Police maintain patrols during Earth First! event Activists move many activities off Sears Island

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SEARSPORT – Police remained vigilant Saturday and Sunday on the road leading to Sears Island even as the environmental group Earth First! moved many of the activities it planned to host on the island this weekend to another site.

About 40 people walked Sunday afternoon the three-quarters of a mile from where police had barricaded the road, then headed east along the island’s shore, where they ate lunch, talked, and waded in the water.

A workshop at which they were to discuss activism issues was to follow.

No police presence was apparent on the island Sunday, but Thursday night, the scene was much different.

About 8 p.m., 15 to 20 officers in more than a dozen vehicles representing the Maine State Police, Waldo County Sheriff’s Department and the Searsport Police Department drove down the causeway and searched the island with dogs and flashlights, looking for about 10 of those who were organizing the Earth First! event and were believed to be camping there. The state does not allow camping on the undeveloped Penobscot Bay island.

They found none of the people, but seized the group’s tents, tarps, sleeping bags, backpacks, food, water and medical supplies, which had been left in an old foundation.

Earth First! organizers would not say whether they were on the island Thursday night. Police cataloged and photographed the items, returned the food and water Friday afternoon, and returned the other gear Saturday afternoon.

The regional gathering for the activist group was planned for three months and well-publicized, organizer Will Neils of Lincolnville said Saturday.

State police also planned for the event, preparing to arrest any of the group who violated the rule that prohibits overnight stays on the island.

According to officials with the Department of Transportation, which administrates the state’s ownership of the 941-acre island, state police recommended DOT authorize them to enforce the ban on camping. DOT and state police were reportedly concerned about the threat of fire and property damage.

Searsport Police Chief Mark Pooler said Friday that a heavy-duty lock securing the gate at the island end of the causeway had been cut, possibly with an acetylene torch. Police suspected the activists cut the lock and drove a vehicle onto the island to deposit the camping gear.

But Neils and fellow organizer Jim Freeman of Verona Island said Saturday the lock had been off the gate for a week. They also said police asked the group to give DNA samples to help determine who cut the lock, but the activists refused.

Neils said Saturday those attending the weekend gathering were directed to a farm in Brooks in northern Waldo County, where they camped out and held workshops.

With vehicle access blocked to the causeway, where people typically park if they are going to walk on the island, getting to the shore meant a walk of about three-quarters of a mile on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Those visiting also witnessed a steady patrol of one or two Searsport police cruisers.

Searsport police officers could be heard on a police radio scanner calling in the license plates of some who drove on the road to ascertain their identity.

Russ Lancaster and Stephanie Staples of Searsport said they are not sympathetic to the Earth First! mission of environmental activism.

Lancaster said he would not oppose a Wal-Mart store being built in the middle of the island.

But he and his wife said they were upset at the manner in which police handled the activists.

Witnessing the police vehicles heading for the island Thursday left Lancaster thinking it was “a total over-reaction,” he said Saturday, after calling the Bangor Daily News to express his views.

Staples agreed.

“I just don’t think Earth First! has done anything wrong,” she said.

The two regularly take their daughters to the beach on the island to hunt for sea glass.

“We went down there today not realizing we’d have to pass a police barrier,” Staples said. The barriers also made it more difficult for elderly and handicapped people to enjoy access to the island, she said.

Molly Ladd, 19, a freshman at Bates College, attended the Earth First! gathering.

“This is my first event,” she said Sunday. Earth First! did a presentation at Bates, and she signed up to learn about such gatherings.

The effort by activists to keep Sears Island free from development, Ladd said, “is almost symbolic” of other environmental battles in Maine.

Alec Aman, 24, of Brooklin has attended other Earth First! events.

“I think it’s important that we all get together and have a constructive dialogue” about the island, he said. “It’s very special.”

Those who see the island as a potential industrial site are short-sighted, Aman said.

Tom Feagley, 59, of Malden, Mass., said Sears Island “is what got me involved [with Earth First!] in the first place.” While the others ate lunch, he walked along the shore and gathered driftwood.

“I love coming here and walking,” he said.