RICHMOND – A local family is going home empty-handed today after learning that their photo enlargement may be violating state law. According to chapter 21 of the Vermont Title 10 statute, all outdoor signage must be brown and white in color, and be only for the purpose or directing travelers. When the family asked for a large print of the photo at “Sign Waves” printing shop in Richmond, they were turned away. The shop asserts that the photograph in question does include white, but also red and blue, and it includes no directional information at all.
The family claims that the photo enlargement is not a sign at all, but rather a simple poster that would cover the entirety of their living room wall. Their living room happens to be 14 feet high and 48 feet wide, which unfortunately is the typical size of a standard billboard. Business owners say that cases like these can be difficult to navigate.
“I have no problem with the photo itself,” says Ethan Enamy, the clerk who refused to print the enlargement, “but I’ve been tricked before. This one time a lady came in and swore to me that she just loved Walmart so much that she wanted a huge poster of it for her barn wall. I printed it for her, real big, and it turned out she worked for Walmart and was trying to put a billboard up in secret, like where no one would see it. Worked for a while, cause she put it right up on the highway and nobody could see it, cause they were all looking at their phones, but it only takes one guy to look up at the road for a second, and then bam! I get a warning, and if it happens again I get fired. I’m not taking that chance.”
The family is looking at the possibility of taking legal action against the printing business, claiming that they were not breaking any laws, but legal experts agree that it would be a hard case to win, based on the clerk’s new claim that enlarging family photographs are against his religion.
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