Resident of 32 years wants ‘truth’ known about Point Pleasant

As a Point Pleasant resident of 32 years, I am aghast at the scarcity of truth in the report regarding the closing of the small piece of land at the dead end of Point Pleasant by the river.

Ryan Snyder is claiming to have the neighborhood at heart, a neighborhood Mr. Snyder claims is the haunt of drug addicts, sexual predators, and scurrilous persons who loiter and swim in the river, and generally it appears one goes down by the Snyder residence at his peril. Is Mr. Snyder attempting to lower our property values?

For 32 years I have walked down to this piece of land almost twice or more a day, quite often pausing to watch the sea life, sunsets, and have fished there with my grandchildren. The closest we have ever come to swimming is at high tide sitting on the wall and putting our feet in the water.

In all these years, I have never ever seen a discarded needle, only filament line, the occasional beer can or plastic bottle. It has always been my practice to remove any items such as this to be sure they do not pollute the river. You would think with all the sex claimed to be going on, condoms would be left there — again, I’ve never seen one.

This area of town is a favorite spot for walkers and their dogs, joggers and historic tour sightseers. Many residents of the nearby Westminster facility exercise here. I have to question if Mr. Snyder is such a public-spirited person with the local community in mind did he not canvass the same community first when he searched and found this loophole and kept it to himself. Why did he proceed with putting these rocks and fence up without consultation with the community in question?

This story was originally published November 21, 2017 at 3:02 PM with the headline "Resident of 32 years wants ‘truth’ known about Point Pleasant."