Editor, The Beacon:

Unfortunately I will be out of town on Aug. 2 when the DeLand City Commission considers the Beresford Reserve plan.

My comments to the city commissioners with regard this plan for the old Southridge Golf Course are as follows:

The first opportunity: For the city to create a lasting project for the community at large.

The city should purchase the Southridge Golf Course and create a park/botanical garden (like Mead Botanical Garden in Winter Park), with sculpture, of course.

This may be the last great opportunity within the city for a meaningful park.

The second opportunity: For the city commissioners to leave an enduring legacy. At present, the legacy appears to be pro-development.

The commissioners have a choice. I ask them, what legacy do you want attached to your name? The city does not need another Lincoln Oaks in which the land is stripped and leveled to satisfy developer greed.

Third, GOLD (in my proposed presentation for July 19, I proposed exhibiting a jar of honey; this is Gold): My point here is that the Rights of Nature are the Rights of Human Life.

By destroying the natural environment and developing this property (basically stripping the land and paving it), you are taking away the rights to coexist with nature.

We need the bees to create the gold for human life as we know it.

Ray Johnson

DeLand