Letters

“Good fences make good neighbors,” Robert Frost famously wrote in his poem “Mending Wall.” Frost was being ironic, or at least having a bit of fun at the expense of his neighbor’s fastidious efforts to repair the stone wall along their mutual property line.

But, living in a suburban area, I’ve come to think there’s much truth to the old New England maxim. A well-trimmed hedge is a good way to maintain amity between me and my neighbors, and to preserve our respective backyard privacy. Good fences — or hedges — do make good neighbors.

The recent action of Discovery Land Corporation in closing off public access to Spinney Road in East Quogue [“Discovery Land Sparring With Southampton Highway Superintendent Over Rights to Dirt Road Through East Quogue Golf Course,” 27east.com, April 23] proves the maxim also holds in reverse: Bad fences make bad neighbors. If someone puts up a fence or barrier where it doesn’t belong, it will only serve to generate ill will.

That’s precisely what Discovery Land has done by erecting a barrier across Spinney Road. It’s something they had no right to do. Their unilateral action in privatizing public property will serve to accomplish nothing so much as reanimate the resentment many people in the East Quogue community feel toward them and the Hills development project.

By the rules of logic, a true statement of equivalence is also true in reverse. Thus, we arrive at the conclusion that bad neighbors make bad fences. Discovery Land’s unilateral action brings home the truth that they are being a bad neighbor.

This has been their modus operandi since they first set out to develop their Pine Barrens property into a luxury golf resort. They have bullied and threatened, filed bogus lawsuits against public officials, made and broken promises, and created enormous rancor in the community as a means of getting their way. More than once, they promised to leave Spinney Road open as part of their development plan. So, lying must be added to the long list of behavior that reveals Discovery Land to be both a bad neighbor and bad actor.

What should be done about this? There’s another old maxim we all learned back in the school yard: You must stand up to a bully.

If we don’t fight to preserve public access to Spinney Road, who knows what further encroachment and outrage Discovery Land will try to get away with next. Instead of more rancor and infighting in our community, it would be great to see the residents of East Quogue come together in strong opposition to Discovery Land’s arrogant bullying.

Joe Lamport

East Quogue