I loved your Dec. 20 editorial, “Pier without peer,” which viewed the “rich fighting the rich” over rights in Somes Sound as one would a sporting event. It did not go far enough, however, in its analogy that “a big house or a big pier shows, among other things, that the owner is rich enough to afford it.”

William Stewart’s behavior is not noteworthy but ordinary. Every human being who finds himself wealthy, either suddenly or over time, is tempted to make up for his ordinary human sufferings by collecting trophies of one sort or another – cars, boats, homes, trips.

On the other hand, people like Kathryn and Robert Suminsby, who chose to place an easement on their Somes Sound property to ensure the view remained accessible to the public, understand and embrace their great responsibility as “haves” to exercise restraint, proper stewardship and charitable use of their surplus.

Mary Offutt

Little Deer Isle