01:00 AM EDT on Friday, August 1, 2008

SOUTH KINGSTOWN –– James M. Mageau, acting president of the Charlestown Town Council, will be tried on a simple assault charge on Sept. 18 in District Court.

Mageau, 69, of 4589 South County Trail, has pleaded not guilty to the misdemeanor count and is free on personal recognizance.

A no-contact order has been entered.

The charge stems from an altercation last month involving Charlestown resident Clifford L. Vanover, who was videotaping the discussions that led to a council meeting’s being canceled.

Vanover is affiliated with the Charlestown Citizens Alliance, a political action committee that once pursued a recall campaign againstMageau.

The town has hired Patrick Sullivan, Coventry’s town solicitor, to prosecute Mageau.

Town Solicitor Robert E. Craven, who was in an adjacent room at the time of the incident, recused himself from the case because he is a council appointee.

Mageau was one of the three council members who voted for Craven’s appointment.

At one point Craven also represented the three council members, including Mageau, as their private attorney, on an appeal of an Open Meetings Law finding by the attorney general’s office.

Mageau is being represented by Providence lawyer Richard G. Sahagian.