Editor,

Whidbey Island citizens’ intent to gain the legal right to walk to the beach or launch a kayak at the end of Wonn Road may be all but lost. With a Skagit County judge’s decision to obstruct your quest for justice, your wishes may be nullified by the intricacies of the legal system and the financial power of one man.

You may call Bruce Montgomery the ogre of Wonn Road, an arrogant, wealthy and insolent bully.

In Greenbank, you may treat him as an uncouth pariah, dishonorable snob, but the real villain may actually be your Island County officials. Past and recent commissioners and other county office holders have failed to support your rights and needs.

They have ignored the potential of certain beach areas for years.

The responsible parties failed to gain clear legal rights to the Wonn Road beach access, and to other sites, over the past several decades. By ignoring the public charge to protect this and other stretches of shoreline for all citizens, they have allowed grasping individuals to claim property that rightfully belongs to all of us.

Only Helen Price Johnson aggressively pursued our needs for public shore sites. Now, litigation in Skagit County may result in the loss of this access permanently.

Foresight could have avoided the problem.

Jerry Mercer

Greenbank