Dear Editor:

If you decide to build a big, fancy house or invest in commercial property, it would be good to be familiar with the principle of "due diligence." Another old business maxim is "buyer beware." This is not because someone is deliberately out to cheat you, but because we each have to ultimately own the decisions and incumbent risks we take. It's like the famous Pottery Barn Rule. "If you pick a piece up and break it, you own it, i.e., you pay for it.

Could the abutters to the Boothbay Harbor Waterfront Park be genuinely unfamiliar with these two fundamental rules of investing? That's hard to imagine.

Rob O'Connor

East Boothbay