While bombing along Route 124 in New Ipswich, I noticed a large number of 18×24 signs in people’s yards that didn’t seem political. They looked like advertisements for a local business, like when someone is having their house painted or promoting a special.
The business of interest was the Silver Scone, which had unintentionally run afoul of the town government a few years ago and since rectified the original issue when attention was called to it. I hadn’t given much thought to the plight of the English immigrant business owner since chatting with 10/13/21 executive council arrest victim Emilee Spiller, who happens to live locally. That was three years ago.
What I didn’t notice at highway speed (until I got stuck behind a slow poke) was that the signs actually said, “We support the Silver Scone tea parties.” That piqued my interest, as I didn’t know that the feud was ongoing, and by “feud” I mean “serial tormenting.”
It’s not necessary to rewrite the story because many outlets have covered it, but here’s a link to the top search results, and I’ll offer my crude 30-second summary. Owner Jane Elwell opened a business in her home that serves “afternoon tea” and hosts the occasional tea party. Keep in mind that this is not a nuisance business that brings noise, foul odor, crime, bad behavior, problem patterns of traffic or unsavory people to the neighborhood. In fact, most of us are regularly reminded and encouraged to support small businesses.
Enter the nasty neighbor, Attorney Nancy Clark, who lives nearby and is not an abutter. Her original beef with Jane Elwell seems to originate from either parking for her patrons or the removal of some trees to accommodate the parking once the parking situation had to be modified. Anyone interested in a deep dive on this can look at the search results and see that Clark has repeatedly retooled her warfare against Elwell in the name of zoning and conservation and weaponized the appeals process all the way up to Concord and often with the use of lawfare. Clark has run for office (zoning/planning) to spite Elwell and keeps coming back, like Jason Voorhees or the Terminator, with a new attack strategy. It’s clear that Clark’s end-game agenda is to bankrupt Elwell via legal expenses. Because success continues to elude Clark’s spiteful agenda, she has resorted to basic ill-willed nuisance behaviors typical of a bad neighbour (note the spelling). Such serial irritations while patrons are on site include, but aren’t limited to running chainsaws, wood chippers and car alarms nearby. While those behaviors are definitely disruptive to the customer experience, let’s talk about a silent one, which is displaying a highly visible sign that says “Brits Out!”
Of course, Attorney Clark will obviously cry “free speech” to anyone complaining about the sign, but to her, I call it “hate speech,” which is a popular item in the enemy camp playbook glossary. According to most definitions, national origin is one of those qualifying categories.
I should point out at this point that a quick inquiry to Marylyn Todd’s Nosey Neighbor app shows Nancy Clark of 6 Joy Ln to be… (drum roll) … a Democrat. Go figure! If you consult the plethora of articles on this saga, it’s abundantly clear that Clark HATES Elwell.
Since Latha, the nastiest and most hateful Ward 8 state rep, is finally retiring, maybe she has an extra one of those ubiquitous “hate has no home here” signs to spare. They’re ubiquitously seen in blue Nashua but perhaps hardly ever in red New Ipswich. There appears to be a good place for one in a grassy triangle corner of a neighborhood intersection(River/Old Country Rd).
There are many possible directions in which to take this message further, such as suggesting that the readers suppose something for a moment. As a mental exercise, ask yourself what if the word “Brits” in the “Brits Out” sign was replaced with another group? Take your pick, depending on how much backlash you’re up for. A few ideas might be blacks, gays, foreigners(but NOT from the UK), religious groups, non-covidiots, or the Grand Cadillac Group Du Jour. Trans people. How well would THAT go over?
Before composing this article, I reached out to Di Lothrop because she’s the Grokster subject matter expert on all things English and I asked if she and Jane Elwell knew each other. They do not. Furthermore, Di was unaware that the Silver Scone even existed and said that the enemy camp never plays by “Queensbury Rules,” a term I had to look up! And in doing so, I happen to agree with her. Being a superior writer and native to the same country of origin, she deserved first opportunity to run with the idea of writing about this situation, but she declined due to a busy activity schedule and wished Elwell the best of outcomes. Clark is running out of avenues in which to harass Elwell, but the situation is far from over. Here’s hoping for a favorable outcome for Elwell and some bloody appropriate karma for Clark.
I have no control over what time of the day an article is published, but might I suggest that this one would be ready for the next “afternoon tea?“
