GREENE — The town was preparing to remove mounds of various items from the Route 202 property of George Stanley this week.

As expected, Stanley, who has fought with the town over his property for two decades, had plenty to say about the matter.

Earlier in the week, the town began taking bids “to remove, dispose of, and recycle any appropriate scrap materials from the outside of the structure located at 1316 U.S. Route 202 in Greene.”

This development came after the town was awarded judgment from the Maine District Court, allowing the town to take action after Stanley  refused to. The judgment was later upheld by Maine Superior Court.

In question are heaps of assorted items — bicycles, clothes, tires and car parts, tools, ladders, board games, building supplies, rugs, appliances in various states — assembled across roughly 100 feet along the side of Route 202 in front of Stanley’s home.

There’s even a grocery cart, a traffic barrel and a street sign on the roof.

Sprinkled in among this assortment are hand-painted signs advising passersby to vote Democrat while also warning them not to make U-turns in his yard.

Stanley considers this eclectic collection a work of art; an unfinished project. Town officials and many neighbors consider it junk, and they want it gone.

The town took Stanley to court in 2022, charging that he had violated the state’s junkyard law and the town’s flea market ordinance. A judge in 8th District Court ruled in the town’s favor.

Stanley, who is in his 70s and represented himself, appealed that decision to the Maine Supreme Judicial Court, arguing the evidence was insufficient for the lower court to find that he had violated the state junkyard statute or the town’s ordinance.

He also argued that the state junkyard statute is unconstitutional and that the penalties assessed against him are excessive.

But Maine’s highest court upheld the judgment, freeing up town officials to start searching for a crew to begin cleaning up what they consider junk in Stanley’s yard.

“You can’t fight city hall,” Stanley said Thursday. “That’s true all over New England. I’m a loser, I guess. I’ve never been a success in their eyes.”

Stanley no longer lives on the property. He has moved but does not want to say where.

Otherwise, he said that when it comes to his possessions on Route 202, he is prepared to “let it all go,” although he plans to ask the town to set aside some of the more valuable items.

He expects there will be a lot of pilfering along the way.

“Pirates are going to come and sell a lot of that stuff and they’re going to make a mint,” Stanley said.

Stanley has lived at the property for more than 20 years. In 2006, he vied for the right to run a flea market on the property but was denied. Town officials alleged that he ran a flea market anyway.

He has always denied that charge.

“I never ran a flea market,” Stanley said. “They never had any proof that I sold anything.”

Stanley’s relationship with the town has always been fractious. His relationship with neighbors is a little bit more uneven. Many deem his strange assemblage of random items an eyesore and have demanded that it be removed for years. Others will insist that Stanley’s display adds character to an otherwise bland stretch of Route 202.

“I used to love driving by this house when I was a kid,” Kristen Globensky wrote on the Town of Greene Facebook page. “Fond memories of it. Honestly, just leave it alone.”

Others saw it as a matter of property rights and asserted that Stanley’s are being violated.

There was a similar split in opinion in 2018 when a bogus ad on Craigslist declared all of Stanley’s stuff free for the taking, which led to a looting fest on the property.

Stanley was in Florida at the time. The ad ran for three days before it was discovered to be a hoax. Neighbors reported that while the ad was up, it was not uncommon to see nearly a dozen cars parked in front of Stanley’s home as eager men and women sifted through the goods, taking what appealed to them.

When Stanley came rushing back from Florida, he declared that $10,000 worth of items had been taken from his property, including what he deemed deeply personal items.

“You might attach sentimental value to your wife and kids, to the SUV or to your career,” Stanley said. “I don’t have any of those things. This is my life.”

State police investigated the matter, but it was never determined who placed the ad.

After the latest court judgment, the town code enforcement officer gave Stanley until spring to clean up the property himself.

Stanley said Thursday that he never had plans to do that. Letting it all go, he said, seems to be the wise thing to do, although he frets that the town may mow down the fruit trees left standing on the property.

Otherwise, Stanley said, he plans to keep collecting various items and to continue building that collection as he’s always done.

Will we see another battle over flea market rights?

Not likely.

“These days,” Stanley said, “I can just get on Facebook and sell it all right there without ever having to leave home.”

When it comes to his frequent battles with the town — and his frequent appearances in the media — Stanley is remarkably self-aware. He recognizes that he’s been a controversial and colorful character since moving to Greene 20 years ago.

That’s not likely to change, either.

“I’m weird,” Stanley said. “But I’m good weird.”

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