Staff Writer 

South Portland resident Gary Crosby is rallying to have dogs prohibited from beaches, but he said he was unaware anti-dog statements are already etched in stone at Willard Beach.

“I find that very interesting,” he said.

The third-to-last sentence on a granite monument commemorating the life of Grant “Chick” Wilder – a lifeguard at the beach for more than 30 years – erected nearby the sands of Willard Beach reads: “Leave your dogs at home.”

This was brought to the Sentry’s attention by a letter to the editor on page 8 of this week’s paper.

South Portland Dog Owners Association President Crystal Goodrich said she knew the location of the monument and it’s position on the ongoing issue of allowing dogs on the beach.

“I wanted to take a chisel and scratch that off,” she said of the sentence.

Although South Portland City Clerk Susan Mooney said she remembered Wilder – who died in 1994 – and his work at the shorefront, she could not recollect if or when the monument was approved by the city council or who financed the memorial. South Portland Human Resources Director John McGough confirmed Wilder had been on the city payroll for his services at Willard Beach, although he could not say when or for how long.

“I would have to do some digging in our archives to find that out,” he said.

Resident Helen Slocum’s memories of Wilder are less ambiguous; she said she remembers Wilder every time she sets foot on the beach. Slocum said Wilder helped her and other young children learn how to swim.

“I used to swim out to the channel buoy that isn’t there anymore,” Slocum said. “I went for my lifeguard test my senior year and told [Wilder] I wasn’t a very good swimmer. He said ‘But I’ve seen you swim to the buoy and back.’”

Slocum passed her test, and said Wilder’s duties entailed much more than giving swimming lessons. In addition to raking the beach, carrying bandages for the occasional scrape on the rocks and picking up trash, she said Wilder was always careful to keep an eye on children who sometimes would engage in risky business.

“He was really upset because me and a few friends swam to Spring Point [Lighthouse],” Slocum said. “We came back in and he explained to us that he was concerned about the current.”

Slocum, who said she grew up on property near the beach that has since been absorbed by the Southern Maine Community College campus, said Wilder was a different kind of lifeguard for a different kind of beach.

“There would be lobster boats pulled right up on the beach,” she said.  “It probably wasn’t the safest thing, painting them with lead-based paint, but there was stuff still coming out of the pipe too. You’d step in poop.”

Slocum moved to Boston in 1989 and was surprised to find Wilder’s monument when she returned to South Portland nine years later. She said the statement “Leave your dogs at home,” didn’t sound like Wilder at all.

“I had a dog and used to bring the dog to the beach to swim with me,” she said. “That was back in the days when you just opened the door and the dogs run. [Wilder] never said ‘Get your dogs off the beach.’ He wasn’t ever anti-dog.”

Crosby said he wasn’t aware of the monument or its statement on dog access until contact by the Sentry.

“I didn’t know [Wilder],” Crosby said. “I understand he was the unofficial person who took control of the beach, but what we’re seeing now is a lack of courtesy for other people. Back then, people had respect.”

Crosby said he is looking forward to summer since the city council voted to increase the amount of time dogs are allowed on Willard Beach. The January council vote continues to allow dogs on Willard Beach between the hours of 6 a.m. and 9 p.m. from Sept. 30 to May 1 and between 7 a.m. and 9 a.m. during summer. In addition to these hours, dogs will also be allowed on Willard Beach from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. during the summer.

“I couldn’t have scripted it better if I had asked the council,” Crosby said. “By the end of the summer people will be so angry – I sure didn’t object to [the new hours].”

Crosby said there are 31 copies of the petition circulating the city and he has collected more than 300 signatures so far – a third of what the city clerk’s office requires to add a question to the November ballot. Goodrich said if enough signatures are obtained to submit a petition to the city clerk’s office, she will insist on confirming they are all legitimate.

“You have to observe every person signing it, you can’t just leave it somewhere with a sign,” she said. “It’s a lot of work, hopefully they won’t get it.”

What would Wilder think of the controversy?

“He would probably just roll his eyes,” Slocum said.