Trillo Bill Targets Yacht Club Color Ceremony

Warwick State Rep. Joe Trillo, who is suing East Greenwich Yacht Club after they kicked him out for launching into an expletive-laced tirade in front of fellow members and young children last summer, has submitted another bill that appears to be an act of revenge for his ouster from the exclusive club.

The bill proposes adding an amendment to the “unreasonable noise levels” chapter of the state’s General Laws to include any noise in excess of 80 decibels “either hourly, daily, weekly, monthly or other consistent period if the noise or device can be heard within a four hundred foot radius from the location from which the sound is originated or located except for ceremonial noise emitted on an annual or semi-annual basis except for music or live entertainment consistent with city or town ordinances.”

The language of the bill, aside from potentially incriminating any landscaper with power equipment, would certainly include the nightly lowering of the flag ceremony at yacht clubs across the state. The ceremony is accompanied by the firing of a cannon.

Trillo is suing the club for $500,000 and is claiming breach of contract. He also complained that an unlicensed employee towed his boat from the club.

Trillo in February denied accusations of using his position of authority for personal gripes in February after a severe backlash among the boating community, state officials and constituents after he submitted a bill that would take mooring revenues away from cities and towns and hand it to the state instead.

Many believe that Trillo, who has a reputation for not mincing words, submitted the bill to get back at the East Greenwich Yacht Club for the revocation of his membership.

The revocation came after a series of incidents last summer, first reported on East Greenwich Patch.

Matthew Jarbeau, the yacht club’s manager, told police on Aug. 18 that he wanted to file a report documenting two incidents involving alleged verbal abuse from Trillo.

The first incident occurred on May 5, according to a police report, when Jarbeau was helping Trillo dock into his summer slip.

Another boat had apparently docked in Trillo’s slip, forcing his boat to be docked elsewhere.

The second incident occurred on Aug. 9 on Block Island. Though East Greenwich police have no jurisdiction on the island, Jarbeau said Trillo was verbally confrontational and profane towards him in front of several witnesses and asked the May 5 incident to be documented.

In an e-mail obtained by the Patch — and not in a police report, as it has been reported — the incident on the island is described as beginning at around 1:30 p.m. when Jarbeau along with two other men were on Champlin’s Dock trying to enjoy the summery weather.

They were approached by Trillo who came right up to them and called Jarbeau “garbage,” a “jerk,” “scum,” and several expletives.

One of the men said to Trillo “Joe, come on, let’s not get into this here. Let it go, come on.”

Trillo replied by saying “He’s an f--- baby, a-----, guys from the Yacht Club don’t belong out here, they don’t have the [expletive] money to be out here.”

The three men then walked away and Jarbeau claims to have not said a single word.

As they were leaving, Trillo reportedly screamed and swore in front of “100 other people,” according to the email.

A short time later, as the three men were walking up the pier, Trillo came out from his boat and from his cockpit, yelled more expletives.

Trillo then allegedly flipped the bird about 25 minutes later in front of Jarbeau, the two men accompanying him, one of their wives, two young daughters and a young nephew.

When told not to make the gesture in front of children, “they don’t know what that means,” Trillo allegedly said.

“Uncle, that means F-U” the 10-year-old nephew replied.

The firing of a cannon is a longstanding tradition for many clubs at sunset in a ceremony accompanied by the lowering of the American flag for respect.

In a newsletter last June, Newport Yacht Club Commodore Stew Abramson said that the ceremony is observed with a moment of silence and deference.

“At about 6:55 PM you will notice the dock staff of the day ringing a bell and scurrying about to lower the other flags flying as well as the Club Burgee,” Abramson wrote. “There is nothing requested of you at this time. This is where you may wish to explain to your guests the tradition of what is going to occur.

“At 7:00 PM the staff will again ring a bell, the bartender on duty will announce over the intercom ‘Will all members and guests of the Newport Yacht Club stand by in silence for colors’. The small cannon with a big roar will be shot and the American Flag will be slowly lowered. When the dock staff has the flag “in hand”, the bartender will again announce over the intercom “As you were”. You may go back to doing whatever you were previously engaged in.”

According to the Trillo’s bill, special permits could be issued by a city or town “for the emission of such noise for individual events which occur on a single occasion.”