We hope Lewiston city staff can help Bartlett Street neighbors work out their escalating parking issues.

In the end, however, the city may have to admit that this is not a good location for anything that draws a crowd, including a mosque.

In a two-hour gripe session at Tuesday night’s council meeting, property owner and former City Councilor Denis Theriault complained that mosque worshipers regularly park on his property, taking spaces away from his neighbors.

The mosque opened last year under a conditional-use permit that expires in February 2011.

The city approved the mosque’s use of the building at 256 Bartlett St. and required the property owner to provide 17 parking spaces nearby and limit occupancy to 98 people.

The city expected that most of the people attending the mosque would walk, but it apparently hasn’t worked out that way.

Theriault says cars block his driveway and he has been threatened by mosque members.

In fact, Theriault told the council that he has a permit to carry a gun and that he is prepared to use it if he is threatened.

Once, he said, he opened his jacket during an argument and put his hand on his weapon when he felt threatened.

And that’s a definite signal that police need to be actively involved in diffusing the situation. Illegally parked cars should, of course, be towed as quickly as possible, and the belligerents on both sides must be warned to cool off.

Theriault, meanwhile, should be warned to leave his gun out of the equation.

Several weeks ago a Biddeford man went on trial for shooting two men to death outside his home in a very similar situation involving a neighborhood dispute. Rory Holland was convicted Nov. 3 of murder.

Theriault should walk away from such conflicts and call the police.

Better Business Bureau

under fire for its ethics

If you have a notion that the scandals of recent years have led to more ethical business practices, consider this:

The Better Business Bureau, one of the country’s best-known consumer watchdog groups, is accused of running its own pay-to-play scam, assigning “A-plus” ratings to merchants who pay membership fees and using “F” ratings to punish those who do not.

“Right now, this rating system is really unworthy of consumer trust or confidence,” Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal told ABC News.

The network recorded two small-business owners in Los Angeles being told by Better Business Bureau telemarketers that their C grades would become A-plus grades if they bought a $395 membership.

ABC also revealed that the head of the LA Better Business Bureau was paid more than $400,000 per year.

Celebrity Chef Wolfgang Puck told ABC News that his restaurants often receive F ratings because he refuses to join the BBB.

In another case, a blogger was awarded an A-minus rating for a sushi restaurant that did not exist.

Clearly, the BBB needs to review its mission statement: “to promote and foster the highest ethical” standards.

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