MARSHFIELD, MASS. (WHDH) - A Marshfield neighborhood is caught up in a development dispute after a man erected a large sign bearing a middle finger in the direction some new construction behind his home.
“I came home from a night shift finding this,” Dan Thornton said. “It is upsetting. I want to go home and enjoy what life is all about.”
The Thorntons both work as physicians assistants and live on a hill in the new development along Adelaide Street and they believe the man is angry that he lost the once open space behind his home.
“They enjoyed the land before I understand that,” Kim Thornton, said. “But, we feel were are not part of this backstory. We just happen to be residents now.”
Ten children live in the five homes that have been built so far.
“There is a lot of kids, for me that is the hard part. I can take it, I don’t want to have to explain it to my son,” Thornton said.
Marshfield Police Chief Phil Tavares said that while the sign may be in poor taste, it is within the man’s first amendment right to display it on his property.
“I find it extremely in poor taste, disrespectful,” Tavares said. “I wish the man would take it down, he has refused to take it down.”
The man who put up the three by five-foot sign declined to comment.
One day, the neighbors said they hope that the signs displayed in their town are those of peace and love.
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