Sarah Woodard David: Free to roam

Regarding the Aug. 27 news article “Emerald Isle lawsuit could shift public line in the sand on NC beaches”: I’ve gone to the beach almost every summer for the past 42 years. My spot’s not beach-front so I use a public access point to cross the dunes, and I’d never consider clambering through someone’s yard. Once I’m on the beach, however, I am, like my grandparents and parents before me, free to roam to the north or south as far as the eye can see.

Yes, the ocean-front deeds use the high-tide mark for a boundary, but never in all my born days did I or any other beach-loving North Carolinian think someone would try to make me walk out in the surf to get around a piece of property.

If the Nieses think a ruling in their favor will apply only to their property and if they think this won’t mean people can’t walk on the beach, either she is ignorant of how lawyering works or she’s hoping you and I are. And if the Nieses don’t like being portrayed as folks who have moved to North Carolina and now “are trying to alter longstanding understanding of beach access,” then they shouldn’t have moved to North Carolina and tried to alter longstanding understanding of beach access.

This story was originally published September 3, 2016 at 6:00 PM with the headline "Sarah Woodard David: Free to roam."