Birdseed, trespass warnings fly as Estabrook ire rekindles

Off-leash dogs started sparking debate more than a decade ago at a disputed trail near Acton Center. These days, it’s birdseed that’s prompting police calls.

Officers investigated this month after getting a report that Estabrook Road homeowner Brooks Read threw seeds toward resident Jeff Young. 

Read says he was feeding turkeys and didn’t throw seeds at Young. Young told The Acton Bridge that he was less concerned about the seeds and more about the birds being lured toward his feet.

Whatever happened, the ruffled feathers remain the latest flashpoint in a saga that took flight again recently when Read and his wife, Susannah Kay, sent “notice of trespass” letters to elected officials and other residents.

The town has won three court rulings declaring an unpaved part of Estabrook Road to be public territory — at a cost of roughly $2 million in lawyers’ fees. 

Read estimates that he and his neighbors have, together, spent that sum many times over arguing it’s private. 

Many town leaders and residents hoped the drama was done after a state Supreme Judicial Court ruling. The rancor persists, though, and the case may soon be headed back before a judge.

“There’s no winning in this suit,” Town Manager Kerry Lafleur told The Bridge.

Resident Paul Macone, who is suing Acton in a separate matter, fumed while town officials huddled with lawyers about Estabrook.

“Are you [expletive] me?” he asked The Bridge. “We’re going to spend more money on this?” 

Thoreau’s ‘wild tract’

Estabrook Road snakes into Estabrook Woods. A county board “discontinued” part of the path in 1932. 

Officials argued the discontinuance didn’t end public access to the trail and only served to cancel the town’s maintenance obligation. 

Henry David Thoreau once described a 19th-century “wild tract” at Estabrook.

Trees and fields remain, but neighbors have also installed cameras and a wooden fence. Billboards on Read’s property describe disputes that spiraled far beyond dog walking. He has speakers playing audio clips of public meeting comments about the case.

The town sued Read and several neighbors in 2017 to affirm public access and won an injunction in 2020 after abutters locked a gate blocking the trail.

With the latest court ruling, Select Board member Paul Boehm said, “the issue is settled.” The defendants may not like the result, but “losers in litigation never like it.” 

“Public access needs to be quote-unquote enforced,” he said. 

‘Therapy for me’ 

Capt. Brian Goldman said the Acton Police Department started hearing about trespass warnings this spring. By early July, he estimated that the department had at least six on file. 

Read showed The Bridge a copy of a notice he’d sent to Boehm, telling him to stay away or face arrest. He asserts that individual bans don’t violate court orders to keep the trail public.

He says he periodically reads his own signs “to remind myself that I’m not insane.”

“It’s therapy for me,” he said.

Previewing a closed-door Select Board meeting last week, Read said town counsel Mina Makarious had to convince the board “that I’m actually a crackpot.” 

“If I’m not a crackpot, there’s the appearance that he [Makarious] is a liar,” Read told The Bridge.

The Select Board is considering whether to post additional signs clarifying the public’s court-affirmed right to walk at Estabrook.

“We have so many messages saying that we don’t have a right,” board member Mary Hartman told colleagues last week, citing Read’s billboards. “But we do.”

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‘Privilege and entitlement’

Estabrook co-defendants included Neil and Anna Rasmussen, Russell and Leslee Robb, Thomas Wray Falwell, and the President and Fellows of Harvard College.

The Robbs and Falwell are trustees of the Pippin Tree Land Trust. Leslee Robb said she’s not involved in the trespass orders. 

Neither Anna Rasmussen nor Harvard spokespersons responded to Bridge questions. 

Lafleur said the town is evaluating whether Read’s trespass notices violate court orders. Asked whether there’ll be more litigation, she replied, “I hope not.” 

Trail troubles have drawn attention from far beyond the Town House.

One Acton resident, Martin Schumacher, told The Bridge he followed the back-and-forth but found it stultifying. He thinks the problem lies with the trail’s abutters and a “sense of privilege and entitlement.” 

Concordian Laura Johnson sighed when asked about Estabrook and possible new proceedings. “More litigation is, like, ugh,” she said.

‘Intimidating for anybody’ 

People who spoke with The Bridge described Read coming outside moments after visitors arrive at the Estabrook trailhead. “That’s sort of intimidating for anybody,” Select Board Chair Wendy Rovelli said. 

Read says he approaches people who show interest in his signs. Young said Read and Kay are “trying to make it so people don’t want to go there.” 

It’s worked, Young said. “I don’t want to go there.”

Young was involved in the debate about dog leash rules in the 2010s. 

He said he hadn’t been to Estabrook Road since the Covid pandemic, but a friend recently saw his picture on one of Read’s signs, so Young went to check it out. 

Read came outside within a matter of minutes, Young said, and started tossing seeds — including around Young’s feet. 

Young said he felt that Read was coaxing turkeys to crowd around him, so he started recording Read on his phone and left. His wife and friends told Young he should report the interaction to the police, he said, so he did. 

Last week he told The Bridge, “I just sort of want to leave it alone.” 

Police had more follow-up to do as of last week, but “there’s nothing to suggest there was anything criminal,” Goldman said. 

In a follow-up email to police, Read accused Young of having “a history of fabricating” disparaging stories about him and his wife.

Young said he didn’t fabricate past claims and “tried to work with” Read and Kay as they dealt with off-leash dog issues.

Police advice

Police haven’t charged anyone with trespassing at Estabrook, Goldman said. If that were to happen, he said officers would probably summon someone to court, rather than arrest them. 

If someone gets a trespass warning, Goldman said, they should “respect the fact to stay off the Reads’ property.” Asked if that includes the trail, Goldman deferred to town counsel.

Nearly 10 years out, Hartman said she has a problem with the process by which the town sued its own residents. Overall, however, “I do think we made the right choice.” 

Right now, with the speakers and signs, “the whole vibe is ‘Stay out; you’re in danger; you’re being watched,’” she told The Bridge.

“I don’t think it’s going to happen in the short term,” but 50 years from now, Hartman said, people from Acton and beyond will be able to walk the trail unimpeded.

“I think that’s worth something,” she said.