[smiley]

Well.....I guess it's time for a new roof.....say....red, white and blue....with stripes.....and stars.....maybe a new paint job on the house.....

[ShadowDancer]

Included in that award is several thousand dollars to hire a bulldozer, dump truck and several Henrico County Police to remove the 25 foot flagpole and the flag.

Why in God's name did they need a bulldozer and a dump truck to remove a pole from a ground sleeve?

[zip]

This is America?????????

[LibKill]

THIS AIN'T RIGHT!

Can we raise money to bail these poor folks out? I will give.

[dennisw]

commie rat bastards! lazy fat ass supping at the public trough beaurocRATs

[kcvl]

Why would anyone want to live in that neighborhood anyway? I would just move!

[Destructor]

"The Virginia Supreme Court's opinion, that people who live in homeowners' associations have very limited freedoms and property rights, was echoed by the United States Supreme Court."

I didn't realize that "homeowners associations" had such a commune mentality. I'll be damned if I'd ever live in one of those neighborhoods!

[RightOnline]

Words fail.........

[John123]

I think the word taste rather than patriotism is the key word here. Having a huge flagpole in front of a home is sort of overkill. I don't question the patriotism of the homeowners association. The main purpose of the association is to preserve the image of the neighborhood. Otherwise you could have tacky pink flamingoes on the lawn next door or year round displays of Christmast ornaments.

If you want to be a individualistic, super patriot, be very sure to purchase a home that is NOT in a neighborhood association.

[ErnBatavia]

Even Kalifornia allows residents of "compounds" to have flagpoles; there was a lawsuit that started right here in La Quinta resulting in the new state law that became effective this past January 1.

[JimVT]

Whaddaya wanna bet this one wouldna' raised a stir!

[Your Nightmare]

Here is the couple's website.

http://www.americanflagtrial.com/

When I first glanced at this story, I thought this might be one of those cases where someone wants to show their patriotism so they put up a 20' x 30' flag in the middle of a residential neighborhood. A 20x30 flag flapping in the wind can make a tremendous amount of noise and is not appropriate for a residential area. But that's not the case here. I don't know what the residence association's problem is, besides letting power go to their head.

[BJungNan]

What idiot associate would spend over $100,000 to sue someone for flying a flag. Glad I don't live in a community like this anymore. The lawyer must be happy.

[Alberta's Child]

I really have to question the decision of this homeowner to make a stand on this issue.

When you move into a place that is governed by homeowners' association rules, you have to read the fine print and know what those rules are. There is no basis for their complaint here -- the rule may be stupid, pointless, etc. -- but they clearly violated it.

[TomServo]

people who live in homeowners' associations have very limited freedoms and property rights

Guess they didn't read the contract.

[E.G.C.]

On this subject, my thoughts are:

Awhile back, I did a thread on this subject which recieved a wide variety of responses. A large part of these HOA's contribute to the Demorats and many of them are not well known for their integrity.

The bottom line, when buying a home check to see if it's in a neighborhood run by an HOA. Insist that the realtor address the issue. If he or she refuses and/or the house is in an HOA, turn it down and find a realtor who will be more cooperative with you on this issue.

And if your neighborhood is about to be taken over by an HOA and you don't have the financial or physical means to fight, move out and find another place to live.

HOA's are criminal enterprises, just like the Democratic party.
Regards.

[TankerKC]

The Virginia Supreme Court's opinion, that people who live in homeowners' associations have very limited freedoms and property rights, was echoed by the United States Supreme Court.

Several months ago, I was berated for saying that homeowners' associations would win on this. Well, here we are.

Don't live in places with homeowners' associations. Don't sign all of the papers agreeing to follow the rules, then cry when you can't break them.

And, don’t let the emotion of the flag being involved in this particular story cloud your thinking.

</told_you_so> <flame_prep>

[metesky]

The Virginia Supreme Court's opinion, that people who live in homeowners' associations have very limited freedoms and property rights, was echoed by the United States Supreme Court.

Either read the damn deed before you sign it or suffer the consequences of your own stupidity.

[SirFishalot]

This is the type of stupidity that should be exposed on one of the news shows like 20/20.

HOAs can be a blessing or a curse. Many of them become very cliquey fifedoms after a while. I used to live in a Condo where each unit got one vote. After moving there I come to find out that between the President of the association, his wife, and his three kids, they owned almost 30 of the 100 units. They had been buying them up and subleting them out over the 15 years they had lived there. This guy and his family actually thought they were the ruling family and expected to be treated as such. If you were on their bad side, look out.

I couldn't face selling that place to somebody else and sticking them with the same situation so I sold it at a loss to that idiot.

[SeeRushToldU_So]

Here is the homeowners reply from the website

Thanks for all the supportive words.

While the right to fly the American Flag on the land you own should be a basic Free Speech right and Private Property right of all Americans, it has special importance to us. When the Virginia General Assembly passed the "Wynhdam Flag Law" in 2000 by a vote of 140 to 0 we removed our temporary poles and replaced them with one permanent pole to better proudly fly our American Flag. We put a plaque at the bottom of the pole and dedicated it to Richard's "Walking Dead Marines". We would appreciate it if someone will go to our site AmericanFlagTrial.com and copy the photo of the plaque to this site. If the text could be put here as a new "news item" it would be great. I just don't know how to do this. Our website is badly in need of updating but it was done in HTML and I can't do that. Fact is Ava and I are working 70 to 80 hours each per week to "stay afloat". We have done this for four years. We could use help if any "computer folks" have time and interest. I think the story of my "Walking Dead Marines" will help you to understand why we must go to jail to keep our American Flag flying. And to Shu, of "On the Commons" please post our concerns about our children. Again it make the "human and family" destruction more understandable by anyone that has not faced the destructive force of the "Homeowner Association Government". Realize that neither the Federal, State nor local government could wreck families and lives as the Homeowner Associations can and do. They have power that is foreign to and would never be tolerated of any legitimate government. Finally, there is interest in the Judge. There is a link to his website and he does accept e-mails. The Judge is Harris, Chief Judge of the Henrico County Circuit Court, Henrico County Virginia. Posted Jan 27 2003 8:34PM EST Richard & Ava Oulton