Faced with about half a dozen counts of vandalism at the public bathhouse on Lake Wassookeag since it opened on June 15, the Town Council voted Thursday to close it permanently.

Despite vandalism in past years, Town Manager Judy Doore convinced the council to reopen the bathhouse this summer because it is a much needed and much used service for beach-goers. By agreeing to reopen the bathhouse this year, the council thought more supervision by town employees would eliminate the vandalism.

But since it was opened, vandals repeatedly have plugged the toilets and spread human waste over the walls, with the latest incident in recent days.

"I hate to give in and let the jerks win," Rick Goodwin, Town Council member, said Thursday. But enough is enough, he said.

Mike Delaware, public works supervisor, said his $500 budget for the bathhouse already had been overspent by $300 because of the cleanup and necessary plumbing costs.

The beach house has been closed more than it has been open this year because of the vandalism, he said.

The vandalism is being done during the daytime when the facility is open to the public, Delaware said.

"Anything we try to do just doesn't work," Fred Banks, Town Council member, said Thursday before he and the rest of the councilors voted to close the facility and to move a portable toilet to the beach for public use.
"This content originally appeared as a copyrighted article in the Saturday, July 15, 2006 edition of the Bangor Daily NEWS and is used here with permission."