If only the public knew how much time and energy has been spent to prevent development and to put land into restrictive preservation so the market could NOT work, so people could NOT “build whatever.” Thanks to the Cecil County Patriots, the public is just now awakening to see some of the wasteful programs and practices of farmland preservation as practiced by the cronies of Commissioners Mullin and Broomell. It is tragic the government is the only player left to develop a horse park. So much wealth has been taken from land owners; so much capital has evaporated through down zonings that chopped lines of credit which had been collateralized by the value of the land.

Now that so many capitalists have been devastated by the one-two punch of Eastern Shore Land Conservancy- inspired downzonings and the economic downturn, Mr. Wiggins suggests letting the market work. What irony. What a deceptive comment to put before the complacent general public.

The Smipkins, Delegate Smiegel, Commissioners Mullin, Dunn and Broomell and their anonymous munchkins toiling as they await their future appointments, stupidly destroy development of infrastructure and the economic base of Cecil County and thereby destroy future tax revenues.

Yet, Mr. Wiggins proposes spending more money on public works (schools, roads and public safety), as if the goose laying the golden eggs has not been slaughtered. Then, a further audacity, accuses the horsemen of working in a vacuum. If any group has stepped into a bubble where they hear only their own politico babble, it is Smipkins and the land preservationists.

During the politics of writing the Comprehensive Plan, Mr. Wiggins and his allies won many, if not most, of the procedural skirmishes so the Plan that emerged was a stunning victory of their alliance. Now, their objective to thwart any prayer of economic growth for Cecil has them turning against their own Plan, and turning against the state as the last player standing.

Mr. Mullin has been defeated. Senator EJ and Delegate Mike are terribly silent as their proteges destroy Cecil County. We must STOP BROOMELL.

It is a bad idea to invite a state bureaucracy to spend taxpayers money on a facility to perpetuate an expensive hobby. It is especially bad to erect it on public property already designated as a resource protection area. Can we really afford to waste our public monies on the destruction of our public open spaces? I don’t know how you justify this when we need schools and roads and public safety.

The horse park advocates sometimes appear to operate in a vacuum. They talk among themselves and proclaim they have included all the “Stakeholders”, operating on an assumption that our parks are at their disposal. I’d like to see acknowledgement of the others in this discussion.

The Fair Hill training Center is a leased facility whose landlord is the Maryland Department of Natural Resources. It is sited on the Fair Hill Natural Resources Management Area, a multi-use facility. It shares the site with the Fair Hill Nature Center, the Cecil County Fair facilities, and miles of hiking, bicycling and horse trails. Boy Scouts and youth groups camp there, and bird watchers, kayakers, and others from the community use this facility for a variety of uses.

Above all, as its title implies it is a 5600 acre natural resource area, beloved by legions of day users for the purposes outlined above. The original horse park initiative was opposed by those who believed the ambitious project estimated at about 800-1200 acres would diminish greatly the rare gem we have here in our county.

In the Land Unit Plan devised by the MD Department of Natural Resources, the very first and highest priority listed was Resource Protection. It recommends “limiting new construction and the expanding of existing commercial ventures to areas already developed, such as the fairgrounds, racetrack, and nature center, etc.”

Before the County puts its stamp of approval on this plan I hope they will consider all the other folks who use the Fair Hill Natural Resource Management Area. Will there be public hearings on this initiative?