YOUR COMMENTS

Troy is right, the code officer is a boob. This guy would ticket his mother for jay walking if he could. Small town hay seeds that think they are living in 1960.
- Leo, Epping

What a bunch of crap!This a a great example why no one wants to do business in Epping. Barney Fife like behavior from the code enforcement officer makes Epping look backward and dumb. Big waste of time bothering tax payers.
- Troy, Epping

Loved the remark about Epping becoming a mecca for barbers and that poles would be sprouting up everywhere.
I think towns need to figure out something better to do with their time than worry about such things.
Let's think about what is important.
This guy should never had had to fight for the pole in the first place.
- L Hemy, Plaistow

It wasn't the aesthetics that was the issue. Its that it violated the moving sign portion of the zoning rules. Moving signs are more of a distraction to drivers than non moving signs. That is the reason for the rule.

On the subject of barber poles, I think we should return to the true traditional barber pole which gets its red stripes from bloody bandages.
- Jeff, Manchester

Kat, superb comeback...sometimes the comments are better than the article! Certainly MUCH more amusing!!
- Joanna, Fremont, NH

Give me a break...nice to see that Dan Kramer is worrying about real code violators in Epping! How about enforcing real zoning laws being broken like those who decide that a residential lot can be used instead to store dump trucks, construction vehicles and front-end loaders on the lots! I guess those violations don't count!
- Mike, Epping

Although a barber pole may be unsightly to the Epping Metropolitan Code Enforcement Bureau, apparently the proliferance of run down trailers with old school buses added on as a three season porch and cars on blocks aren't.
- D. Sanchez, Fremont, NH

Glad to hear that the local petty tyrants decided not to infringe on a local business owner's property rights.
- CDR, Lebanon

Brian, I can see your point.
Because of this exception, Epping may possibly become a Mecca for barbers all across the state, country and the world. This would result in barber poles sprouting up everywhere. This could be extremely problematic because you know that where there are poles, there will be pole dancers.
- Kat, Raymond

It is not a free country if a barber has to beg to have a barber pole.

The next guy wanting a sign with moving parts shouldn't have to beg either.

It would be a free country if the town only stepped in after the fact if something were a hazard. We shouldn't have codes for aesthetics.
- Cathleen, Center Barnstead

Good, I didn't get why the town didn't approve this. Especially where Hurlbert Toyota has 40 feet of illumination just down the road from this place!
- Hannah Konda, Manchester NH

Okay Bill, Exeter is such a metropolis!
- John, Epping

My Dad’s barbershop complete with pole was THE staple business in his town and outlasted all other businesses during the 40-plus year era. He had regulars that would come from many miles around, folks whose families he came to know quite well. Perhaps Master Barber Shortridge will bring the same to Epping, providing what will likely be a good-value, consistent, unencumbered service like days gone by. Gee, I can’t imagine why any town would want to benefit from such consistency and, instead, would want to spend more time focusing on its ordinances. Unless they eventually want either a ghost town from driving businesses away, or a town made up of more of those (oh God) sterile box stores.
- Gary, Concord

While I agree with the decision, why does a non-elected person (town planner) get to override the inspector. Did the Planning Board or Selectman give the authority to Clay Mitchell?
Shouldn't this be the perview of one of the town boards?
- Jeff, Epping

Good for the barber!

Give some small-town hicks a little authority and they think they are God.


This is still a free country.
- Bill Howard, Exeter

Brian, I would think that a barber pole isn't an exception... it is Grandfathered because of it's history.... Who has a barber shop and no pole? It's like ice cream and cake... The goverment has taken so much from the American people that this one little thing isn't too much to ask... You only see one or possibly two barber shops in an entire town... let the small town shop owners stay true and goverment and big bussiness keep their hands off them...
- Dee M, Manchester, NH

Seems like a nice thing to do, BUT...... if you make an exception for one business, what happens when the next one asks?
- Brian, Farmington