Court’s club ruling:

A great read

Sakonnet Times Editorial April 6, 2011

Turns out people had good reason to be baffled by Superior Court decisions a few years back concerning the Tiverton Yacht Club’s efforts to rebuild their burned clubhouse.

In a series of head-scratchers, Judge Melanie Thunberg had slammed the club up one side and down the other. Ruling again and again in favor of a lawyer neighbor, she took issue with the club’s year-round use, its size, parking, docks and more. She called the club’s rebuilding plans “impermissible,” illegal,” and “unlawful.”

Her sharply worded decisions were startling. The club had been operating there for generations after all and was victim of a fire that destroyed its lovely clubhouse full of photos, trophies and memories. Fair play and precedent seemed to dictate that the members would be allowed to rebuild — but evidently not to this judge.

All of which is why last week’s reversal of her rulings, one after another by the state Supreme Court, makes such gratifying reading.

The high court did not merely refute the Superior Court’s decisions. It smacked them down in language seldom seen in Supreme Court conclusions.

The judge who wrote the decision did not mince words.

She “erred,” it says in one place. “There is no authority for the trial justice’s action” ... “We hold that the trial justice abused her discretion ...”

Witnesses to this sad eight-year ordeal know better than to celebrate yet, but the high court’s decision is the strongest signal yet that this club will finally be able to rebuild.

Sadly, the battle has drained the club of its insurance money, a good chunk of its financial resources and some of its members.

The spirit is still strong though, as evidenced by announcement of plans for yet another summer of sail training for young people. Their clubhouse may be long gone, but members have held fast to their mission — providing fun, affordable access to the water and the joys of sailing to families from Tiverton and many towns around.

For all their long shorelines, there are precious few places left in these towns for people without the good fortune to own waterfront homes to go boating. And even these places — from rights-of-way to the water to fishing docks and struggling boatyards — are under intense pressure and need protection from town and state. It is to their credit that that the Town of Tiverton and now the state Supreme Court have stood in defense of this small club.

Eight years this club has waited. It’s time to rebuild.