Your Honor,

I am profoundly appreciative of the efforts of the Appeals Court
which spent 9 1/2 months in the preparation of a 15 page opinion.
The Appeals Court found the prohibition of Do-It-Yourself plumbing of
the Massachusetts Plumbing Code to pass the test of constitutionality,
but it determined that the Massachusetts Plumbing Code did not permit
the destruction of plumbing which, aside from having been installed
by an unlicensed person without a permit, was otherwise code compliant.

As the appellant in this case I immediately set out to comply with the
Appeals Court order by attempting to hire a licensed plumber to obtain
a plumbing permit, to correct any code violations that he might find,
and to obtain from the Nantucket inspector, the required inspection
required by law.

I made more than 52 telephone calls to 27 different plumbing
establishments until finally I found only one plumber willing to carry
out the mandate of the Appeals Court.

Telephone calls to 22 telephone numbers were not returned.  One plumber,
Mr. Dave Kinney, twice promised to come and failed twice to appear.
One plumber, Mr. Bruce Hermansdorfer without having inspected the
installation categorically refused the work.

Two plumbers, Mr. Maurice Daniels and Mr. Dennis Parks who had each
inspected the installation and had promised to furnish estimates,
subsequently refused the work.

On January 5, 2011, one plumber, Mr. Chris M. Gordon, made a careful
inspection of the installation, including pressure testing. Mr. Gordon
offered to obtain a plumbing permit and to arrange with the plumbing
inspector for the inspection required by law.  I accepted his offer,
gave him a key to the premises, and a check for $1000 to defray the
cost of the plumbing permit either $520 or $650 and to reimburse him
for his work. There was between us an explicit understanding that he
would reimburse me if my check proved excessive and that I would pay
additional sums as warranted by the necessary work.

On January 11, I telephone the Nantucket Building Department
and was told that no plumbing permit had been issued.
I then telephoned Mr. Gordon who told me that he had gone to the
Building Department on January 6, had applied for a plumbing permit,
that his application had been denied, that he, Mr. Gordon had
informed the Inspector that he, Mr. Gordon had inspected the
installation and that in his judgment it was in compliance with 
the Massachusetts Plumbing Code. The Inspector told Gordon that he,
the Inspector would not inspect the installation. The inspector also
scolded and upbraided Gordon for his involvement with my project.
Mr. Gordon expressed to me his concern that his plumbing license
might be in jeopardy because of his proposing to assist me in
carrying out the directives of the Appeals Court.
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The Appeals Court's set aside Chapter 30A of the
General Laws and decided this case in Equity
rather than in Law. It identified and pronounced an
equitable rather than a legal solution. It abandoned
law in favor of equity.
================
The remedy in the instant situation should likewise be
a remedy in equity rather than in law, if only because
a legal remedy is impractical. A legal remedy is impractical
because, while an individual is susceptible to legal 
sanctions, a governmental entity such as the Town of
Nantucket, is not. It would be unjust to focus on Mr.
Ciarmataro. He is carrying out the intentions and purposes
of the building department, and perhaps the specific
directives of his superiors. He is not a loose cannon 
on his own. The government of Nantucket cannot be changed
by court order.
================
Any plumber working on Nantucket is responsible to Mr.
Ciarmataro and is subject to censure by him, and is
potentially the object of a complaint which might indeed
lead to censure or to the loss of his license.
================
Nantucket is an island of anarchy. On March 27, 2006,
Justice Connon in the Barnstable status hearing said,
obiter dictu, some people on Nantucket ought to be spanked.
75 percent of cases are illegal or the result of rudeness.
================
The present issue should also be adjudicated in equity
rather than law. A legal remedy won't work for lack of
a reliable legal framework. There's no relying on the
Board of State Examiners, no relying on the AG.
The Plumbing Code is in its application on Nantucket,
a Potemkin village.