To the editor:

David M. Campbell’s letter to the editor (July 16 Sakonnet Times) deserves clarification. First let me introduce myself. I am not and have never been a member of the Tiverton Yacht Club nor have I ever applied for membership to the club. I am privileged to own a sailboat currently located temporarily outside the country. When the boat is in the USA during the summer it is kept at a mooring in the Sakonnet River. I am a retired professional engineer registered in the state of NY.

Mr. Campbell has not seen fit to tell the readers that he moved next door to the club long after the club existed in the neighborhood. He fails to mention that it is due to his legal actions that the club has spent "more than $300,000 for legal fees." In short Mr. Campbell is using his RI bar membership to keep the TYC tied up in the courts defending its existence against his frivolous legal assaults, which cost him only the time he spends on his word processor.

Attorney Campbell exhibits great hypocrisy in his "not in my back yard" attempt to kill off the TYC. His actions remind me of the new homeowner who purchases a home in the flight path of an airport and then complains of the noise.

Attorney Campbell has used the legal system so that the TYC cannot legally park any cars on their property while his property has unlimited parking.

Attorney Campbell has also used the legal system so that the TYC cannot have any boat slips even though they had slips long before Mr. Campbell moved next door.

Attorney Campbell has fought the members of the TYC while ignoring the expansion of the former Quality Yachts marina adjacent to the TYC. Bullies typically pick on only the weakest of opponents. Could it be that the new owners of this marina could afford to hire the kind of legal team that might easily keep the likes of Mr. Campbell at bay? Certainly it is easier to run a small citizen-owned club into the ground than a mega million dollar corporation. This expanded marina will have more than three times the number of slips in the future than the TYC had in the pre –"Attorney Campbell" days and wishes to maintain for the club’s use. Why has he chosen to ignore this commercial expansion while fighting to eliminate the adjacent TYC waterfront activity? One can conjure up several reasons. I leave it to the readers’ imaginations.

As for market rate for boat slips, I imagine Attorney Campbell feels all public golf clubs that charge less for green fees than private ones should be driven off the face of the earth as obviously it is wrong not to pay "market rate." Does he feel that members of ski clubs also should sell their club lodges so members can pay "market rate" at motels?

Attorney Campbell’s display of mean spiritedness against the TYC is truly amazing and downright despicable. If successful he will deprive the children of Tiverton a fine sailing program and many families the opportunity to share the enjoyment of waterfront family activities at a cost far below the cost of a waterfront home which he evidently feels should only be allowed for the privileged few who can afford to buy waterfront property. His actions have exhibited the antithesis of a person interested in promoting true community. His is much like the knee jerk reactions of property owners who, when told they might have a bike path running adjacent to their back yard, complain of supposed problems only to find that the path improved the value of their property and that their fears were unfounded.

Attorney Campbell’s actions are a disgrace to the legal profession and the RI bar. These actions are also a disappointment and embarrassment to all "small town" citizens such as myself who work hard to preserve and enjoy the "community" of coastal New England.

Forest Golden/P.E.

Portsmouth