Unintended Consequences

When you’ve got an illuminated 7-foot-tall middle finger on a pole, it’s pretty clear.  The main issue is a denied building permit, but the giant obscene gesture? Totally allowed. The State can’t stop it.  It’s been there since 2018, and it’s probably not what Vermont legislator Ted Riehle had in mind when he pushed through the state’s billboard ban 55 years ago. The Finger’s not a billboard, and it doesn’t advertise anything. But it is a sign. Of unintended consequences.