Projo — Shore access in R.I.: Where to draw the line in the sand?

A line of shoreline access advocates stand on a Charlestown Beach just above the seaweed line Saturday morning in a demonstration to protect public access to the shore. [The Providence Journal / Tom Mooney ]

By Tom Mooney — A month after Charlestown resident Scott Keeley was arrested for trespassing, he and about 100 other protesters returned to the same swath of beach on Saturday to raise awareness to what they say is the erosion of Rhode Islanders’ state constitutional right to the shore.

South Kingstown, RI — Private beach owners and advocates for shoreline access quarreled toe-to-toe Saturday on Charlestown Beach in an argumentative clash that cried out for one clear line in the sand.

And that’s the rub. There is none.

A month after Charlestown resident Scott Keeley was arrested for trespassing, he and about 100 other protesters returned to the same swath of beach to raise awareness to what they say is the erosion of Rhode Islanders’ state constitutional right to the shore.

“We understand that the landowners have a deed,” said Keeley, “but we, the people, have a Constitution. Where they overlap, the Constitution allows us our rights to the Rhode Island shore.”

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