![]() ![]() William Waybourn and Craig Spaulding, both 76, owners of the Front Porch, have been a couple since 1973, when they worked at the Dallas Times Herald, a newspaper that closed in 1991. The other was a sign designed like an American flag, and it listed the things “we believe,” including the Second Amendment, “unborn lives matter” and “all lives matter.” Both signs have since been removed. For weeks, the Washers had posted two placards in the front yard of ICS Financial: One was a campaign sign for son Regan, a managing partner in ICS Financial, who’s also a Republican nominee for the Fauquier County Board of Supervisors. They even fear the couple’s legal challenge could end up compromising The Plains’ ability to maintain its old-world charm.ĭuring the pandemic, Melissa posted anti-mask and, later, anti-vaccine statements on Facebook. The conflict has dragged on so long that some people in The Plains, population 250 or so, have been left to develop theories about what’s driving it, some perhaps more rooted in reality than others: Some fear the Washers’ actions could break the town financially with hearings, lawsuits and paperwork. This conflict has dragged on for years, creating friction where friendships used to be and often forcing residents to pick sides. ![]() “Because they had done so many other little s-ty things to us.” “We still feel like somebody put it there to, excuse me, eff with us,” Melissa Washer said about the rat. They say they have been insulted by staff, including Foster, have lived with a bright security light shining into their home, and have found used chewing tobacco next to their car doors. They say they are being treated unfairly because they are conservative. They are not the harassers, the Washers argue. What’s more, the Washers say, the dead rat was just one more insult that the couple, who once planted an “all lives matter” sign in their front yard, have endured since moving next door to a restaurant owned by a gay couple. The same attorney wrote a town official, challenging the restaurant’s right to operate under its existing permit. Their attorney threatened legal action against the restaurant’s suppliers if their trucks continued to “trespass” in the lot. They confronted or towed drivers who ignored the signs. The Washers responded by installing signs to prevent diners from parking in spaces the Washers own in the shared lot. Fed up with what they viewed as harassment, the Front Porch owners filed a no-trespassing order against their neighbors. A year earlier, the Washers had started filing complaints about their neighbor’s trash with the health department. The renovated building doubles as the Washers’ residence, where they have a front-row view of the Front Porch’s operation.īy the time the rat appeared last summer, the relationship between the two businesses had devolved. The businessman and his wife, Melissa, first complained to the Front Porch proprietors about pre-dawn vendor deliveries in 2019, not long after the conservative Christian couple moved their financial firm right next door to the restaurant, which flies a gay Pride flag. ![]()
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