The article concerning the sale of a previously set aside sanctuary on the Eastern shore ("Shore wildlife sanctuary sold," Baltimoresun.com, July 16) is disturbing to me and should be to all Marylanders.

Bob Pascal, who got very wealthy once he left office as county executive of Anne Arundel County, has purchased the 950 acre estate in Talbot County for $8.5 million. A steal for that amount of property with waterfront, even in today's market.

The property once owned by the philanthropic du Pont family & donated to the National Audubon Society. We're told it was sold because the society needed cash.

How convenient, and what gives the Audubon Society the right, legally or morally, to sell property that should have been saved for a preserve exclusively? Where was the state of Maryland during this transaction? They seem to be in Marylander's pocketbooks, seizing private property when it serves their purpose.

This property should have reverted back into the hands of the du Pont family, for I can't believe this is what they had in mind originally.

How much of this land will be eventually used to construct a for-profit resort, such as the one Pascal operates in St. Michaels and is a woefully inadequate facility, having stayed there.

Government takeovers of private property are disturbing, to say the least, and on the rise, many unjustifiably. Backroom, sweetheart deals such as this one don't pass the smell test and are a major disappointment for the few remaining waterfront properties left on the Chesapeake Bay that Marylanders can enjoy.

Bernard McKernan, Parkville