In a Divided Time, One Chief Tries to Keep the Peace on Both Sides of Main Street
The Bar Harbor Story is generously sponsored by Choco-Latté Café.
SOUTHWEST HARBOR—Southwest Harbor Police Chief John Hall told his select board on Tuesday that there is an increasing potential for political violence that makes officers, even in rural communities, have to walk a bit of a line.
Political violence, Chief Hall said, “is something that every agency is now grappling with since the events in September and it’s very present. It’s a palatable atmosphere, and today we actually had a conversation with the group that is going to be having a demonstration here in town on Saturday.”
Chief Hall did not specify what events he was referencing in September, but it is likely that he meant the shooting death of conservative activist Charlie Kirk during a Utah Valley University event, September 10.
Mount Desert Island is no stranger to political activism. Southwest Harbor was the site of a No Kings demonstration this past summer and multiple stand outs. Smaller protests often occur outside Leonard Leo’s home in Northeast Harbor. Bar Harbor’s Village Green is often the site of rallies, the beginning or end point of marches, and demonstrations. Just this year, Bar Harbor was the site of stand outs, marches and rallies about a plethora of topics.
“One of the things that we felt very important to stress to the group was that the law enforcement’s role in these type of situations is to protect their (protestors) First Amendment rights to assembly, to petition the government redress of grievances in a peaceful manner and also to address complaints that we received from citizens if there’s safety issues that they’re bringing to our attention, or we are seeing, and the fine line that the officers are now walking is you have the duty to protect an awful lot of constitutional rights that are being used and expressed versus some of others’ similar rights to express their thoughts and ideas,” Chief Hall said. “And a lot of that develops clashes, and how do we, as officers, work to protect both sides of that issue.”
There is likely going to be a No Kings demonstration on Saturday in Southwest Harbor. Nationwide, the No Kings events has often focused on immigration policies and actions by ICE, the mobilization of National Guard, cuts in federal spending. Nationwide, and Constitutional freedoms. The organizers anticipate millions of attendees. In June, approximately five million gathered to protest across the country in a No Kings day of protest. The events are organized by a broad coalition of labor unions and networks of activists.
“They are expecting between 500 and 1,000 attendees on Saturday for an hour and a half,” Chief Hall said of the Southwest Harbor event, which is one of 2,500 events planned throughout the United States.
Because of those potential numbers, he said, what the group had proposed wouldn’t work because they wanted to use part of the school property and parking lot for the protest.
“I had to explain to them that Mount Desert Island Hospital was having a health fair that day. That’s running from like 9 to 3,” he said. That is in the school lot in downtown proper.
“There are an awful lot of vendors that are coming to that fair. And, you know, I explained to them, I said, my officer was committed to doing that, not being out on the road with 1,000 people. So, we have to make some significant changes.”
Also, Saturday is the pre-race date for the MDI Marathon and Finish Line Festival, which involves finish line crews and tent crews coming into the same area of Southwest Harbor.
“So, the conversation kind of then moved to that they (protestors) were going to be in the grass going north from the church, starting at the church going north up Main Street and that they would be on that side of the road. They would not be blocking the sidewalks, or stepping out into the road, which is going to be our concern,” Chief Hall said.
“There’s going to be so many people in such a small area for a very small amount of time,” Chief Hall said.
The police chief gave the organizers a permit application, which requires a fee. However, town staff worried about making people pay a fee for a permit so that they can execute their constitutional rights.
“It doesn’t sit well,” Chief Hall said. “It doesn’t sound right, doesn’t pass the straight face test.”
The town is going to work on creating a different form so that protestors or demonstrators can notify the town.
He added that after the group is in Southwest Harbor, it will likely head to Ellsworth to protest there at City Hall around noon. There is some overlap in the times of the protest. The Southwest Harbor protest begins at 11. It was advertised nationally as going from 11-12:30, but will likely end earlier.
File photos: Bar Harbor Story.
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