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EDITORIAL: We had our day in court while the real judge ruled
While attorneys on both sides of the sandbox argued the beach restoration case before the U.S. Supreme Court, a higher power was delivering a definitive closing argument.
As pundits and reporters scrambled to analyze the hearing, a winter storm that packed a bigger punch than Tropical Storm Ida was crashing into Holiday Isle.
In the form of 40 mph wind gusts and punishing waves, Mother Nature unleashed her latest assault on our beaches and stole more sand. And just like the scene that played out after Claudette and Ida visited, she left a damage bill in untold thousands of dollars.
But as we desperately await relief, the fate of Destin’s planned restoration project may now lie in the hands of eight robed justices.
And there was no shortage of opinion on how they might rule.
Depending on the media outlet, the judges were sympathetic to the property owners, siding with the state or were set to deadlock after Justice John Paul Stevens recused himself because he owns a beachfront unit in South Florida.
As we sit in this latest legal limbo, perhaps it’s as good a time as any for parties on both sides of the issue to come together and decide if this litigious path is the right course. The high court may well determine whether the 2006-2007 restoration project was constitutional, but surely we can find common ground to keep the 2009-2010 project out of the courts.
After all, do we really want a panel of legal eagles, who listened to arguments for about an hour, telling us what’s best here?
On Wednesday, Mother Nature showed a hint of her power. She can overrule all of our objections, and she doesn’t care if restoration is a land grab or a civic duty.
But let us also not forget the court of public opinion, which judges us by our beaches. And if we become the nation’s poster boy for battered beaches, the tourist moves on — and then paradise is truly lost.
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TO READ A TRANSCRIPT OF THE ORAL ARGUMENTS, CLICK HERE.
For a collection of coverage on the big day, from The Log and around the nation, click here.
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