Editor, Gazette-Journal:

When a woman marries, a little piece of every man dies. And so it is when politicians pursue bad ideas, a little piece of every person dies. The reason people live in Mathews and—like me—return is the peace and quiet, absent aggressions of the “successful world.”

As a trans-Atlantic solo sailor, I cherish clear horizons. Nothing as far as the eye can see. Mathews shores have some of that quality.

Now comes surface oyster farming, lovely for the few making profit, a horrendous invasion for the rest of us that come here for unencumbered simple horizons. God forbid! Who do you think you represent? Surely not me or any other person invested in this almost vanished refuge, my Mathews.

You profiteers and supporting politicians, take your spawn and set up shop in Newport News, where our sewage goes. Fatten your oysters and yourselves far away from me. Kill this bad idea.

Sam Forrest 

Hyco House

Mathews, Va. ...