The Princess Sheila Na Geira Theatre hosts concerts and plays year-round. (Princess Sheila Na Geira Theatre)

The mayor of Carbonear says it was unfair for a man to target a town building for something that was a private dispute between two neighbours.

Staff at the Princess Sheila NaGeira Theatre in Carbonear were scratching their heads on Wednesday after someone left a rather unpleasant surprise hanging from the main entrance last month — and have now involved police in the incident.

The theatre building also houses the town council and its offices, as well as Carbonear's public library and community access centre.

On Oct. 3, the manager of the theatre found a plastic bag full of dog feces tied to the door handle when she came in to open the box office about an hour before a show.

We've done what we could, every complaint we get we investigate it, he could have talked to his neighbours and told them what the problem was. - Mayor George Butt

Video surveillance showed an adult male leaving the bag on the door of the theatre, and members of the town council were later able to identify who the person was.

"We didn't understand what was happening there," said Frank Butt, the deputy mayor of Carbonear.

"Things like this just shouldn't be happening. It's not mature to do this sort of thing."

Butt said council met last week and decided to pass the issue on to the RCMP.

He said the police have seen the surveillance video, and plan to talk to the person believed to be responsible.

Inappropriate response

Meanwhile, Carbonear Mayor George Butt said he's confident he knows who the man is from the surveillance video. He also thinks he may have been motivated by a dispute he's having with a neighbour over a dog issue.

"He had trouble with dogs pooping his lawn, from neighbour's dogs," said Butt.

Butt said the man has a fairly nice piece of property, and is likely fed up people letting their dogs off their leashes and not cleaning up after them. However, Butt doesn't think the town council or theatre building should have been the target of the man's frustrations.

"We can't be there 24/7," he said.

It's not mature to do this sort of thing. - Deputy Mayor Frank Butt

"We've done what we could, every complaint we get we investigate it, he could have talked to his neighbours and told them what the problem was."

Butt said that the town does try and enforce rules related to dogs — but that people wait for times when town officials aren't out and about — and let their dogs go.

He said the town has a system in place to deal with complaints about dogs, which includes a warning for the first offence, and then escalating fines for multiple offenders.

"We haven't got a big problem with it — but only a few is what it takes," he said.

Butt feels the town was justified in getting the police involved, given the fact that the bag could have been discovered by a concertgoer.

"I suppose you could call it mischief," said Butt.

"It's an awful thing to do."