An assault charge against a tour boat operator who has battled the town of Lunenburg, N.S., over the cleanliness of its harbour has been dropped.
Last October, Bill Flower was charged after he was accused of tossing sewage from the harbour onto the mayor, Rachel Bailey.
The incident is alleged to have happened on an early August morning, when Flower said he was met by Bailey at the wharf where he keeps his boat.
"It was a total waste of taxpayers' dollars," Flower said of the legal proceedings. "The money should have been put into fixing the sewage treatment plant instead of going after a taxpaying citizen."
In court on Monday, Flower said he entered into a one-year peace bond. He is not allowed to go to Bailey's place of work, including town meetings, or her home, and could be fined $100 if he does.
"I said have no intention of going into her presence. I never did before and I never did after. I said that I want to make it clear that I never went into her presence — she came into my presence, into my place of work," Flower said.
"The whole thing was childish.… I've never heard of such foolishness."
Bailey said in an email to the CBC she is hopeful that with this resolution, "we can put the matter behind us."
"I am pleased that a trial was not required, as he admitted to the offence in a letter of apology. It is a relief to have him accept responsibility for his actions after all this time," she said.
Flower said his letter of apology had to be amended three times because his first version said he smeared "sewage" on the mayor.
"She would not accept my apology because it said [sewage] on the apology. So at my lawyer's recommendation, I wrote sludge instead of sewage," he said.
"She decided that was not proper terminology, for some reason, she asked me through the Crown prosecutor that I write brown goo or brown substance."
But Flower said whatever the gunk is called, it's still in the harbour. And he's still going to try and get the water cleaned up.
"I'm not going to let up on it."