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Politics & Government

When A Tree Falls In North Kingstown, Who Cleans It Up?

In a small town in a small state, many different hands take care of business

On Thursday, July 7, an oak tree fell on Roger Williams – or rather, it fell on the stone slab that supports a plaque honoring Roger Williams at the Richard Smith Grove on Post Road, between the and the .

The large old tree with an impressive girth was in full leaf when it shattered against the slab, leaving a pile of broken branches around the monument. Thousands of cars drive passed the site every day.

A reporter took a photo.

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Saturday, July 9, an emergency crew from North East Landscaping cut up the branches and the stump and stacked the wood.

The reporter took another picture and decided to write a small story about the incident, built around the photos. But, they needed a caption.

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Of course, on a busy Saturday, public workers were dealing with the annual among other weekend events, and all the relevant public agencies were closed.

So Monday, a call to the North Kingstown Department of Public Works eventually produced this response: No one from the town commissioned the tree cleanup. The grove is state property. RIDOT (the Rhode Island Department of Transportation) handled it.

Tuesday, a call was placed to RIDOT, and a very nice man in Public Affairs did some checking. By Wednesday, he had his answer. "No one from RIDOT cut up that tree."

Thursday, another call was placed to the town DPW with the same answer: It was the state – probably the guys from the Belleville Garage.

Friday morning, the reporter stopped by the Belleville Garage and spoke to workers there. They said they had nothing to do with the tree cleanup – the state Department of Environmental Management handled it.

Another call was placed to the DEM director's office and, eureka! Friday afternoon the DEM office at Goddard State Park confirmed that office had commissioned the tree cleanup.


And the Richard Smith Grove is tidy once again.

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