More than a dozen veterans and their family members showed up at a Thursday hearing of the Rhode Island House Committee on Special Legislation to support a bill that would rename the Sakonnet River Bridge after a fallen soldier.

Three supporters offered spoken testimony for bill H5051, led by Westerly Democrat Rep. Samuel Azzinaro, which would rename the bridge connecting Portsmouth and Tiverton to the Staff Sergeant Christopher Potts Sakonnet Bridge. Azzinaro, a retired National Guardsman who chairs the House Veterans’ Affairs Committee, said the bill came to him via the House Veterans’ Affairs Advisory Council.

One of the supporters was retired Command Sgt. Maj. Raymond Viens, who served alongside Potts, a Tiverton resident and National Guardsman killed in action in Iraq in 2004.

“We’re not here to diminish the service or the sacrifice of any other service member, any of our brothers and sisters that also paid the ultimate price,” Viens, who served as Potts’ platoon sergeant, told the committee. “We’re here to advocate on behalf of our soldier who we feel made the ultimate sacrifice, but in doing so, saved lives.”

Potts “died because he found something he was not supposed to find,” according to Viens. That something was a weapons cache stocked with ammo, guns, rockets, mortars, artillery rounds, IED timers and more. Iraqi insurgent groups at the time were splintered, Viens said, but the cache served as a hub for these guerilla fighters — and as a danger for U.S. soldiers who may have been traveling nearby, like Potts, who often patrolled the area.

“He found this, and they found him and they executed him,” Viens said, adding that Potts was killed alongside the platoon’s medic. “Not a firefight. Executions.”

“We think that by him finding this cache — it was the largest cache in Iraq at the time — it put a damper on the insurgents’ operations against us and saved a lot of lives,” Viens continued.  

Potts was posthumously awarded the Bronze Star Medal with Combat “V” and the Purple Heart. Former President George W. Bush met with members of his family in 2007. Terri Potts, his widow, was at the committee meeting Thursday.

It’s not the first time lawmakers have wanted to rename the Sakonnet River Bridge. It’s not even the first time lawmakers have wanted to name the bridge after Potts. When the original Sakonnet River Bridge was slated for replacement way back in 2008, the opportunity arose to give the new bridge a new name. 

In 2009, former Democratic Rep. Amy Rice of Portsmouth wanted to name the bridge after the town’s colonial founder, Anne Hutchinson. The same year, Rep. John G. Edwards, a Tiverton Democrat, rallied to have the bridge named after Potts. Edwards soon retooled the bill to call the bridge the “Veterans’ Memorial Sakonnet River Bridge,” for all the fallen soldiers of Portsmouth. 

Neither bill succeeded, nor did a 2011 resubmission by Edwards for the Veterans Memorial branding. The new bridge finally opened in 2012, under its old name: the Sakonnet River Bridge. 

‘That scoreboard is coming down’

Viens testified to the committee that a tribute to Potts is even more pressing, given that an existing dedication might soon be erased. A scoreboard at Pottsy Field in Middletown has sported the fallen soldier’s name since 2006, but an ongoing development project supported by the town could reshape the park and surrounding land.

“They’re going to build condominiums, and that scoreboard is coming down,” Viens said. “And so there’s not going to be anything left in the state that shows his sacrifice.”

The scoreboard is still up for now. Matt Sheley, a spokesperson for the town of Middletown, said that Pottsy Field is still standing on West Main Road, near the town’s public library. 

“It’s used periodically by various community groups for events like flag football games and practices,” Sheley said in an email.

But change is certainly planned for the area. Sheley said that “a trio of local developers” want to build a mixed-use “centerpiece for the community” where the field and a number of adjacent lots currently stand. The land, which occupies 600 through 740 West Main Road, is located on a busy artery of Aquideneck Island furnished with businesses. The town signed a 99-year lease for the land with the developers last October, according to The Newport Daily News. 

The developers want to construct commercial and residential properties. Sheley said the developers are still going through the permit process, and appeared most recently before the town’s planning board on Wednesday.  

“At this point, no new construction has been permitted or happened at 600-740 West Main Road,” Sheley said. “All of the existing uses remain ‘as is’ until the project secures the necessary permits and permissions.”

The Pottsy Field sign can still be seen from the road. Potts himself played on the field in a men’s softball league, according to a 2022 article in The Newport Daily News, when the development project was already emerging. A family member interviewed at the time said that if the field were moved to a new location because of the project, it probably wouldn’t be the same since Potts hadn’t played on it.

The Committee on Special Legislation is tasked with proposed laws not covered by any of the House’s usual specialty areas like health or education. As is standard for new legislation, the committee held Azzinaro’s bill for further study. 

Following the public comment, Azzinaro thanked the bill’s supporters for attending, and encouraged them to submit written testimony to the House.