouse acts as a magnet for
artists, institutions, corporations, not just because it was a
lifesaver guiding ships in the past by our rocky shores, but presently
as an image that instills security, and peace.

     We both feel that the park has not yet reached
a point of being “loved to death” so that we  have to inhibit
visits by imposing fees. Beyond that we feel that our reputation as one
of the wealthiest towns in the state should not allow us to indulge in
a form of exclusion that charging fees might imply. Surely some
creative financing could allow us to share this special refuge from the
sometimes chaotic world outside of Cape Elizabeth’s boundaries. 
Please vote to keep fees away from our park gate!

Alice and Peter Rand

Cape Elizabeth