The Bristol Board of Selectmen have asked the Lincoln County Sheriff to find out who slashed the mooring floats belonging to the Round Pond Harbormaster.
“I spoke to Lt. Rand Maker and he agreed to look into the matter,” said Selectman Bob Tibbetts.
Tibbetts spoke with Maker after the board voted May 12 to seek help investigating an incident apparently directed at Harbormaster Bob Ball.
Ball, a fisherman who is paid $800 a year to regulate the harbor and enforce town ordinances, including charging rent for moorings, told the selectmen someone recently slashed his mooring ropes, cutting his floats adrift. He told the board he has a witness to the incident.
Tibbetts said the drama started this past winter when a float in the harbor was frozen in the ice.
“We (Ball) pulled it out of the ice, then it broke loose and banged into some boats, so we pulled it in,” said Tibbetts.
“We have to keep the harbor safe. The fishermen have a lot of money invested in their boats,” he said.
Tibbetts said this incident may have triggered a possible retaliation against Ball and his floats.
“This happens every so often. The fishermen are a pretty independent lot. Some people get disgruntled and they take it out on the harbormaster,” he said.
The selectmen told the town’s three harbormasters, Ball, Steven Hope and John Stolecki that the board would back up their attempts to enforce local harbor ordinances.
When Ball said he might have to hire a diver to locate the moorings and help reattach the ropes to his floats, the town agreed to compensate him.
The board should pay any legitimate expense to locate his moorings and reattach his floats, said Selectman Chad Hanna.
After the meeting, Ball and other harbormasters declined to elaborate on the incident.
