Last modified: Friday, February 16, 2007 7:55 AM EST John Piette stands under new sign after being kicked off the ice. He has been skating on the pond, located behind his house, for 30 years. but was told Thursday all city owned ponds are off limits. (Staff photo by KEITH NORDSTROM) City puts skaters on ice BY JIM HAND SUN CHRONICLE STAFF ATTLEBORO - John Piette said he has been skating on a city-owed pond near his home for more than 30 years, but that all came to an end Saturday. He said police shooed him and some families away from a pond off West Street and told him there was no skating allowed on city property. Signs recently went up declaring the ban, he said. Piette said he called the mayor's office and was told the city has banned skating because of a fear that someone would get hurt and sue the city. "This is like the ban on tag," he said, referring to a policy at Willett Elementary School that prohibits children from playing rough games on the school yard. "What is next? Are they going to ban baseball in the parks because someone might get hurt? I could get hurt walking down the sidewalk. Are they going to ban that?" he said. Mayor Kevin Dumas could not be reached for comment, but police Chief Richard Pierce said the action by the city is not so much a ban as it is an enforcement of common sense. Winter weather fluctuates and skaters cannot be sure ponds are frozen solid, especially larger ones, he said. Skaters could fall through the ice and endanger themselves and rescuers, he said. "We're trying to err on the side of caution and safety," he said. "We're not trying to give anyone a hard time. If something were to happen to anyone, I would feel awful." Pierce said the city has always asked skaters to stay off bodies of water like Cranberry Pond and Lake Como. This year, Pierce said he asked at a recent department head meeting for no-skating signs to be put up. "We're being cautious. We can't say the ice is safe. If someone fell through, it would open us up to litigation," he said. Piette said he has always skated on the pond near his home on West Street, across from the water department pumping station. He said he was told the ban applied to all city-owed ponds, not just those that feed into the water system. Skating has even been prohibited at Lees Pond in a city recreation area, he said. Piette said there is now nowhere to skate in Attleboro. The city has a concrete skating rink in the Balfour Riverwalk Park, but it goes unused because the city no longer fills it with water during the winter to create ice. "This is absolutely ridiculous to me," he said. City officials said the concrete rink has been closed because of a broken drain.