To The Editor

I think it was a shame that Damon Shelor was defeated in his bid to retain his seat on the East County Water Control District. He has done a great job for his community and we hope he continues to do so. He is the leader of the Lehigh Community Council which is getting more publicity today in its plan to keep Lehigh Acres voters aware.

Mr. Shelor was defeated by Michael J. Welch, who used to be a state senatorial aide, but who has not been active in the community. Most people don’t seem to know him, yet he received 10,000 votes and he said in your story that he didn’t campaign for the votes.

I suspect people who were against incorporation were behind the scheme to get rid of Mr. Shelor, who was pro incorporation for a City of Lehigh Acres as any intelligent person would be.

If Lehigh doesn’t incorporate, look for more blight and more crime. What the people against incorporation were all about was that they didn’t understand that their taxes would not have gone up – what the county got from the state, the new city would have gotten. Local taxes would have gone to local officials who would have spent it on the betterment of Lehigh. It was unfortunate that the economy soured when incorporation was being talked about. But one mistake the pro incorporation people made was to ask for the question to be on the ballot way back last January. It should have been on the ballot this past Nov. 4 when the community would have had more time to plan its future.

Until people here, who are not registered, and who do not attend local meetings, get rid of their apathy, nothing will change in Lehigh. It will continue to be looked down upon by the people of such places as Cape Coral who think the anti-incorporation folks were stupid. What a shame we don’t have single district voting – at least a local member of the County Commission would have come from Lehigh.

But Frank B. Mann, who is from Alva, was for incorporation. He won the election, so I guess the anti incorporation folks couldn’t get rid of him. We ask that Mr. Mann look out for us here in Lehigh. If he doesn’t, what will happen is that the young and bright people of the community will move away, leaving the elderly and the criminals and the grow houses. Is that what we want? I think not. I wonder who will step up and claim they were responsible for the defeat of Mr. Shelor, an honorable and intelligent man who had served Lehigh well. Whoever that person or persons are, they just don’t get it. I think there should have been a recount of the ECWCD race.

Kyle Kennedy

Lehigh Acres