To the editor:
I was one of many served a subpoena by Singapore Dunes LLC (owned by Aubrey McClendon) recently. It demanded that I turn over pretty much every document, record, e-mail or doodle related to the Laketown Alliance for Neighborly Development (LAND).
Why? Because somebody with a great deal of money wants to scare our members into silence?
LAND's records are not relevant to Singapore Dunes LLC's lawsuit allegations. I believe such a subpoena is meant to intimidate me, as one of many volunteers who are trying to protect our unique and successful community from inappropriate development.
But if I fear anything, it is the loss of what I love about Saugatuck-not the threat of a subpoena or some trumped-up lawsuit.
Our land-use planning and zoning ordinances are the best protections we have to sustain the growth and economic success that has blessed the Saugatuck area for decades. Saugatuck may be the only town in Michigan to have continued to prosper during this recession and some part of the credit is due to people like me caring about how and what things happen here.
Many, many people working together, fueled by a passion for this very special place, have made the Saugatuck-Douglas area great. We all need to be able to stand up and voice our opinions without the threat of unjustified legal action if we want to make it even greater.
Singapore Dunes LLC has consistently used bullying tactics in its dealings with our community. It started with threats of lawsuits and progressed to actual lawsuits-against Saugatuck Township for tax reductions and allegations of "corruption" and zoning issues and also against the Deam family for refusing to give up their property rights.
Now Singapore Dunes LLC is harassing civic-minded volunteers whose well-informed opinions of what is healthy for our community happen to differ from its narrow-focus corporate profit motives.
Bullying is the wrong approach. Scaring somebody into agreeing with you never really works. Open public discussion and debate of all community issues, as is provided for by governmental process, is the best option available. Why don't we all use it?
Marcia Perry
President
Laketown Alliance for Neighborly Development
P.S. If you are not one of us who has received your own subpoena demanding ridiculous things and think that Singapore Dunes LLC doesn't really affect your life, remember that if you pay taxes to the State of Michigan or Allegan County, you will be paying for its recent tax-settlement refund.
