They can take away my peace wreath when they pry it from my cold, dead fingers!!
[QUOTE=FinnAgain]
Is anybody else put in mind of the X Files episode with the garbage monster?
[/QUOTE]
I loved that episode.
As I once saw someone write (I think it was somewhere on Slashdot), HOAs are the last bastion of facism in America.
[QUOTE=Una Persson]
Depending upon her homeowners covenant, she could very easily lose in court.
[/QUOTE]
And she said that she “doubts they will be able to make her pay.” I think they will easily be able to get her to pay; by filing a lien on her house, as most likely allowed in the HOA regulations.
Jesus, what an ugly wreath.
I think the court case will revolve around whether or not the HOA president/asshole can fire the committee because they disagree with him. I don’t know the rules of the Association, so I can’t predict anything about it. In any case, fuck him and fuck all HOAs. (Go ahead, pun away.)
I’m very disappointed that there were no actually Nazis involved. I feel I was misled.
[QUOTE=Hamlet]
40,000 quatloos on the new comer!
[/QUOTE]
Now that is good. 
[QUOTE=FinnAgain]
Is anybody else put in mind of the X Files episode with the garbage monster?
[/QUOTE]
Every time this subject comes up, my friend. Every time.
[QUOTE=Dewey Finn]
And she said that she “doubts they will be able to make her pay.” I think they will easily be able to get her to pay; by filing a lien on her house, as most likely allowed in the HOA regulations.
[/QUOTE]
I agree, and somewhere I have filed away a news account of a family forced to sell their house at auction because they accumulated more than a certain percent of the value of their house in liens. After it was sold, they still somehow had negative equity, and had to declare bankruptcy.
Hey, if somebody objects to this message, they are welcome to express their own opinion (e.g. by displaying a big plastic Jesus dressed in camo robes and carrying a bandolier and machine gun).
[QUOTE=Loach]
I’m very disappointed that there were no actually Nazis involved. I feel I was misled.
[/QUOTE]
I suggest you put up a sign about it.
[QUOTE=Jackmannii]
This woman would very likely lose a court case if her HOA agreement is that broad, and approval of any displays or signs is ultimately up to the ego-tripping petty tyrants who gravitate to these positions.
[/QUOTE]
While it’s unclear from the story, it seems that the HOA had let slip clear indications that they’re objecting based on the perceived political message of the wreath. If so, they’re dead meat if the matter ends up in court.
I can’t wait for this egregious, politically correct violation of free speech to be skewered on Fox News’s Tongue Tied: Dispatches from the Culture Wars.
What?
[QUOTE=wring]
I suggest you put up a sign about it.
[/QUOTE]
I don’t live in a condo so I can put up anything I want.
I just choose not to.
[QUOTE=Loach]
I don’t live in a condo so I can put up anything I want.
I just choose not to.
[/QUOTE]
I guess I should have used the smiley.
[QUOTE=Steve MB]
While it’s unclear from the story, it seems that the HOA had let slip clear indications that they’re objecting based on the perceived political message of the wreath. If so, they’re dead meat if the matter ends up in court.
[/QUOTE]
Why? You can get fired for a political bumper sticker on your car in the parking lot of a private business. Political speech is not particularly protected. This isn’t a government organization. This is a private organization that the homeowner agreed to abide by. Despite any other provisions in the HOA I’m sure there is one that says the president of the association has final say in all matters. The only legal argument would be if there was discrimination due to race, religion or sex.
[QUOTE=wring]
I guess I should have used the smiley.
[/QUOTE]
Why? I didn’t use one either. 
[QUOTE=Loach]
Why? You can get fired for a political bumper sticker on your car in the parking lot of a private business. Political speech is not particularly protected. This isn’t a government organization. This is a private organization that the homeowner agreed to abide by. Despite any other provisions in the HOA I’m sure there is one that says the president of the association has final say in all matters. The only legal argument would be if there was discrimination due to race, religion or sex.
[/QUOTE]
I agree w/this assesment. My dad spent a good ten years trying to sue his HOA over their practices. Never got him anywhere. It’s a private organization, their internal rules are their own. if ya sign on the dotted line, it’ll be the last signage you have complete control over.
**Loach ** - fair enough.
I’ve been to Pagosa Springs, I have relatives in Pagosa Springs, and the only thing that surprised me about this story is that someone down there has enough money to pay HOA fees. 
[QUOTE=Askia]
Can’t blame the entire homeowner’s association. According to the article, when five members of the board voted that the peace wreath was no big deal, the board president – Bob Kearns – FIRED them all.
Somehow guessing this guy is not a liberal.
[/QUOTE]
I’m trying to figure this one out. Condo boards are elected by the membership in my experience. The board president normally has no power to hire/fire board members.
The woman will probably lose. HOAs have a long track record of findings in their favor. Judges don’t want to open the door for endless lawsuits against them, as it would mean the demise of such organizations.
[QUOTE=Chefguy]
I’m trying to figure this one out. Condo boards are elected by the membership in my experience. The board president normally has no power to hire/fire board members.
[/QUOTE]
The president can’t fire the board members as board members, but in all likelihood the HOA charter says that the committee members serve at the will of the president, and so he can indeed fire them. The only time I lived in an area with an HOA, we had a real nazi heading the architectural control committee, and so I got myself elected to the board just so I could persuade the rest of the board to turn over interpretation of the AAC’s job to the HOA’s attorney, not the AAC chairman. The board president was able to fire the AAC chair as a committee member, but not as a board member. (And everyone cheered when the bitch sold and moved out!)
[QUOTE=Steve MB]
While it’s unclear from the story, it seems that the HOA had let slip clear indications that they’re objecting based on the perceived political message of the wreath. If so, they’re dead meat if the matter ends up in court.
[/QUOTE]
Why? If the HOA’s committee has the authority to request the removal of any signage or decoration that they feel is disruptive, and they are given that degree of latitude in the HOA contract then it really does not matter what their motivation is. They do not have any sort of “Constitutional” obligation to protect freedom of speech or any thing else.
We strongly value rights in this country, but we also strongly value contracts. And when you willingly sign away certain rights in a HOA contract the courts typically hold you to that, and the suggested remedy is to move.
I’m not a big fan of HOAs and I’d never live somewhere where you have to be a member of one to buy a home in that subdivision. But strictly speaking most disputes with HOAs are matters of contract law, and typically the petty fascists who run HOAs follow the stipulations of the contract brutally to-the-letter which is why HOAs are so rarely successfully litigated against.