SR Letter of the Day — “I’m Not A Fat Cat”

Dave Oliveria called me an “East Lakeshore Drive Fat Cat” because I chalked a line on my beach at the 2,130 feet private property mark recently set by Judge Judd in his Sanders Beach ruling (“On Sanders Public Beach,” Sept. 12).

Webster’s defines a “fat cat” as (1) a wealthy political contributor, (2) a privileged person or (3) a big shot. I am none of the above. Hard work, not privilege, got us our dream lake home. Oliveria’s labeling of people, having never met them, is unnecessarily sharp-edged sophomoric editorial journalism.

The chalk line was an act of frustration, auger and comedic release. All Idaho lakeshore property ends at the water’s edge … except for nine homes on Sanders Beach, says a left-leaning activist group supported by Cracker Jack box experts, pro-bono attorneys and a weak-willed City Council that turned a blind eye to common sense and initiated a politically motivated taking of private land.

My chalk line memorializes the absurd outcomes that arise when Captain Queeg-like politicians steam across their own tow line creating a solution worse than the original problem.

“Fat Cat?” Hardly. Disheartened with the deafening silence of my “red state” politicians’ protection of private property rights? You bet I am.

Robert B. Cliff
Coeur d’Alene

DFO: Then, I’ve been disheartened that Sanders Beach owners tried to claim-jump public property. If these guys woulda behaved themselves and allowed continued access to their, ahem, property, we’d still be living with the myth that the East Lakeshore types owned the beach.