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Halifax Chronicle Herald
Monday June 27, 2005
Page B1
MLA backs public access to beach
by Renee Stevens
PETITE RIVIERE
With the backing of MLA Kerry Morash, a community group that has been
battling for public access to Sperry's Beach finally fell like they are
gaining ground in the fight.
"Yesterday we made a major step forward," said resident Tom Daly after Mr.
Morash made a commitment to support their cause at a public meeting held on
Saturday.
"The major thing is ownership. (The Department of Natural Resources)
basically stonewalled us, but when we go through the research they based
their decision on, it's full of anomalies. So if (Mr. Morash) can get them
to look at our research, that would be very major."
The land in question is owned by the estate of the late Lawrence Himmelman.
The community had been using the beach for approximately 100 years, but
last year Mr. Himmelman's son David put up a fence and no trespassing signs
blocking access to the area.
The community group lobbied the government to reinstate public access to
the beach.
But Natural Resources Minister Richard Hurlburt decided the Himmelman
family owns the beach down to the high-water mark and the only Crown land
is a sandy road leading down the beach. As far as the province is
concerned, this mean the family has the right to block public access.
Mr. Daly thinks minds will be changed after seeing the evidence that his
group has gathered.
Mr. Morash promised the group that he will arrange a meeting with
Department of Natural Resources lawyers to revisit the issue.
"They have always had my support, but DNR said they had no claim to the
beach," said Mr. Morash.
"It has been brought to my attention now that they believe there is
information that DNR wouldn't have had when they made their decision, so
we're hopeful that there will be a good outcome in the end."
The information the group hopes to present is not entirely restricted to
their fight for the beach. Mr. Daly said they also have evidence that the
land Mr. Himmelman has cows on contains a number of graves.
"There are historical burial grounds there from Mi'kmaq, the original
French settlers, the Parks family and the Sperry family," he said. "One
grave is enough to call on the Cemetery Act and there are many there, so we
intend to prove that too."
Mr. Morash said this discovery could mean the land would become a protected
area and guarantee public access.
Mr. Daly said his group won't give up. "It took the government ten years
to dig themsleves into this hole, so they're not going to jump right out,"
he said.
mailto: newsroom@herald.ca
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