A town meeting on Cape Cod got heated Thursday night as residents debated whether a man had the right to sell lobsters on his front lawn.
Last October, Jon Tolley was denied his appeal to keep selling lobsters from his Yarmouth home, something his family has done for decades.
Tolley tried appealing again Thursday night, but the board wouldn’t hear it, stating there’s a two-year wait period to re-appeal a denied decision.
“Dolores, ask the police to come in the room and remove these two people,” Sean Igoe, chair of the Yarmouth Zoning Board of Appeals, declared when two meeting participants grew incensed.
Tolley was told to take the matter to the State Superior Court and appeal the decision.
“I’m not trying to give you a hard time but it seems to me to be the exact same petition as we just heard back in October and it was not timely appealed,” Igoe went on.
Tolley told the Cape Cod Times he has sold his lobsters to local police, town staff and thousands of others and received no complaints, except for one in the early 1990s about a sign in front of his house.
“The town is trying to say that no one has sold lobsters in the history of the town,” Tolley said. “It’s not right.”
This is a developing story. Check back for updates as more information becomes available.
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