The Shepherdstown Men’s Club and a number of other community organizations and residents were greatly relieved to receive the March 3, 2011, decision of U. S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit reaffirming an earlier decision of Judge John Preston Bailey that granted summary judgment in their favor. This hopefully is the final chapter in this protracted, painful and expensive series of legal actions. I cannot improve on the succinct summary provided by United States Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals Judge J. Harvie Wilkinson III who wrote the opinion:

“We are asked once again to intervene in a decades-old land-use dispute between Aubrey Henry and the sundry local government bodies and neighboring residents who played a part in turning back his development plans. Henry chiefly alleges that the defendants took his property by granting him a less intensive conditional use permit than the one to which he claims he was entitled. Because he had no such entitlement and because his numerous other claims are without merit, we affirm the district court’s grant of summary judgment to the defendants.”

This final decision terminates what the court called “the byzantine procedural history” of Mr. Henry’s law suits. I think it is important and timely to share this with the many individuals and organizations that were adversely impacted by these actions in order that we may put these contentious issues behind us. Mr. Henry has had his day in court. We can at last move on and focus on the business at hand which is to enjoy in full measure Morgan’s Grove Park and our neighborly interaction as residents in greater Shepherdstown.