`Flipping the bird’ gets lobsterman booted from ferry

ISLESBORO — As a lobsterman, Robert Bell gets his share of nipped fingers. But when he flipped his middle one in the direction of Capt. Sonny Polk, it got him kicked off the state ferry for two weeks.

“His conduct was objectionable and we had to do something,” Maine State Ferry Service Manager Ken McNeill said Tuesday. “The fact remains that he did give the captain the finger.”

For his part, Bell said the incident was blown out of proportion by a thin-skinned ferry captain who has a grudge against islanders. Polk is from the mainland and earned his captain’s bars by working his way up from deckhand.

Reflecting on his off-color behavior, Bell observed, “I can’t believe this has gone as far as it has. If you flip-off the toll taker on the interstate, does it mean you can’t drive all the way to Bangor? This boat doesn’t belong to Sonny Polk; it belongs to the state of Maine.”

Apparently more than 65 island residents agree with Bell. Earlier this month they presented McNeill with a petition demanding the ouster of Capt. Polk. Although the treatment of Bell was the catalyst, residents admit that the real reason they want Polk gone is that he has a tendency to lord it over his passengers and a propensity to cancel crossings in bad weather, an attitude sea-hardened islanders find unconscionable.

“Everybody over here has a Sonny Polk story,” said Agatha Cabaniss, editor and publisher of the Islesboro Island News. “He is not their favorite captain.”

Bell’s confrontation with Polk occurred on a Saturday before Christmas as the ferry was about to embark from Lincolnville Beach. Most of the riders were in a foul mood to begin with that day because Polk had canceled a crossing the day before. Christmas shoppers who wanted to get home had been forced to hire a private boat and leave their gift- and food-laden vehicles behind on the mainland overnight.

That was Bell’s predicament, so when he drove onto the ferry the next day and saw Polk on the bridge: “I made a digital gesture to a captain who had been messing up for five years. … I flipped him the bird.”

Capt. Polk responded by climbing down from the bridge and demanding that Bell apologize. When he failed to do so, Polk left the ferry with its engines still running and ran ashore to call the police. When Polk returned and said the ferry would stay put until he got his apology, “I got down on my hands and knees and bowed to him like he was a Buddha, or something. I put on a pretty good show. It was all for laughs, but he made a big stink out of it,” said Bell.

Polk reported Bell to McNeill. After talking with both men, McNeill initially decided to ban Bell from riding the ferry for the month of January. He later had second thoughts and reduced the ban to the two weeks Polk was on duty.

Bell, in turn, reported Polk to the U.S. Coast Guard.

And islanders began passing out petitions.

“The people of Islesboro are 100 percent behind me,” Bell said.

McNeill said the ferry service has the authority to refuse passage and, because the confrontation “could have escalated into something ugly,” lowered the boom on Bell.

As for the petition, McNeill stressed that “if I thought there was a reason to reprimand Sonny Polk, I certainly would have done that. It’s true some of the people out there don’t particularly care for this captain. He and I have had some talks about that. I recognize the fact — and he certainly does — that we are here to serve the public, but I have no intention of transferring him.”

Chief Warrant Officer Charles Rathgeber, Coast Guard safety officer, concluded his investigation of the incident Tuesday. He said the fact that Polk left his post with the ferry’s engines running was not improper because the boat was secured to the dock. He recommended that in the future, however, it would be much safer whenever a captain leaves the bridge during a “provoking situation” for a deckhand to take his place, “only to ensure that passengers don’t get up there.”

Rathgeber also confirmed that the state had the “ability to deny passage, but our only question is for how long. Their tariff doesn’t address that and maybe it should.”