The east entrance to Lake George Regional Park in Skowhegan is shown in Aug. 2. Anna Chadwick/Morning Sentinel

Over the past six weeks, I’ve observed, with mixed emotions, the impact of an incident that occurred on Lake George Regional Park’s east access road in June 2023. That incident led to the recent unprecedented dismissal of five volunteers, serving with distinction, on the park’s governing board.

The pain I feel about this incident and its aftermath is compounded by the fact that it’s taking place in my hometown, and at a park I love dearly. In the 1990s, I began volunteering at the park. While walking its trails and swimming in its waters, I began healing from clergy sexual abuse. With the encouragement of Park Resource Manager Bob Hubbard, and the support of Park Director Nancy Warren and the park’s board, I helped create Camp Podooc, the park’s day camp, serving as its first director in 1995.

On a recent weekend, I returned to the area and spent many hours hiking and swimming at the park. I was saddened to see how the behavior of a town official, as described by park entities in their incident report, has seeped inside the park itself and was on display by some park users. I saw and experienced, firsthand, similar behavior directed toward me from a random fellow park user. On Saturday morning, he called me a “Karen” for simply asking him if dogs were allowed in the park. I assumed it might be OK because he had an unleashed dog near the west side waterfront. I retreated to the doggy beach on the east side to relax and recover from uninvited rudeness.

On that Sunday, I arrived on the east side of the park at 6 a.m., well before park staff arrived at 8 a.m. I was mortified to see how my fellow park users had treated the park. I began cleaning up the mess, because I know from experience the amount of work staff does on busy summer weekends to prepare the park for opening.

Besides tidying up the beach from the exuberant play of young park users, I spent almost an hour picking up detritus scattered hither and yon by older park users: beer bottles and cans in the bushes, 10 beer bottle caps beside one picnic table, leftover bones from a picnic meal dumped on the ground near another table, on yet another table a half-consumed soft drink, dozens of empty soda bottles in the trash, three pairs of shoes, various articles of clothing and beach towels, beach toys both new and busted, a broken fishing pole and two empty live bait containers on the wharf, a condom wrapper in the upper parking lot. Also noted by park staff was that one of the rentals, an inflatable stand up paddleboard, had been intentionally deflated by loosening its valve cap.

I can easily imagine that the disrespectful behavior of a town official on the park’s access road last year could begin to seep into the park itself via some disgruntled park users. Seeing how the park experience is being affected presently, I worry that Camp Podooc will suffer a similar fate next year.

The “burn it all down” mentality of some, and particularly those who want to end the interlocal agreement, benefits no one. Nancy Warren, an original park board member and former park director, clearly illuminated the dangers of that in her remarks to the Canaan Select Board on July 15. Ending the interlocal agreement would dissolve the park’s governing structure, and the park as we know it would cease to exist. What happens beyond that is anybody’s guess, but those most adversely affected would likely be the regular park users from Canaan and Skowhegan.

The original process by which Louise and Bill Townsend, some of their friends and neighbors, and representatives from the state established the park created rather than divided the community. The park’s founders modeled a way for individuals to build community, consensus and cooperation. The town officials and citizens of both Canaan and Skowhegan have a vested interest in following their example.