Mike W. Bryant
Northern News Services

Yellowknife (July 01/05) - City councillor and owner of the Pier 1 marina, Doug Witty is searching for a pair of floating docks he says someone untied and set adrift last week.

Coun. Doug Witty kneels over a section of newly attached dock at Pier 1 marina, which he owns. He said several dock pieces went missing last week after someone set them adrift.

Witty said 10 dock extensions were moored alongside the main pier June 22, but when staff showed up the next morning, they were gone.

"It would appear someone had taken and dragged our brand new dock pieces out into the bay and cut them loose," said Witty.

He said the moulded plastic pieces were purchased to replace the aging wooden dock. Witty said each section of ten-foot docking costs about $1,200. Two docks of three sections each are still missing.

After discovering the dock sections missing, Pier 1 staff went out to find them. Eight were eventually recovered scattered around Yellowknife Bay, but two are still missing.

Witty hopes some good samaritan will return them.

"We spent a massive amount of money trying to upgrade that marina, and make it a much better facility but we seem to keep tripping over ourselves down there," said Witty.

He said it took a while to figure out his marina had been sabotaged, but figures he is not alone. Witty said he has heard stories of sailboats in Yellowknife Bay having their moorings cut.

Gary McLellan, vice-commodore of the Great Slave Yacht Club said the bay is starting to get over-crowded, and "some people were getting P.O.'d because boats are being moored "indiscriminately anywhere."

RCMP Sgt. Darcy Fleury said, as far as he is aware, police are not investigating the missing dock pieces.

They did receive a call, however, in the early morning hours of June 24 after someone spotted something untoward in the water near Mosher Island.

"We thought it was an overturned boat," said Fleury.

It turned out to be one of Pier 1's missing dock pieces.