My last-ever comment on the...
DEBACLE AT SANDERS' BEACH...

There are a few property owners on Lakeshore Drive in Coeur d'Alene who say they own their respective portions of Sanders' Beach. Yes, I am familiar with the concept of private property. Property which is private! At the same time, I cannot stomach the fact that area citizens are BARRED from using those portions of the beach. We're talking about 10 or 15 feet of sand which lies between the property owners' sea walls and the lakeshore. Behind those sea walls are fenced-off portions of grassy private property. That is not the issue. But the public cannot use the portions of beach below, that the property owners claim as their own.

I am ASHAMED that this situation exists. For YEARS, the public has used Sanders' beach. Ah, but that's changed...your average minimum-wage worker and family has hardly any lake access at all, what with the greater portion of Coeur d'Alene Lake's shoreline being privately owned. I am disgusted with the city of Coeur d'Alene not ponying-up to buy the beach property for its citizenry, and I am disgusted with the whole selfish mentality of so-called beach owners who've have actually MARKED the beach with chalk lines. "You can't lay down and get a suntan on MY portion of the beach", they're telling us.

Break this down, if you will. Those portions of Sanders' beach, if no one can use them, will be VACANT 99.5% of the time. A beach no one can use that borders a public (for NOW, that is) lake. Yet, on the other side of town, just west of City Beach, property owners have let the public use the grassy areas bordering the beach for DECADES. Occasionally, a property owner will use the area for a private gathering, and the swimmers have no problem with that and everyone gets along just FINE. The blatant selfishness of the Lakeshore Drive property owners who don't want the public using (allegedly) private beach area makes me ashamed of Coeur d'Alene, makes me ASHAMED to be a Coeur d'Alene citizen, and MAKES ME ASHAMED TO BE A PART OF HUMANITY.

So, when I saw a really beautiful photo of Sanders' Beach recently, my blood absolutely BOILED. I realize the following satire is over-the-top, but this is honestly how I feel about this whole ridiculous Sanders' Beach Situation...



A Beach Nazi and his ever-faithful companion...guard towers coming soon...
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This will be my last ever comment on this issue, and as long as this climate exists, I will never go to Sanders' Beach again. I feel very strongly about this issue, an issue borne of GREED and SELFISHNESS.