Calling sustainable development a "massive structure to establish global governance," Mathews resident Tricia Stall and her friends Dewitt Edwards, Sue Long, and Andrew Maggard, all of Mathews, and Dave King of Gloucester, are charging that local officials involved with planning are unwittingly doing the bidding of the United Nations.

They say that the U.N., through a plan called Agenda 21 that was adopted at the 1992 Conference on Environment and Development, is clandestinely working to divest Americans of their property rights and establish an international government that would take away individuals’ liberty.

If these efforts aren’t stopped at the local level, they claim, the ultimate result will be that the U.N. will establish a national police force, disarm people, herd them into high-density urban development areas, and force them to give up their private vehicles in favor of bicycles and public transportation.

"There will be global taxation and the loss of sovereignty," said Stall.

The group, operating under the name Concerned Citizens of the Middle Peninsula Steering Committee, uses literature written by Henry Lamb of Sovereignty International, Inc., to back up its claims, and it has launched a campaign that includes writing letters to the editor, handing out fliers that warn of the demise of individual rights, speaking out at public meetings, and sending e-mails to anyone who has expressed an interest in their views.

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