YMCA camp sues neighbor: attaches 'evil motive' to defamatory statements
May 19—An ongoing feud between a summer camp on Lake Winnipesaukee and a Tuftonboro landowner jumped to a higher level this week, when YMCA Camp Belknap and its two directors filed a defamation lawsuit against their adversary.
Filed in Carroll County Superior Court, the lawsuit alleges that Randy Owen made false and defamatory statements on Facebook pages, discussion boards and in letters to the media, local leaders and state officials.
"Defendant Randy Owen has acted with ill will, hatred, hostility, and evil motive," reads the lawsuit.
Owen said the lawsuit is the latest in a long-running dispute he has had with the 300-acre camp, which is on the shore of Nineteen Mile Bay.
He accuses the camp of torpedoing his efforts to subdivide his land on Farm Island, which cost him thousands in legal and consultant fees.
"Yes, the camp cost me $100,000, but I also have a moral obligation. They are not acting in the best interest of the kids," he said.
The 55-page complaint lists dozens of statements by Owen, the owner of the Hooksett-based Owen Marine, that the suit says are false.
They include:
—That Camp Belknap breached its lagoon, polluted Lake Winnipesaukee and then sent kids to swim in the tainted lake water.
—That camp leaders and campers fire guns at the house he owns on the 21-acre Farm Island.
—That camp counselors trespassed on his property.
—That Owen's false statements are an attempt to turn the neighborhood against the camp.
—That Owen's "untethered belligerence" has advanced to him threatening to shoot kids close to his house.
"Hate's a wonderful thing. Live with it and live in it," Owen wrote in April 2020 to camp co-director Seth Kassels. A month later, he wrote: "In all my 60 years, I have never hated someone like I do you," according to a reproduction of an email disclosed in the lawsuit.
Police Chief Andrew Shagoury said Owen faces a pending case of Class A misdemeanor harassment in connection with the Camp.
"Obviously, hate is not a wonderful thing. We have to get along with our neighbors," Shagoury said. He wouldn't discuss the case in detail because it's a pending matter. He said he'd like to believe that the Kassels are not in danger, but he can't predict what people are capable of.
Owen said he has not been served with the lawsuit yet. He said the camp' activities are not without fault.
He is adamant about the pollution, and he provided a reporter with an April 2021 state Department of Environmental Services document that showed the camp doing unpermitted work that placed water and sewer lines too close to one another. The running unpermitted water and sewer lines. The DES told the camp that it must do the work correctly.
A neighbor of Camp Belknap said the camp uses the legal system to intimidate people.
Donald McWhirter said the camp sued him in 2017, claiming a right of way he held across the property was no longer valid. They eventually settled the lawsuit in his favor, he said.
"The way they approach people, it's their way or the highway," McWhirter said. "They'll do anything to get their way, they have unlimited funds and lawyers."
The lawsuit seeks damages, enhanced compensatory damages and lawyer fees. It also wants a judge to bar Owen from his Farm Island property for 10 weeks when camp is open.
And it wants him ordered to stay away from the camp's two directors: Seth and Stephanie Kassels. Owen said the conflict dates back to 2018, when he purchased about two-thirds of Farm Island.
Camp Belknap gathered 350 signatures on a petition and fought his efforts to subdivide the island into lots for his children and relatives, Owen said.
Owen believes Camp Belknap wanted the entire island.
