Pandemic beach policies not as clear-cut as Day columnist suggests

David Collins may think “it does not take a legal genius” to say that East Lyme was guilty of a gross violation when it closed its beaches to nonresidents, “Is East Lyme price gouging on nonresident beach passes?” (July 9). Whether courts would find an exception to Laden v. Greenwich (July 2001) when a state of emergency exists, which requires limiting the crowds at beaches during this pandemic, is actually a complex question. The first selectman may have overstepped his authority when he closed the beaches to nonresidents, but under the circumstances it is not nearly as clear as Collins

suggests.

His assertion that the closure has “the makings of racial bias” is unwarranted, outrageous, and completely unsupported.

Kevin Booth

East Lyme