STRONG — The people of the Narrow Gauge Snowmobile Club would like two things before the snow flies this season.
They’d like enough money to buy themselves a new grooming machine.
And they’d like to know who destroyed their old one.
The destruction of the club’s Tucker Sno-Cat groomer occurred over the weekend and the club president is pretty sure it was a targeted assault. In fact, he has deemed it sabotage.
“Our Tucker Sno-Cat groomer was deliberately and maliciously destroyed by what is clearly a person or group of people intent on our club’s demise this season,” is how Club President Christopher Gavin described it on Facebook.
According to Gavin, more than a gallon of mud, sand and water was poured into the big machine’s exhaust pipe to destroy its motor.
Without the groomer, Gavin said, the club will be unable to maintain its trails this season.
And the club maintains a lot of trails.
The Narrow Gauge club provides nearly 60 miles of trails and key connections on trail system 84 to the areas of Kingfield, New Portland, Rangeley along with points north to Stratton and points south to Farmington.
“We are a small club with a big heart and steadfast volunteers working to do our part to operate trails for the betterment of our state and local citizens,” Gavin wrote.
The vandalism is being investigated by Franklin County Sheriff’s Deputy Constantino Zenteno. As of Monday afternoon, no arrests had been made and it was unclear who destroyed the groomer.
Gavin and other club members would like the public’s help in tracking down the culprits. Police and club members are reviewing footage from security cameras in hopes of identifying suspects.
Deputy Zenteno can be reached at [email protected] or 207-778-2680.
In the meantime, the club is also looking to raise $10,000 for a new Cummins diesel engine and related equipment so it can begin preparing for the coming snowmobile season.
As part of that effort, the club set up a GoFundMe page in hopes of raising the money. By the middle of the day Monday, the effort had raised roughly $3,700 from 32 donors.
On Gavin’s Facebook post, club members, snowmobile enthusiasts and area residents in general bemoaned the vandalism, and just as snowmobile season is in sight.
“How deeply sad it is that someone would do this,” one woman wrote. “Their actions don’t just impact the dedicated volunteers who work tirelessly to maintain the trails, equipment and club operations — they also affect everyone who finds joy in this wonderful sport that brings so many together during our long Maine winters.”
A local man added that the snowmobile clubs draw riders from all over Maine and New England to the area, which helps the local economy.
In the end, though, Gavin was confident that the attack on the groomer will not dull the club’s resolve to get trails in shape for snowmobile season.
“We will get through this as a club,” he wrote on the club’s Facebook page, “standing tall and better than ever. I can absolutely assure you of this fact.”
