WickedTemptress
08-24-2005, 04:20 PM
http://timesunion.com/AspStories/story.asp?storyID=389457&category=RENSSELAER&BCCode=HOME&newsdate=8/16/2005
SCHODACK -- Vince Gramuglia got what he wanted Monday, though Betty Beaver got pelted.
The town Planning Board took no action to block a racy sign showing a chesty cartoon beaver that Gramuglia plans to install when he reopens the old Northeast Truck Stop.
"The sign stays the way that it is," Gramuglia said. "Betty's going to hang."
The truck stop impresario handed out free T-shirts showing the buxom beaver to supporters who turned out at the board meeting.
The Planning Board still must decide whether the reopened truck stop will meet town noise limits and other quality-of-life concerns, but Gramuglia said the sign itself is no longer a matter of debate with the town.
The sexy truck stop sign has been a matter of some concern to townsfolk who think it is demeaning to women and don't believe it's appropriate for a suburban skyline.
Gramuglia's Fultonville-based Countryside Management Corp., which operates several Betty Beavers truck stops in upstate New York and Vermont, has had an application before the town for several months to locate a convenience mart off Exit 12 of Interstate 90.
And while noise, fumes and pollution issues are more acutely important to neighbors who have opposed the plan, some townsfolk shunned the Betty Beavers sign. Before the meeting, resident Joe Korghage called it, "Lewd and indecent and insulting to women."
The roadside signs show a buck-toothed, bosomy beaver in a red, white and blue cap and skirt with a white apron. Betty has one paw poised on a shapely hip and the other holding a fuel nozzle with a come-and-get-it smile. The beaver's bosom protrudes from the sign. The town has an ordinance that limits the size of such signs, but Gramuglia said he will have an appropriately sized Getty sign out by Route 9 and the Betty Beavers sign will be on the side of the store.
SCHODACK -- Vince Gramuglia got what he wanted Monday, though Betty Beaver got pelted.
The town Planning Board took no action to block a racy sign showing a chesty cartoon beaver that Gramuglia plans to install when he reopens the old Northeast Truck Stop.
"The sign stays the way that it is," Gramuglia said. "Betty's going to hang."
The truck stop impresario handed out free T-shirts showing the buxom beaver to supporters who turned out at the board meeting.
The Planning Board still must decide whether the reopened truck stop will meet town noise limits and other quality-of-life concerns, but Gramuglia said the sign itself is no longer a matter of debate with the town.
The sexy truck stop sign has been a matter of some concern to townsfolk who think it is demeaning to women and don't believe it's appropriate for a suburban skyline.
Gramuglia's Fultonville-based Countryside Management Corp., which operates several Betty Beavers truck stops in upstate New York and Vermont, has had an application before the town for several months to locate a convenience mart off Exit 12 of Interstate 90.
And while noise, fumes and pollution issues are more acutely important to neighbors who have opposed the plan, some townsfolk shunned the Betty Beavers sign. Before the meeting, resident Joe Korghage called it, "Lewd and indecent and insulting to women."
The roadside signs show a buck-toothed, bosomy beaver in a red, white and blue cap and skirt with a white apron. Betty has one paw poised on a shapely hip and the other holding a fuel nozzle with a come-and-get-it smile. The beaver's bosom protrudes from the sign. The town has an ordinance that limits the size of such signs, but Gramuglia said he will have an appropriately sized Getty sign out by Route 9 and the Betty Beavers sign will be on the side of the store.