Fall River Board of Health Suspends Durfee Street Store's Tobacco License for Seven Days

Board of Health · Meeting of July 27, 2026

Fall River Board of Health suspends a Durfee Street convenience store's tobacco license and clears the way for emergency beaver-control work at two city water sites. The board, with Chair Thomas Cory and member Michael J. Coughlin voting at Monday's Zoom session, found Farm Market at 223 Durfee Street guilty of a second violation of 105 CMR 665 after Board of Health Agent Tess Curran discovered a bag of flavored vapes — including green, pineapple, and menthol varieties — hidden inside a Fiji-branded box in the store's back room during a July 17 inspection; a mandatory $2,000 fine is due August 10 and a seven-day license suspension begins next week.

The board also voted 2-0 to issue an emergency public health determination letter for Paul Furrow, the city's administrator of community utilities, enabling the city to seek Conservation Commission approval to install "Beaver Deceiver" devices at Dr.'s Mill Pond and three 36-inch culverts along Bell Rock Road, where beaver dams risk destroying the roadway and threatening the North Watupa Pond drinking water watershed, with contractor work penciled in for August 11. Four animal-keeping permits and two tattoo practitioner licenses were also approved unanimously.

In the full story:

• Background and stakes
• The question before the body
• Substantive content
• Procedural steps and outcome
• Background and stakes
• Jessica Perez, 37 Smith Street (eight hens)
• The complete report — 2,575 words

Source: the Board of Health meeting of July 27, 2026, reported from the official video recording and transcript.