Colorado homeowners' association disallows display of peace symbol

[Nym90]

DENVER, Colorado (AP) -- A homeowners' association in southwestern Colorado has threatened to fine a resident $25 a day until she removes a Christmas wreath with a peace sign that some say is an anti-Iraq war protest or a symbol of Satan.

Some residents who have complained have children serving in Iraq, said Bob Kearns, president of the Loma Linda Homeowners Association in Pagosa Springs.

He said some residents believed the wreath was a symbol of Satan. Three or four residents complained, he said.

"Somebody could put up signs that say drop bombs on Iraq. If you let one go up you have to let them all go up," he said in a telephone interview Sunday.

Lisa Jensen said she wasn't thinking of the war when she hung the wreath. She said, "Peace is way bigger than not being at war. This is a spiritual thing."

Jensen, a past association president, calculates the fines will cost her about $1,000, and doubts they will be able to make her pay. But she said she's not going to take it down until after Christmas.

"Now that it has come to this I feel I can't get bullied," she said. "What if they don't like my Santa Claus?"

The association in this 200-home subdivision 270 miles southwest of Denver has sent a letter to her saying that residents were offended by the sign and the board "will not allow signs, flags etc. that can be considered divisive."

The subdivision's rules say no signs, billboards or advertising are permitted without the consent of the architectural control committee.

Kearns ordered the committee to require Jensen to remove the wreath, but members refused after concluding that it was merely a seasonal symbol that didn't say anything.

Kearns fired all five committee members.

[memphis]

This is why I would never live in a neighborhood with an association. Don't these people have better things to worry about? Wait...I already know the answer to that question.

[John Dibble]

There are benefits and drawbacks to living in a community with a homeowners association. On the one hand having a home there is likely to result in that home increasing in value. On the other you occassionally have to deal with either very stupid rules or in this case a very stupid person trying to twist the rules due to a personal vendetta.

[MODU]

There are benefits and drawbacks to living in a community with a homeowners association. On the one hand having a home there is likely to result in that home increasing in value. On the other you occassionally have to deal with either very stupid rules or in this case a very stupid person trying to twist the rules due to a personal vendetta.

[Platypus]

Half the christmas cards in shops say "Peace".

Nonsensical.

[John Dibble]

Apparently having been made out to be reactionary idiots in national news, the homeowners' association has withdrawn their complaint and the wreath can stay.

http://www.wane.com/Global/story.asp?S=5736572&nav=0RYb

Peace sign Christmas wreath can stay
 
DENVER A Colorado woman can display her Christmas wreath shaped like a peace sign after all.

The homeowners' association in the Pagosa Springs subdivision where Lisa Jensen lives has withdrawn its threat to fine her 25 dollars a day unless she removed the wreath.

Several residents had complained, saying the wreath was either an anti-war protest or a sign of the devil. The homeowners' association ordered Jensen to remove the wreath from her house on the grounds that it doesn't allow flags or signs that are considered divisive.

Jensen tells The A-P she got a letter from the board last night that called the incident a "misunderstanding."

Before the order was rescinded, Jensen said she received hundreds of calls of support and offers to help her pay the thousand-dollar fine that would have been due if she kept the wreath up until after Christmas.

[Gabu]

If you look at a peace symbol and think "Satan", it may be time to pay the psychiatric ward a visit.

[Jacobtm]

"Peace on earth, goodwill to man."

I guess the devil wrote that too...

[Colin]

If you look at a peace symbol and think "Satan", it may be time to pay the psychiatric ward a visit.

Well duh, I mean King Jesus hated peace. He commanded Americans, his chosen people, to destroy the infidels and spread the word of the Lord Jesus Christ.

That sounded like a mixture of Hawkeye and jmfcst right there. I was channeling some inner fundamentalist. Seriously though who in their right mind would consider the peace symbol, and the concept of peace itself, satanic. I believe that's one of the major tenents of Jesus's teachings, you know the whole peace things and the be good unto others bit.

[Gabu]

Seriously though who in their right mind would consider the peace symbol, and the concept of peace itself, satanic. I believe that's one of the major tenents of Jesus's teachings, you know the whole peace things and the be good unto others bit.

Well, some argue that it resembles an upside-down cross with a broken crossbar.

This is, of course, nonsense, and has nothing to do with its origins.

[angus]

There are benefits and drawbacks to living in a community with a homeowners association.

I get ya, when my neighbor in the apartment below me leaves her garbage in a bag on her porch I find it offensive, and think that if I lived in a house I owned, or was buying, in a homeowners community then she'd not be allowed to do that and I'd be grateful for the rule.  On the other hand, I also leave my garbage outside my door from time to time and wouldn't want to have the neighbors telling me not to do that.  On balance, I think invasion weighs more on me than intrusion, and I I'll take the bad with the good rather than sign a contract saying I'll abide by X and Y and Z if you will.  that said, if this woman signed a contract saying she wouldn't put up a wreath with a peace sign, then she has to take it down, doncha think?  And that said, I think it'd piss me off mightily if someone said I couldn't hang a wreath with a peace sign, so I'd probably rather pay the twenty five bucks a day just to piss the asshole next door off a bit.  Figure that's only about seven hundred dollars between now and Christmas.  Seven hundred dollars worth of satisfaction is how I'd see it, if he's the sort of guy I really want to peeve.  Hell, I've spent more than that in one day on hard living.  Think of Carl from Aqua Teen Hunger Force.  What if that guy came over and said you had to change your doorframe which was specially built to accomodate Shake's stocky frame and inflexible short arms to a rectangular one.  More orthodox to have a rectangular frame and all.  And door frames shaped like milkshake cartons really bring down the resale value of neighboring houses.  Well, go screw.  I say shake ought to be able to have a door he can walk through. 

There goes the neighborhood.

[Nym90]

Obviously there is no way this could've been enforced anyway, since the rules disallowing signs, billboards, or advertising without consent of the architectural control committee clearly violates the First Amendment.

[Beet]

This is no more of a newsworthy story than the microwave baby. Sadly, people would rather be entertained by essentially random and arbitrary anecdotes than hear about real things like economic statistics and crime statistics and education reports in the news. Next thing you know Keith Olbermann will be seizing on this incident as some kind of nationwide trend towards banning peace symbols, and he'll write a book called "the war on peace" that will appear on the ny times best seller list, and the pundits will chase their tails for about six months trying to figure it out while in the meantime, america falls further behind economically.

Personally, the woman should have taken the damn sign down. People have their kids risking their lives in Iraq, and Christmas shouldnt be corrupted into some kind of thing which makes people feel bad. If there's one refuge from politics we have these days (besides sports), its the holiday season. I feel sad that the arbitrary and capricious corporate globomedia in this country has intimidated this defenseless little community into retracting its fine.

[angus]

People have their kids risking their lives in Iraq, and Christmas shouldnt be corrupted into some kind of thing which makes people feel bad.

an awkward and indefensible sentence in an otherwise excellent post.  Peace = Bad??!

[Undisguised Sockpuppet]

If I was there I would plant my flowers in the shape of a swastika just to piss off the assocation.