On May 8, the PI reported that Select Board Chair Dick Quintal misspoke on April 29, when he stated that Southeastern Massachusetts Pine Barrens Alliance (“Southeastern”), together with others, had sued the town in April 2025 to stop construction of a business park on Hedges Pond Road despite having previously received a “sweetheart” lease on a parcel of Town owned property on Center Hill Road. The fact of the matter was that it was Save the Pine Barrens Inc.(“Save”), which had changed its name to Community Land and Water Coalition, Inc. (“Community”) two months earlier, which had sued the town, and not Southeastern.
The similarity of names between Southeastern and Save was confusing, and that confusion may have been intentional, in an effort to downplay the association between the Center Hill Road lessee and the Hedges Pond Road plaintiff.
At the Select Board meeting one week later, Sharl Heller claimed that Quintal had made a “false and troubling statement” at the prior meeting. However, Ms. Heller was one of the plaintiffs who, along with Community, had sued the Town over the Cedarville property. She is also president of Southeastern.
Ms. Heller was followed by Meg Sheehan, who demanded an apology from Quintal. However, Ms. Sheehan is counsel to both Community and Southeastern and the attorney who filed the suit against the Town on behalf of Community, Heller, and others over the Cedarville property.
In my opinion, these dual associations of Ms. Heller and Ms. Sheehan put them in a poor position to claim that Southeastern’s name was besmirched by Quintal.
– Richard M. Serkey