My Memoirs - Citizen of the World

ecause every time I opened my mouth that meant another
thousand dollars out of our pocket. I kept on bidding up to twentyseven
thousand, and I decided to tell all the bidders that I had
offered much more money for that property the week before and
that I was prepared to bid until that amount. One of them bid
twenty-eight thousand and I responded with twenty-eight thousand
two hundred. There was a brief silence before Larney Bisbano
abruptly said, "SOLD, to Fred Pacheco!" We were thrilled. It was
the ideal location, very visible, where more than thirty-thousand
vehicles pass every day. It was much better than the location of
our office in Warren.
There was already a large sign in front of the property that came
with it, so the only thing we had to do was to change the lettering
to “Bristol County Travel, Inc, d/b/a Pacheco Travel Agency.” We
kept our office in Warren for a few more months. I contacted an
architect to design our new office. He presented a very good draft
that we approved, and I then contacted a few contractors to
estimate the cost for the addition. I received a few bids and I
accepted the lowest one.
The lowest bid was made by two Portuguese immigrants. When
the addition to our house was half-done, I received a letter from the
Town of Bristol saying that construction had to stop immediately.
I went to the Town Hall and spoke to the Building Inspector, the
same person who had previously approved the permit for the
addition since the area was zoned for business. He replied that I
had to choose one or the other - either live in the house, or
designate it as a business. I contacted my attorney who studied the
entire case, and he told me that the town was wrong. I was advised
to continue building.
The Providence Journal heard about my case, contacted me and
wrote an article on the front page of the paper with a photograph
and a story. We went to court and the judge ruled in my favor. I
was not asking permission to build a home, but rather an addition
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