Well, when they rejected his request for a 20+-foot pole, he could have asked them if a shorter pole was acceptable.
Or he could have asked if the community would consider putting up a pole on the common grounds (all the grounds were common, even his front yard).
While waiting, he could have bought a 5-dollar bracket and hung his flag off his wall, like his neighbors do. He claimed that hanging a flag off his wall at an angle would be “flying it half-mast”, but obviously that is not the case.
He could have simply appealed the ruling, or petitioned his neighbors to join him in asking for a re-hearing.
Often times an HOA will reject something, but be open to reconsideration if it turns out everybody is OK with it.
What he should NOT have done is ignored their ruling and put up a flagpole without permission.
And while I support him getting a ruling change so he can have a flagpole, I resent Mark Warner’s claim that the rules should be waived, and the HOA should act illegally, to allow this guy to have his flag since he’s a decorated war hero.
Nothing against decorated war heros, but being a hero doesn’t make you royalty, or mean the rules don’t apply to you. We don’t have a “flagpole exception” for veterans.
In fact, a hippie anti-war protestor has as much right to put a flag pole in their front yard as a decorated war hero.
But it’s not surprising that Democratic politicians are all urging that the rules don’t matter, that the guy should be able to do what he wants since it’s “popular” to say so.
Other than James Webb, I am betting that every one of these guys would be the first to show up to complain if someone put a large flagpole up without permission next door to THEIR homes.
“Other than James Webb, I am betting that every one of these guys would be the first to show up to complain if someone put a large flagpole up without permission next door to THEIR homes.”
Webb would first check the prevailing political winds, first. Don’t give him too much credit.