WESTERLY —A Charlestown resident and vocal shoreline public access rights advocate again took his message to the skies over Rhode Island beaches on Sunday.
For the second year, Scott Keeley organized a plane to tow a banner along Rhode Island’s coast with the message, “The Rhode Island shore is not private” for several hours on Sunday. The flight originated from Westerly Airport and was seen by thousands visiting the beaches.
In 2023 over the Fourth of July weekend, Keeley initiated the inaugural flight amid grassroots efforts to pass a strengthened bill to protect the public’s access to the shore. The bill eventually became law, but was challenged by shoreline property owners with a lawsuit that ultimately was dismissed.
Last July, in response to Keeley’s banner, The Pacific Legal Foundation, which represented the Rhode Island Association of Coastal Taxpayers in the suit, hired a plane to fly a banner saying, “R.I. takes private property” above beaches in the state.
On Friday, Rhode Island Superior Court Judge Sarah Taft-Carter issued a preliminary decision in a second lawsuit, siding with private property owners who seek to overturn the state’s new shoreline access legislation.