To the editor:

Some may wonder why Bainbridge has a marine patrol.

Saturday a neighbor from Point Glover on the Port Orchard side of Rich Passage decided to set free a 30-foot piece of a dock that was presumably washed up on their beach. The next day it was seen floating along right in the middle of the channel — a dangerous hazard.

A Point White resident (us) called 911 and a Bainbridge police boat arrived Sunday afternoon, tied up to the “dock” and pulled it away — apparently to the Army Corps of Engineers who are set up to deal with water hazards like this. Turns out this is not an uncommon task for the Bainbridge marine patrol.

Who knows what would have happened if some unsuspecting speedboat had hit it or a ferry plowed over it and the damage that could have been done.

Seems we should all be grateful for the Bainbridge marine patrol, including all our Kitsap neighbors; who ply the waters of Puget Sound.

THOMAS R. GREENE

Bainbridge Island