Onset residents have voiced frustrations with the new permit parking program for months, but now a small group of residents is questioning whether charging for parking in that area is even legal.

Nearly 100 residents attended at meeting at the Onset VFW Thursday night headed by Marilyn Knowlton and Marie Strawn, two lifelong Onset residents in their 70s.

"If I'm correct, the streets belong to the public for free use forever," said Knowlton.

She invoked a decree from the state Supreme Judicial Court in 1916 stemming from a 1915 court case with the Onset Bay Grove Association that said the, "parks, streets, avenues, paths, and shore fronts" in Onset were "dedicated to the public forever" for bathing, boating, fishing, parks and open space. The decree was accepted at Wareham Town Meeting in 1917

While some might consider a nearly century old court decision as dated, Knowlton cited a legal memo current Selectmen Peter Teitelbaum helped write to the Onset Protective League in 1999 on his research of the decree of 1916.

It read, "The town's role is that of a trustee of the land… As trustee, the town's role is to merely ensure that the Decree land is used only for its dedicated purposes. The town does not own the land; the town may not use the land as it sees fit; the Town may only act to ensure that the purposes for which the land was dedicated, e.g., bathing, boating, fishing, parks and open space are met."

Knowlton said that charging anyone, not just Onset residents, to park anywhere in the dedicated land is illegal.

"They're charging you to go down there and park in an illegal parking lot," Knowlton said of the kiosk at the Shell Point parking lot.

Many residents complained that the new Onset Permit Parking Program is unfair to those who live in Onset.

"You don't penalize one part of town and then say the rest of the town is OK," said longtime Onset resident Marcine Fernandes about the abundance of free parking in Wareham village. "Businesses in Onset are losing business," she added.

But Knowlton said it's more than just a parking issue.

She said she contacted the state Attorney General's office and has been told she will be receiving a call from them on the matter on Friday.

"They need to enforce the law,"Knowlton said of the Attorney General's office. She also said she plans to hold another meeting in two or three weeks.

"We have to let the Board of Selectmen know that we know the law too. Let them contradict anything that you've been given tonight," Knowlton said to the crowd. "I was born in Onset and I've lived here for 79 years. No one is going to take away my civil rights."