HANOVER — All was quiet Wednesday on Howard Pond. A glacial rock at the center of a long dispute remained where it’s been for thousands of years. Other than the usual logging trucks, there was no heavy machinery in sight.

Yet neighbors remained wary. They were keeping an eye on the rock.

“I took my dogs for a walk earlier,” Pam Puiia said. “It was still there.”

The Board of Selectmen ruled Tuesday night that the controversial chunk of granite cannot be removed until ownership of the land it sits on is established. And after that, a permit is required before the work can be done.

It sounds so simple.

Homeowners Glen and Suzanne LaForest say the boulder is too close to their garage and is a hazard to people driving by. They tried to have the boulder ripped out Tuesday morning, but those efforts were halted when neighbors intervened, a standoff that made headlines a day later.

“It’s a crazy story,” Puiia said. “I know.”

Those opposed to the rock being removed are hoping the selectmen’s decision will result in a reprieve of at least a couple of weeks — if the LaForests want to get a permit for the job, they’ll have to go before the Planning Board in August.

But they also worry that the rock will be removed whether or not a permit is obtained. In fact, rumors were afloat that another contractor had already been hired to do the job next week.

“I need a permit to trim a tree down by the lake,” Puiia said. “And here they are with that giant machine trying to move the rock. They brought it under cover of darkness. They have no permit.”

She added, “That’s what it’s about. You can’t do things without permission. You have to follow the law.”

Suzanne LaForest took exception to the notion that she was trying to skirt the law.

“I’m a retired Air Force officer,” she said Wednesday. “I would never do that. I follow every rule there is; otherwise, I would never have made it as far as I did in the service.”

The issue of the rock has been disputed since 2011, when the Board of Selectmen voted 2-1 to ban the couple from moving it. At one point, the LaForests dropped the matter but picked it up again after clashing one more time with neighbors.

Suzanne LaForest said she didn’t attend the Tuesday meeting. “I didn’t feel like getting bullied and disrespected,” she said.

LaForest suggested that jealousy among her neighbors was behind the dispute — jealousy and the fact that they still consider her from away, although she’s been on the pond for more than 20 years.

“What was done to us,” she said, “I would never do to someone else.”

Puiia said neighbors don’t want the rock removed because it isn’t a safety issue and it lends charm to the area. She said several people who live nearby remain worried about the fate of the rock, including those who haven’t directly entered the fray.

“A lot of them don’t want to get involved,” Puiia said. “Things get really nasty.”

Toward the end of the day, the rock remained in its familiar position. Puiia planned to keep walking her dogs and to keep an eye out for mischief. LaForest, meanwhile, said it has already been established that she and her husband own the rock and the property upon which is sits. With that in mind, she was taking a wait-and-see stance. 

“Right now, it’s between the lawyers,” LaForest said. “It’s in their hands. We’ll see where it goes.”