Why? #78

TC and I heard some very disturbing news the other day while visiting her brother. It saddened me but also made me quite angry, which is why TC suggested that I write a blog about the problem. I would like to set the table, so to speak with how this all began.

About 23 years ago, my job was to travel throughout Aroostook County, Maine and adjust claims with our policyholders. During one of my trips, I brought back a badly damaged green john boat that had been hit by a vehicle. It landed at the office and as was custom then, the employees could place a bid to purchase it. Well, I was telling my father in law, Rosaire Cyr about it and I decided to place a bid. The process made its way and I was awarded the high bid, and in turn the john boat. I loaded the boat up on the truck and hauled its mangled frame up to Rosaires’ shop. Now, for those of you who don’t know, Rosaire owned a body shop and there really was nothing he could not fix. I remember vividly when I landed there, him taking a look at it, scratching his head and saying, this thing is really bad, but I can fix it. Several months later, I was up there visiting and Rosaire asked me to come to the shop for a minute. When I got behind the shop, there it was. Rosaire had done it. The john boat was back in line and was waterproof. He decided that he was going to park it into one of his favorite ponds, Black Pond in Saint John, so he could have a boat there to use. It stayed there for more than 21 years untouched. Each time we would go, it was left there unchained, and ready for the days fishing. I recall a time when I was going there to fish with him and his son Raymond. It wasn’t long after we got into the boat that we heard splashing. So we looked to the shore and there stood a mother moose and her two calves. We watched as the moose taught both of them to swim that day and I recall Rosaire taking it in intently. It suffices to say that there were many memories on that pond with this boat over the years.

There is an unwritten rule in the woods that professional sportsman adhere to. If you walk into a pond and a boat is chained, leave it alone. If it is not chained and you use it, take care of it and put it back exactly where you found it. Well, from time to time that does not happen, and here is why I am so upset. A while back, the boys decided to chain the john boat to a tree because it had been used and was not getting the best of care.  On a trip late last fall into Black Pond, they found the boat still chained, but someone had taken an axe to it and damaged it quite badly. The boys fixed it and made it as waterproof as they could and left it there again. Last weekend the oldest son Paul, and his wife Bonnie, walked into the pond to do a little fishing and the boat was gone. Paul looked for it but to no avail.

So my question is WHY? Why did someone feel the need to destroy someone else’s property? Why did someone steal that boat which had so much history and brought so many fond memories? I really believe that someone knows where it is and who took it. All we ask is that it be put back where it was found. Let’s continue the professionalism, courtesy and respect that many of us exhibit and live every day.