Letters

Re “Sides agree to plan for crowded property line landscaping,” March 2012 edition:
    The Feb. 8 Manalapan architectural committee meeting dealt with two specific, separate requests by Nives Montero; first, for approval to modify an existing residence and, second, approval of a new landscaping plan for her residence.
    Instead of dealing with these two items, the meeting turned into a showcase for more than three hours of complaints by Peter McLean, with some assistance from one of the commissioners, against Nives Montero, who lives just behind McLean. The chairman of the meeting, Keith Waters, tried more than once, without success, to halt the far-ranging attacks on Montero by insisting that only matters directly concerning the two above-mentioned matters could be discussed.
    While Coastal Star reporter Steve Plunkett described in some detail McLean’s complaints against Montero, he did not report that several neighbors and friends of  Montero attended the meeting and that some spoke up, sometimes quite passionately, to deplore the lack of neighborliness,  fairness and common civility being shown in the meeting.
    Montero herself was not at the meeting because she was suffering from painful symptoms usually caused by severe stress.  
    Montero has the sympathy and understanding of her many friends in Point Manalapan who are aware of her side of the story. We sincerely hope that this letter will somehow signal closure of the unseemly publicizing of personal grievances between neighbors and restore a  pleasant, friendly atmosphere in the Point.

Mary Ann Puhek-Kunkle
Manalapan