Wallum Lake unruly crowds 'at a tipping point,' say Douglas police

Posted by Wayne G. Barber

 

DOUGLAS - Long-simmering tensions between local officials and the state Department of Conservation and Recreation are nearing the boiling point after the past two weekends brought disturbances to town from Douglas State Forest visitors. At issue are unruly crowds who cause trouble while waiting for the parking lot at Wallum Lake Recreation Area to reopen after it reaches capacity.

"Somebody is going to get hurt," Police Chief Patrick T. Foley said in an interview Tuesday. "To me, we've pretty much been held hostage by DCR on this."

Selectman Kevin Morse said in an interview that if the situation isn't changed by the August selectmen's meeting, he would recommend to the board that they close Wallum Lake Road, except for local traffic, for the duration of the summer.

Mr. Morse would propose, "We take any means necessary under our power as selectmen," which also includes acting as highway commissioners with jurisdiction over roads.

The town's primary complaint is that except for special negotiated policies on peak holidays, DCR refuses to close the park for the day once the parking area fills up. Instead, the park is closed temporarily and reopened later in the day. Visitors who are turned away while the park is closed tend to loiter on Wallum Lake Road, trespass on neighbors' property or gather in town, often drinking and harassing residents, town officials say.

Douglas police have brought in reinforcements from the state police Community Action Team, state environmental police and Burrillville, Rhode Island, police to deal with disorderly crowds and trespassers, but Chief Foley said, "We were outnumbered."

"Douglas is a tinderbox and I am deeply concerned that a tragic event will take place as a result of the Commonwealth's policies and facilities here. It is only a matter of time," wrote Selectman Timothy P. Bonin in a letter to Matthew A. Beaton, secretary of Energy and Environmental Affairs, after a meeting in Boston between local and state officials before the July Fourth holiday. The town was granted a single park closure policy for July 3, 4 and 5. It will also close for the day after reaching capacity on Victory over Japan Day, Aug. 10, which is a state holiday in Rhode Island.

Even so, over the Fourth of July weekend Douglas police reported, park visitors were videotaping them while they moved illegally parked cars and tried to maintain order outside the park. Chief Foley said his officers also had to contend with visitors trying to urinate on the highway barn on Main Street.

Douglas Police Sgt. Aaron McLaughlin wrote in a report to the chief that last weekend was worse than the holiday weekend, particularly while turned-away visitors were waiting for the park to reopen at 4 p.m.

Sgt. McLaughlin reported that shortly after 3 p.m. Sunday he received a call from the Family Fuels convenience store at 63 Main St. saying that 10 to 12 vehicles were there with dozens of people loitering around all parts of the building. 

"We never had a chance to deal with them," he wrote. "Instead we responded to the highway garage where approximately 30-40 vehicles were set up drinking, picnicking and occupying every available space in the parking lot including the front of garage bays and mixed within town trucks."

Outside the park entrance, cars were parked on both sides of narrow Wallum Lake Road in violation of posted signs and people were milling around. Two visitors had to be removed from a resident's property, police said.

State and environmental police assisted with several other disturbances at the park, many involving drugs and alcohol. 

"Traffic congestion, disobedience and a huge lack of respect towards park staff and law enforcement seems to be at a tipping point," Sgt. McLaughlin continued in his report. "The potential for violence or injury is ever-increasing as we are outnumbered and under-equipped to deal with the crowds that DCR allows into their understaffed facility. As I reported to you last week during the 4th, I dealt with people chanting (expletive) the police and being confrontational."

State Rep. Joseph D. McKenna, R-Webster, forwarded the Douglas police report to Mr. Beaton and DCR officials Tuesday. He reported back that he received an email from Antonio Barletta, DCR director of governmental affairs, saying that "We are looking into this situation closely."

Chief Foley said he remained frustrated by what he described as more than five years of state inaction on park-closure policy. "We've done everything possible," he said, "and it's not enough." Source: Susan Spencer, Telegram Staff Writer