At recent Plymouth Select Board weekly meetings, people have been speaking at public comment about the 33-acre sand mining operation getting underway at 71 Hedges Pond Road by Duxbury-based Eric Pontiff. This land is the Wampanoag Native American Tribe’s “Great Lot,” an ancient homesite and sacred area. It was designated as conservation land by Town Meeting in 1993 and is identified on the state’s “BioMap 3” as “Prime Forest” and “Rare Species Core.”
At the meetings, Wampanoag Tribal members and others have been speaking about the desecration of this sacred land without an archeological study, chopping down trees and destroying vegetation while a legal appeal is pending, and violations of the zoning bylaws. They have also raised questions about the Town selling this land for $1 to the “Plymouth Foundation” as a pass through for sale to the developer.
At the February 18, 2025 Select Board meeting, Troy Currence, the Herring Pond Wampanoag Tribe’s Medicine Man, read a statement from the Tribal officer responsible for protecting historic sites that the land is near an “ancient Indian cemetery” and requires an archeological study. One commenter attempted to read a letter from the Herring Pond Wampanoag tribe but was gaveled and cut off. The board’s vice chair, Mr. Canty, then proclaimed the public is “weaponizing” the board’s public comment session by speaking about this topic. The board then threatened to end all future public comment if the public does not stop talking about this.
On February 14, 2025, 12 people, including six Wampanoag tribal members, appealed the building inspector’s Jan. 16, 2025, development and mining permits issued to the Plymouth Foundation but the appeal does not stop Pontiff from logging the forest or desecrating the sacred Native American grounds. The Zoning Board of Appeals could revoke the permits at its March 17, 2025, public hearing and issue a cease and desist. Meanwhile, the sacred land is being logged and desecrated. There was never a public hearing or environmental or archeological study.
The Select Board’s public comment session is the only way to bring concerns to town leaders in the meantime. The Town Manager, Derek Brindisi, participates in these weekly Select Board meetings. The Select Board and Mr. Brindisi supervise all town staff, including the building inspector and town planner. None of these offices have a weekly open “public comment” session. The Select Board and Mr. Brindisi can bring public concerns raised at the meetings to the town staff who are public employees and work for the taxpayers.
The Select Board’s threat to end public comment is an alarming attempt to eliminate open debate, free speech, and the right to petition one’s government for redress. It has overtones of racism and extremism. Eliminating public comment would be a dark day for open government in Plymouth and all human rights.
– Meg Sheehan
Sheehan is a co-founder of the Community Land & Water Coalition.