Getting locked out rather than locked up

It’s been a long time since I was threatened with being arrested. I’m going to say, 1981, at a protest at the U.N. that had something to do with Nicaragua, I think.

The Beagle Club on Edwards Avenue is a long way from United Nations plaza. And the security detail that took us into custody that day were a lot nicer than the angry county worker who demanded that I leave the premises or he would call park police and have me arrested.

He accused me of trespassing, entering the property through a locked gate. I assured him it was not locked, or I would not have been able to enter. I’m almost 57. I’m not climbing four-foot fences, no matter how much I want a story.

It didn’t matter that I politely introduced myself, said I was a reporter and I’d come to see what they were doing. He told me to get out and he was quite aggressive about it. Kept throwing around that “arrest” word. I’m not one to back down from an argument. I told him I wasn’t afraid because I’d done nothing wrong. (Besides, I have the police chief’s cell phone number on speed dial.) I would have liked to refuse to leave the property, just to see what would actually happen. I mean, actually getting arrested for stepping foot on public parkland would make for a great story, wouldn’t it? But it was Wednesday and I had to get to my Rotary Club meeting. I’m proud to say I refrained from using the “I pay your salary” line on this obnoxious young man. I also didn’t pull the “I’m old enough to be your mother-would you like someone talking to your mother this way” bit on him, either.

If I’ve learned one thing these many years — did I mention I’m pushing 57? — it’s this: When people act like they have something to hide, they usually do.

The rationale presented for leasing the former Beagle Club site — county parkland — to a motorcycle group headed up by the county parks superintendent was that the bikers would make needed repairs to the buildings. Repairs that the county doesn’t have the money or manpower to handle. It would save the taxpayers money.

So why, then, are county parks department employees — who are, presumably, under the supervision of that superintendent — making repairs to the clubhouse? According to watchful neighbors, they’ve been working there ever since the county legislature approved the deal on May 13 — though never before. The repairs would seem to benefit the parks superintendent’s private nonprofit motorcycle group. This certainly merits explanation, at the very least.

The parks commissioner said the workers were removing moldy sheet rock from the cellar. When I was at the site today, I heard a power saw cutting wood in the basement of the clubhouse. I saw four work vans parked behind the building. I saw no Dumpster back there or any evidence of sheet rock coming out of the basement. I didn’t go in the basement so I didn’t see what they were doing, but something doesn’t add up. In fact, one neighbor said he works out at a gym with two plumbers on the county parks payroll who told him they have been working at the clubhouse.

Legis. Al Krupski told me he had no idea this was going on. I believe him. I’ve never known Al to be anything but honest and forthright. He said he’s going to find out what they’ve been doing. I trust he will try.

Meanwhile, I’ve submitted a Freedom of Information Law application to access parks department work orders and other records in connection with the Beagle Club site going back to January.

Because when people act like they’ve got something to hide, they usually do.

Denise Civiletti is the editor and copublisher of RiverheadLocal.com. An award-winning community journalist, she is an attorney and former Riverhead Town councilwoman (1988-1991); she lives in Riverhead with her husband and business partner, Peter Blasl and their two college-student daughters. The views expressed in her blog are hers alone.