Breaking news: Charlotte Gill not giving up on her lobster pound without a fight with select chair
Tuesday night's battle at select meeting is more of SWH's strong man's reign
SOUTHWEST HARBOR, Feb. 7, 2022 - In the dead of winter, with fewer people watching, select chair George Jellison is hoping for a choke hold on Charlotte Gill’s “legendary” lobster pound and put her out of business on behalf of his sister who lives across the street.
That’s what Gill is asserting with her public post on Facebook in anticipation of Tuesday night’s select board meeting when she fears Jellison’s minions will order the local constabulary to shut down parking around her business, Charlotte’s Legendary Lobster Pound on Seawall, where it has operated for 67 years. https://www.facebook.com/SawyersLobsterPound/posts/5159406874083429
Charlotte Gill earned international acclaim for her pound and her use of cannabis to sedate lobsters before they are cooked. Apart from Hinckley Yachts, she is probably the most famous local business.
“Welcome to the corrupt side?” she posted.
“Was 2021 the last season for the world famous Charlotte’s Legendary Lobster Pound, located in the “Quietside” of Mt. Desert Island in the village of Southwest Harbor?
“Having a brother as the head selectman for the community has made that a real possibility,” Gill wrote, in reference to her neighbor Aimee Jellison Williams, sister of George Jellison.
“I realize we live in a ‘bully world’ these days, but what has happened here, should not go unnoticed or be allowed to slide underneath the proverbial carpet.
“How head selectman George Jellison was even allowed to weigh in on these discussions without recusing himself is beyond comprehension. Not only did he NOT, but he helped shape and is instrumental to what is happening now.
“Furthermore as he sells insurance policies to a large basis within the community, how he is even on the board AT ALL seems questionable at best, as it would seem to extinguish his ability to be able to weigh in on many matters in a truly unbiased fashion.”
The QSJ was not aware of Jellison’s insurance business as asserted by Gill but will investigate her claims.
“The entire basis of this complaint is ‘what could happen,” she wrote.
“Indeed if we are living life from that perspective perhaps we should shut down the entire town and Island itself in entirety, as anything “could happen”, (747’s could fall from the sky, tidal waves could come, and global warming could eradicate us all).
“The point is, NOTHING has happened in and all of those decades regarding accidents, nor is there anything to lead anyone to believe the years to come will be any different,” she wrote.
The QSJ investigated Jellison’s claims last summer and actually found Aimee Jellison’s home to be a bigger hazard because all the tourists who stopped in the middle of the road to snap photos of the wildlife in front of her house.
“No, I do not have a deer feeder anywhere on my property. Unfortunately they are everywhere! The fields up the road have herds of them,” she claimed. The local constabulary would be wise to investigate all hazards instead of just the claims from George Jellison on behalf of his sister.
This will not end well for Southwest Harbor and its legal bills.
Charlotte Gil’s post on FB has received 111 likes as of this writing.
None of the select members, including Carolyn Ball, responded to QSJ’s request for comment.
We went there last year and her hospitality, local entertainment and food was amazing!!! Being in business for many years and NOW they want to close this down shame on you!! Fight Hard Charlotte!!
Leave Charlotte alone she’s just trying to make a living and if she’s never had a complaint against her then this whole thing with that Selectman seems a little fishy!!! Get up a petition of support for Charlotte! I don’t live there but I have been many times and it would be a shame to lose that place and shut her down!