Rhode Islanders are known to love clams, clamcakes and clambakes, but they sure aren’t fond of clam driveways. They say it stinks.
WJAR reports that residents of the coastal town of Tiverton have been putting up with the putrid smell of decaying shellfish for days now.
The owner of a property off State Route 77 is building an access road from the main drag to his land.
Last week, the owner, identified as David Rose, allegedly trucked in thousands of clamshells to line the access road to his farm.
The move has his neighbors holding their noses and shaking their fists at him. Why? Because the smell from the decaying, unwashed clamshells is overwhelming.
Some of the neighbors say that clam meat is visible and maggots are feeding on it.
The Rhode Island State Department of Environmental Management and Tiverton police are investigating.
But in the meantime, neighbors have to live with the nauseating smell.
Sharon Moore, who lives next door, said, "Some parts still has the meat, so now it's decaying. It's like bodies decaying. So, you've got about a million bodies decaying.”
Rose has clammed-up about the situation and is not talking, but the Tiverton town administrator said the building inspector has issued a cease-and-desist order.