UPDATE: Three Arrested Protesting Beach Excavation In Montauk

UPDATE: 10 a.m.

"Save our beach," exclaimed Montauk resident Sarah Conway as she was handcuffed and led into an East Hampton Town Police van with two others at about 7:30 on Friday morning. "Save our beach from destruction!"

An hour earlier, a dozen Town Police officers had watched as the rag tag group walked from Kirk Park onto the beach and made its way into the trench that had been gouged out of the natural dunes a day ago.

"Montauk Village is in the wrong place," said Keri Lamparter, one of the protesters, saying that businesses along the beachfront should have to retreat from the ocean as erosion threatens them rather than artificially bolstering the shore with the sandbags. "We don't support the Army Corps project. It makes no sense and we're not going to let it go forward. We will sit in the path of these bulldozers. So let's plant our butts. We're not leaving."

Construction crews stood by their vehicles as police appealed to the protesters to make their point and then move on.

"I know why you guys are here, we understand your concerns, but we're going to ask you to move to a public location," Town Police Sergeant Robert Gurney told the protesters. "You guys mull it over. We'll give you a few minutes, but we're going to do what we need to do. The charge would be a misconduct charge."

Three of the protesters—Ms. Conway, James Katsipis and Tom LaGrassa—agreed to remain in the pit until officers came and led them to a waiting paddy wagon. After the two men were led away, Ms. Conway laid on the sand, her arms spread open, until a female officer trudged down and coaxed her out. The rest of the protesters walked out of the pit and watched from the deck of the Ocean End motel, as the three were taken away and a backhoe resumed digging the 20-foot deep trench while a dump truck hauled the sand up the beach where it is being stockpiled until it will be used to cover the sandbags.

The project, which is being paid for with $8.9 million in federal funding, is expected to take about three months to complete. Once finished, East Hampton Town and Suffolk County will be responsible for replenishing sand that is washed away over time exposing the sandbags. Estimates for the maintenance costs are about $150,000 annually. Critics have pointed out that when completed the wall of sandbags will extend nearly to the mean high-tide line, and possibly below it during exceptionally high tides. It will mean the natural beach will cease to exist, they have claimed.

UPDATE: 8:15 a.m.

Police arrested three of the protesters on Friday morning for impeding the construction vehicles. Montauk residents James Katsipis and Sarah Conway and Sag Harbor resident Tom LaGrassa were arrested at the bottom of the excavation area. They were charged with disorderly conduct, a violation.

ORIGINAL STORY

Protesters blocked bulldozers from beginning work on a Montauk beach on Friday morning.

Contractors working for the Army Corps of Engineers are excavating the beach to make way for a revetment of sand bags meant to protect downtown Montauk businesses from a severe storm, the beginning of the Downtown Montauk Emergency Stabilization Project.

Protesters said that the project is ill-advised and will ruin Montauk's natural beaches.

East Hampton Town Police have asked the crowd of about 20 protesters to disperse but the group has refused to leave.