To the editor:

What a victory for the people of Barrington. Our precious and beautiful beach will not be overrun for the entire weekend of June 8 and 9 by the Barrington Yacht Club as it hosts the New England sunfish regatta on public property. It’s in Hyannis on a spacious beach and private land, where it belongs.

In what can only be described as an incestuous relationship between the Town of Barrington and the yacht club that went on for years, the recreation department actually instructed the regatta participants to show up before 9 a.m. to park for free for two days, both auto and boat trailer. A police officer would graciously unlock the gate to the west end of the parking lot for the non-paying, non-residents to completely occupy that side of the beach, displacing tax-paying residents who actually own the beach.

We were sent up the hill to park on the neighborhood side streets and forced to carry our stuff the distance to the beach. Wasn’t that nice? I guess membership does have its privileges.

The clincher was that the Town of Barrington received almost nothing, while the yacht club made thousands of dollars on food, drink and parties. Every hardworking business owner in town struggling with permits, licensing, fees, zoning and taxes should be furious about this ridiculous giveaway to a bunch of rich people who don’t even live here.

The residents were rightfully enraged, and for years hundreds of people protested against the invasion. However, many people in local government, in local newspapers, and local businesses are also members of the Barrington Yacht Club, and nothing happened for years. This paper, for instance, featured mediocre articles on this inappropriate activity that were written by an actual yacht club member who did not reveal that in her pieces. That remains unaddressed by this paper. 

Anyway, congratulations Barrington! But you may never read this. The editor, who may or may not be a club member, is obsessed with a shallow pablum of news, deliberately avoiding anything, no matter how truthful, that is not flattering to what can only be described as an incestuous relationship that exists in this town. I will not stop writing about it, and it is cowardly not to print the truth, isn’t it?

Next election ask the candidates if they belong to either or both of the two wealthy private clubs that dominate the society of Barrington and possibly affect the town itself, as we absolutely saw with the yacht club regatta. The truth is that questions about membership are such a touchy subject that no one ever responds to them. The obvious impression is that they have something to hide.

By the way, in Rhode Island, there is no sales tax, use tax, or property tax on yachts at all. On a ten-million-dollar yacht, not a penny of tax is paid. 

Alan Sorrentino

Barrington