Treasurer of Friends nonprofit resigns

MIDDLEBORO — Anthony Freitas has resigned as treasurer of the Friends of the Middleborough Public Library, stepping away from the nonprofit organization entirely.

In a sharp message delivered to the Select Board earlier this week, he said that the resignation was due to “the toxic behavior, personal hatred and coordinated pressure coming from individuals who clearly thrive on conflict rather than cooperation.”

It was the latest move in a long-running, heated dispute between those who run the town’s library and the decades-old nonprofit that was established to support the library.

Freitas, owner of Freitas Liquors in downtown Middleboro, has been volunteering on the nonprofit’s board for 20 years. He said his involvement with the Friends has subjected himself and his family to “unnecessary stress and harassment,” in recent months.

Freitas says his business is jeopardized by the longstanding dispute, and people who question the Friends’ motivations and actions as a library support nonprofit have encouraged “public demonstrations and intimidation tactics,” towards him and his business.

Now, he wrote “stepping away is the only way to protect my livelihood, my peace and my integrity.”

The longstanding dispute between the library and nonprofit involves accusations — many made on social media — around how the Friends’ bylaws are written, how members of the board are selected and how funds raised by the Friends are used.

The dispute came to a head in August, when the library severed all ties with the nonprofit. The Friends were evicted from the library’s basement space — where they had operated a fundraising bookstore. In response, the group closed a parking lot which it owns and had maintained for library patrons.

In his resignation letter, Freitas said his decision is not due to any wrongdoing on his part or any other members of the nonprofit, but that he is stepping away from the controversy that surrounds the group to focus on running his business.

“I am just a small business owner trying to run a family-owned business in the town I care about,” he wrote. “It is very disappointing that it has come to this.”

Freitas’ resignation was effective Monday, Feb. 9.