From the ArcaMax Publishing, Weird News Newsletter:
http://www.arcamax.com/news/weirdnews/s-562432-414029
TIVERTON, R.I. (UPI) -- A Rhode Island knitting shop with loyal
customers worldwide and which inspired a best-selling novel is in
danger of being run out of business, its owner says.
Sakonnet Purls owner Louisa Silverman has run afoul of zoning
regulations limiting the number of signs allowed at businesses in
Tiverton. Rosemary Eva, the town's former zoning czar, noticed an
extra sign and is pushing the issue.
Sakonnet Purls, which occupies a 200-year-old house in the town's
quaint Four Corners neighborhood, is where Ann Hood learned to knit
and eventually wrote "The Knitting Circle."
Silverman, who has been in business since 1985, was ready to throw in
the towel over the sign dispute but decided to dig in her heels when
her customers rallied to her defense. Dozens showed up at a zoning
meeting last week, the Providence Journal reported Tuesday.
Eva said her only real complaint is that the Sakonnet Purls property
is the sign advertising Adam Dale's Back Alley Wood Works, which he
runs out of a shed he rents from Silverman. A building inspector
permitted him to put up the sign.
But Eva has also suggested Silverman should not have been allowed a
non-conforming use because her property was totally residential for
two years before she and her husband bought it in 1985 and that Dale
should not be able to use the shed for a business because it was empty
for a year before he rented it.
The hearing is scheduled to resume in July.