Rep. Rob Wittman (R-Montross) will hold a meeting on Mathews dredging and the removal of aids to navigation at 3:30 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 27, at the Piankatank Ruritan Club at Hudgins. 

Wittman will discuss residents’ concerns about the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ lack of dredging in local waterways and the removal of aids to navigation by the U.S. Coast Guard. Del. Keith Hodges (R-Urbanna) and representatives of the Army Corps of Engineers and the Coast Guard are expected to be in attendance.

During a telephone interview on Monday, Capt. Richard Wester, commander of the Hampton Roads Sector of the U.S. Coast Guard’s 5th District, expressed sympathy for Mathews property owners who will be impacted by the removal of the aids to navigation in the creeks where they live.

“If I had purchased a nice house with a dock, I would be concerned, as well,” said Wester.

However, he said that removal of the aids is necessary for two reasons. First, he said, th...