POLAND — Neighbors who heard a crackling sound in the early morning hours Wednesday investigated and found all 20 golf carts on fire at Summit Spring Golf Course.

“We’re going to stay open and keep going, they’re not going to shut us down,” said course manager Mary Rich, who was headed to the scene Wednesday morning. “People will just have to walk because they burned all the carts.”

The State Fire Marshal’s Office quickly ruled it intentionally set, according to senior investigator Chris Stanford.

Rich said the course’s neighbor called the Fire Department and then called the course owner just before 2 a.m. Thirteen of the carts were leased by Summit Spring from the Gorham Country Club; the other seven were owned by members.

It’s Summit Spring’s third serious act of vandalism since spring. Rich said she couldn’t help but think that they’re all related.

“We have a gas can we kind of hide in a cedar tree outside (to) fill up, they knew that was there,” Rich said. “What they did was took that gasoline, poured it all over and ignited them, that’s how they started the carts.”

She estimated the value of each cart at $2,500 to $3,500. Front windows on the clubhouse were also cracked.

“We’re lucky the building didn’t burn because we did get some wires (scorched), from what I was told, on the building,” said Rich, who is also a partner in the course’s on-site restaurant. “It just upsets me to think that we could have lost that building. I have a lot of stuff in there in the pub area, Mary’s Irish Pub. My family is from Ireland and I have a lot of sentimental things of theirs that I’ve put up there to decorate with. I feel like ripping it out. I don’t know what’s going on.”

Earlier this spring, someone drove onto one of the fairways and “stove it up with their vehicle,” Rich said. Three weeks ago, someone stole one golf cart, damaged other carts and vandalized the greens again, causing $10,000 damage.

“We’re going to move forward and whoever’s doing this, I hope they do get caught,” she said. 

Stanford said he planned to interview witnesses, employees and neighbors as part of his investigation. If he has probable cause, he can either arrest a suspect himself or forward any information to the District Attorney’s Office.

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