Ted Pelkey had enough. The business owner, living in Westford, Vermont, was fed up over the town's Development Review Board. Pelkey wanted a permit to build a new garage on his property so that he could relocate his businesses there and eliminate a grueling 25-mile daily commute. But Ted says, "I've been put through the wringer by these people, and it's just not right. I haven't been treated fairly at all."
Pelkey claims he went as far as hiring an engineer and lawyer to put together a formal proposal for submission, but it was denied because the town claimed there wasn't enough information about what the structure would be exactly used for and security measures. Pelkey believes a personal grudge he has with someone in the Review Board has made them biased towards him.
So Ted fired back by building a giant middle finger out of wood, illuminated and sitting on top of a 16-foot pole in his front yard to essentially flip off the entire town. The statue weighs roughly 700 pounds and cost him more than $4,000 to complete. Pelkey insists, "it was critical to me to make sure that my neighbors and the people who live in this town understood that I didn't put that up there for them. It is aimed directly at the people who sit in our town office."
Pelkey has appealed the town's denial of his permit and could be in court over the matter next month.