OT - Got Milk? Drink it. / Got Nothing to Do? Join an HOA

[Red Green]

Decorated Veteran, 90, Fights to Raise Flag in His Yard

[norminn]

Guess he has the freedom to move to a private property so's he can do as he pleases.....the yard is not his own, it belongs to the community. Same old same old...people who think they are more special than other people.

[Gordon Shumway]

That veteran IS special and it would be an honor to have more neighbors like him!

Gordon Shumway

Our Constitution needs to be used less as a shield for the guilty and more as a sword for the victim.

[Red Green]

" [e-mail]" wrote in news:w46dnU4WYPN5_

4XWnZ2dnUVZ [e-mail]:

Some truth to that I suppose.

Also some truth that HOA's devalue HOA properties - even the properties of the non-radical HOA's. I know I wouldn't touch one.

[norminn]

The fella deserves to be honored for his valor and service...by the same token, he is using property owned by other people. I hate HOA's, largely due to really improper conduct of condo assn. I speak from experience, and I don't like people who act as if the rules are for everyone else.

[mm]

He should have looked into the rules of the property he was moving to, before he moved. But he probably never imagined they had such a rule.

I got a new neighbor a month ago, and like all the rest, she didn't bother to talk to me before she bought the house. I could have been an axe murderer for all she knew. The people on her other side really are annoying.

[HeyBub]

Heh! I found a swell house to buy, last one on a dead-end street. High fence - with a few holes -separated it from an adjoining apartment complex. As we were driving away from the initial inspection, I saw a police car slowly driving down the street. I held out my hand to stop the officer. He stopped, window to window.

I told him I was thinking about buying the house at the end of the block and asked if he could tell me anything about the neighborhood.

"I certainly can't advise you on whether to buy that house," he said. "But I can tell you that apartment house next door is full of thieves and murderers. Between calls I cruise the parking lot entering license plates in my computer. I get hits on an average of three stolen cars a week. Sometimes I find them in the driveway at that house at the end of the block... the one with the "For Sale" sign (!). The night shift makes probably three calls a week over there for shootings, stabbings, fights, and so forth."

Gulp!

I bought a different house.

[norminn]

Florida statutes governing HOA's specify that each homeowner may display the US flag and certain others - state, mil. services. Also specifies that the homeowner may erect a flagpole no more than 20' in height, regardless of the HOA's restrictions, on their own property. The statute limits size and type of flag, etc. It took a lot of lawsuits to get the statutes for HOA's and condos in Fla.

Virginia statutes also limit display of flag..

The rules in my condo were general and not enforced at all. Then they got tough, very specific and very personal....still not at all consistent.

If the flag alone were the issue with this guy, he probably is free to put a flag in a bracket by his door....that's what we do. He wants to play general and be in command, but he ain't on a military base any more. People less recognized than he is have died to ensure we all have the same rights as citizens...

[Stormin Mormon]

Probably not ethical, but that's an officer I'd suggest to send a box of donuts. And a gift certificate to the donut shop of his choice.

[The Daring Dufas]

I was reading the story and a line caught my eye "where the grounds are community property". Now if the wonderful old fellow wants to erect a flag pole on his "personal" property, I would be there to help. This looks like a case of property rights and who decides. I certainly wouldn't want anyone erecting anything on "my" property against my wishes.

TDD

[mm]

Ha ha ha. I love it. Yes, I've gotten the idea that it's common for cops not to say things like whether you should buy a house or not. I don't know if that's a rule, if they're trained on that, or if they've just learned to mind their own business, because someone is bound to yell at them no matter what they say.

You make a good point. Bub, you are a sissy.

And I guess this all means I should have talked to the police before I bought my house. Would you have done that, Bub, if he hadn't been right there? I've thought about that in the past a few times for a moment each. I messed up here by not checking out a larger area around my house, before I bought it. AFTER I moved in, I found only

3/8ths of a mile away some rather junky looking apartments. But actually, I don't think they cause any trouble. The only trouble around here is an occasional burglar and I'm sure they drive here because they're not going to carry their loot home. And they come from some place far enough away that they and their cars won't be recognized.

[RickH]

Your right to put up a TV antenna is protected, but your right to fly the flag is not.

[Tony]

What if he mounts a flagpole to his house? Unless the house is also community property and he just rents it?

[Kurt Ullman]

As directed by Congress in Section 207 of the Telecommunications Act of

1996, the Federal Communications Commission adopted the Over-the-Air Reception Devices (³OTARD²) rule concerning governmental and nongovernmental restrictions on viewers' ability to receive video programming signals from direct broadcast satellites ("DBS"), broadband radio service providers (formerly multichannel multipoint distribution service or MMDS), and television broadcast stations ("TVBS"). The rule (47 C.F.R. Section 1.4000) has been in effect since October 1996, and it prohibits restrictions that impair the installation, maintenance or use of antennas used to receive video programming. The rule applies to video antennas including direct-to-home satellite dishes that are less than one meter (39.37") in diameter (or of any size in Alaska), TV antennas, and wireless cable antennas. The rule prohibits most restrictions that: (1) unreasonably delay or prevent installation, maintenance or use; (2) unreasonably increase the cost of installation, maintenance or use; or (3) preclude reception of an acceptable quality signal. Effective January 22, 1999, the Commission amended the rule so that it also applies to rental property where the renter has an exclusive use area, such as a balcony or patio. On October 25, 2000, the Commission further amended the rule so that it applies to customer-end antennas that receive and transmit fixed wireless signals. This amendment became effective on May 25, 2001.

The rule allows local governments, community associations and landlords to enforce restrictions that do not impair the installation, maintenance or use of the types of antennas described above, as well as restrictions needed for safety or historic preservation. Under some circumstances where a central or common antenna is available,  a community association or landlord  may restrict the installation of individual antennas. The rule does not apply to common areas that are owned by a landlord, a community association, or jointly by condominium or cooperative owners where the antenna user does not have an exclusive use area. Such common areas may include the roof or exterior wall of a multiple dwelling unit. Therefore, restrictions on antennas installed in or on such common areas are enforceable. IIRC CB & Ham antennas may be included although I think that was via Court case that said the FCC had pre-empted local regulation of that. I am vague on this one any more, though.

[David Nebenzahl]

On 12/4/2009 6:27 AM Stormin Mormon spake thus:

Um, don't cops eat bagels these days? I though do[ugh]nuts were so old-school.

[aemeijers]

Dougnuts, bagels, tomato, to-mah-toe. Both delicious, and if you spread something on the bagel, both are about as bad for you.

-- aem sends...

[HeyBub]

No, I wouldn't have done it. It was an opportunistic event. But it was a lesson learned (and passed on here). I'll certainly put it on my list of things to do in the future.

[Red Green]

Red Green wrote in news:Xns9CD6CC4D8D28ARedGreen@

216.168.3.70:

Followup:

RICHMOND, Va. ? A 90-year-old Medal of Honor recipient can keep his 21- foot flagpole in his front yard after a homeowner's association dropped its request to remove it, a spokesman for Democratic Virginia Sen. Mark Warner said Tuesday.

[norminn]

Politicians should butt out of private property matters, and the issue is about private property owned by a GROUP of people. I admire the guy for his patriotism, but the next flagpole might be put up by a biker who wants to fly the Confederate or a Nazi flag....precedent has been established.

[The Daring Dufas]

Why would a biker fly a Confederate or a Nazi flag? Are the Confederate and Nazi flags the same? Most of the bikers I know would probably fly a pair of soiled undershorts instead of any flag.

TDD