Of course...had she written on her home disparaging words about Bush and so on..."they" would have given a bigger house to write on..
Posted on 01/20/2007 6:36:35 PM PST by Dallas59
SAN MATEO — The Community Improvement Commission ordered a Shoreview resident Wednesday to remove cryptic messages written on her home or face as much as $5,000 in fines.
Estrella Benevides, 46, has until Feb. 14 to erase the painted script from her home in the 1800 block of Cottage Grove Avenue, which has been covered with an inscrutable text containing biblical references, conspiracy theories and glimpses into a painful personal history.
The commission ruled that Benevides will be fined $50 for every day following Feb. 14 that her roof, garage and windows remain covered with the messages, up to a limit of $5,000. The commission also imposed an administrative fee of $1,829.
Benevides vowed not to remove the messages, which she believes come from God, and to fight the commission's decision, citing her First Amendment rights to free speech. Commissioners said the problem wasn't constitutional.
"We're not complaining about what you're discussing in your signs," Commissioner Nonie Tremaine told Benevides. "We're discussing the size of your signs."
City codes prevent residents of single-family homes from writing on their roofs or posting signs larger than 6 square feet in size, though informal exceptions are made for Christmas displays.
Benevides' home is almost completely blanketed in words, which combine to warn in part of a worldwide conspiracy that employs mind-control to oppress the poor. Benevides began painting the messages on her Advertisement home sometime in 2005.
In a letter she submitted to the commission, Benevides wrote that the government is persecuting her because she "discovered that they are using witchcraft and technology against the people who are not aware of and who are not part of this mafia group."
Benevides told the commission that she writes the messages on her home as a plea for help in her attempt to regain custody of her 4-year-old son, who lives in Hayward with his father. Benevides lost custody of the child after she began acting erratically in 2005, according to court documents.
Benevides also claims her son has beenabused by both his father and government agents.
"I don't have any other way to tell what these people is doing," said Benevides, who was born in Nicaragua and moved to the U.S. in 1987. She has two other sons, both in their 20s, who also live in the Bay Area.
Robert Muehlbauer, the city's director of neighborhood improvement and housing, said he sympathizes with Benevides' distress, but the Community Improvement Commission was not the right venue for child-custody issues.
Commissioner Charlie Drechsler said Benevides' "ardent and zealous" exercise of her right to free speech was negatively affecting her neighbors.
"I wish you could tell us what you're going to do to rectify these violations," Drechsler said.
I guess a woman's home isn't her castle.
Well, that's tacky, no matter what it says. My homeowners' association would't allow it!
What a mess. I wonder what it says.
It looks very...neat.
I'll bet you nobody selling things ever knocks on the door. Appearing at a distance to be raving batsh*t crazy probably does more to ensure domestic peace and quiet than a Rottie in the front yard. :-)
LOL!
So to win her son back after losing him for "erratic behavior," she engages in ... more erratic behavior!
Of course, it's not erratic if the government really IS using witchcraft and interdimensional brain waves to control our thoughts. I've noticed that Eye of Newt futures have been steadily rising since the Trilateral Commission met on Friday the Thirteenth at the Masonic Lodge on Jekyll Island.
I saw a sign on the back of a fence by a busy street yesterday. The owner in big letters is thanking specific members of our local government for raising taxes.
So that's where they were going!!!! Ha ha... (I grew up on St. Simons Island, the next island north of Jekyll).
Don't you just hate having a crazy neighbor.
Unless the neighbors are fixing to sell their houses soon, I don't see a compelling reason to force her to take her stuff down.
Hey, nice place! I land there every now and then.
I pass a place every couple of days that has a sign on the fence, "THEY TOOK MY FARM!"
I don't know the details, but I feel for the owner.
That was my reaction. I'll bet she takes a vacuum to her driveway, and then gets out and scrubs it with soap and water . . . every day.
Probably the neatest house in the neighborhood.
But it's for her own good. The government always knows best.
Wait a minute ... Isn't that closer to ... [cue dramatic organ music] ... THE BERMUDA TRIANGLE!!!????
I would say that it's the roof, the sign hanging in front of her picture window and some big sign in the yard which is the problem.
If she had only put something on her garage door (like she has) and something in the window (not hanging from the roof line) -- then nothing would have been done about it.
She just went overboard and made her house look like trash compared to the rest of the neighborhood. You can't look too out of place if you're going to live in a community of some kind.
If you do want to be way out of place, you better get about 100 acres and live in the middle of it where no one can see you.
Regards,
Star Traveler
Yeah. Especially the kind that run bitchin to the authorities about what I'm doing on my own property that's none of their damm bidness.
You mean that place where people just disapp
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