The Rhode Island affiliate of the American Civil Liberties Union is asking the Weekapaug Fire District to stop notifying shoreline access advocates that they may be called to testify in an ongoing legal matter because they donated to a GoFundMe campaign meant to support opening up public beach access in that case.
In a Dec. 7 letter to the fire district’s moderator, ACLU Executive Director Steven Brown says his organization is “deeply concerned that these letters have the effect, if not the intent, of chilling the exercise of free speech and freedom of association rights of people interested in shoreline access issues.”
The ACLU also asks the fire district to notify anyone who was already sent a letter that it is withdrawn.
The ACLU letter says the Weekapaug Fire District “should immediately disavow this effort to chill public support for a position that it opposes based solely on participation in a GoFundMe campaign.”
The Weekapaug Fire District is a quasi-municipal entity that doesn’t have a fire department but does own and manage beachfront property it restricts the public from using in the summer months.
The letter from the ACLU to the fire district includes a copy of the letter the fire district’s attorney sent by mail to a husband and wife who donated to the “Restore our Spring Avenue Right-of-Way” cause meant to support legal efforts to open up that right-of-way in the Weekapaug section of Westerly for public use. The case is currently under review by the Rhode Island Coastal Resources Management Council’s Rights-of-Way Subcommittee.
The Weekapaug Fire District argues it is the rightful owner of Spring Avenue, or “Spring Avenue Extension,” and has the right to block it to prevent the public from reaching the shoreline at the 1.7-mile Quonochontaug Barrier Beach.
The Rhode Island Attorney General’s Office is involved in the case, arguing for the right-of-way to be designated public. Another attorney, Michael Rubin, is representing a private individual who wants the right-of-way deemed public. The GoFundMe page was set up by Rubin’s client, Westerly resident Caroline Contrata, to support her efforts.
The letter from the Weekapaug Fire District attorney Joseph Farside, of the law firm Locke Lord, tells GoFundMe contributors: “It has come to our attention that you are a donor to the Restore our Spring Avenue Right-of-way cause … Based on your donation to Ms. Contrata’s fundraiser, you have been identified as a potential witness in the Spring Avenue Extension CRMC matter. We would like to interview you in the near term and, potentially, depose you.”
A person who answered Farside’s telephone line on Thursday said Farside was out of the office but a message would be sent to him. Farside did not respond to The Public’s Radio prior to deadline.
The Weekapaug Fire District did not respond to an emailed request for comment.
Ben Weber, a shoreline access advocate and one of the recipients of the Weekapaug letters, said the district’s actions were “strictly an intimidation tactic and harassment.”
Weber said he thinks the intent is to try to dissuade activists from being involved in shoreline access causes and discourage donors to Contrata’s campaign.
In an interview, the ACLU’s Steven Brown said the message sent to GoFundMe donors “certainly has the effect of intimidating people” and that it’s hard to find “any sort of meaningful connection between making a donation and being a material witness in a legal proceeding.”
“People donate to causes and organizations all the time, because they believe in whatever the mission is of that cause. It doesn’t make them experts,” Brown said. “If I contribute to some organization after Hurricane Katrina, it doesn’t make me a useful witness when somebody challenges the breaking of the levee.”
It’s unclear how many people have received the fire district’s letter. On social media, at least four people have said they were contacted by the fire district or posted their letters. Contrata’s fundraiser has raised more than $13,000, including several dozen donations made since the fire district letters were sent and shared online.
Brown said he hoped his letter would persuade the fire district to change its course, but if the district does not, the ACLU will consider its next steps.
“I think any option is on the table,” Brown said.
This is the second time the ACLU has found itself calling out the Weekapaug Fire District in recent months. In September, the organization sent the fire district a letter because it was blocking the public from viewing information on its website that the ACLU said “clearly is public.” The Weekapaug Fire District, which asked visitors to provide an email and wait to receive access permission, changed its website policy to make the information public.
Alex Nunes can be reached at anunes@thepublicsradio.org.
