Critic of Illegal Island Home Targeted for Harassment

Paul Spadaro, president of the Magothy River Association, has been an outspoken critic of the county's mild response to Daryl Wagner's illegally built home on Little Dobbins Island. For good reason, as the person charged with heading the organization dedicated to conserving the river, the home, and the way it was built are an affront to all of the people living in the watershed who took the appropriate legal steps to built their own dwellings.

Mr. Wagner's mockery of the law, an the ineptitude of those who are supposed to be enforcing it has left it in the hands of citizen volunteers to keep the fight for a just outcome alive.

Now, someone has taken it upon him or herself to wage a campaign of harassment against Mr. Spadaro and his family. Two anonymously filed complaints accuse Mr. Spadaro of running an illegal "commercial boat tour business" from his residence. County inspectors have checked the home from the road and "haven't been able to establish any clear evidence of a zoning or permit violation."

In addition, Spadaro has had his property vandalized a number of times in the past month or so. Let's hope they catch the culprit. But, until they do, stand strong Mr. Spadaro, you're doing the community and the river a huge service by dedicating yourself to this cause.