Public Patriotism not allowed

**RustyBattleship** · 12 Mar 06,, 18:30

Updated: 11:35 PM EST

WESTCHASE, Fla., (March 10) - When Stacey Kelley's husband, Army Pvt. David Kelley who is serving in Iraq, sent her a cardboard sign expressing support for U.S. troops overseas, she put it up in the yard of her suburban Tampa, Fla., home.

Kelley, 24, never imagined that it would raise controversy, or that she would be threatened with a $100-a-day fine if she refused to take it down.

"I've been in tears. I couldn't believe that they wanted me to take it down," she said. The Westchase Homeowners Association threatened her with the $100 a day for up to 10 days because the sign is in violation of association rules, but Kelley said she was ready to pay.

"If I have to pay, I'll pay the fines. My husband says the same thing," she said. "If we have to pay them, we'll pay them. If they're gonna try to give us more than a thousand-dollar fine, there's enough people out there that are willing to help me out."

It was an issue that caused a conflict for the association's president, who is also an Army reservist. Daryl Manning, an Iraq War veteran, said he hoped that some compromise could be worked out.

"I've been there. I know right where her husband is. I've been in [the] country. I was over there for 20 months," he said.

A compromise was reached Thursday night, but it doesn't mean Kelley won't be facing a fine -- just one a lot lower than the amount originally threatened. Instead, the seven-member board voted to impose just a $1-per-day penalty for as long as the sign stays up.

The fine will eventually go up if Kelley doesn't take the sign down, Manning said.

"There's a violation to have any sign in any homeowner's yard, regardless of what it says," Manning said.

Manning said the association's rules about signs, which only allow "For Sale" or "For Lease" signs, were in place to keep the community clean and keep the peace.

"The problem could arise where it could be a neighbor across the street or across the road that says, 'Bring the troops home. Get out of the theater. Cut and run.' What happens when that occurs? So we cannot make exceptions in this case," he said.

"All my neighbors told me this morning they're willing to go out and buy signs today and start putting them in everyone's yard because that's how it should be," Kelley said on Thursday.

Some neighbors said they didn't agree with the homeowners association's objection to Kelley's sign, despite the community rules.

"Of course, they say that there are rules, but in this particular case I think we should overlook that particular rule and give her the moral support," resident Ed Drost said.

"Gee whiz, the sign says, 'Support our troops.' OK?" said Merv Shiner, another neighbor.

ABC News affiliate WFTS-TV in Tampa, Fla., contributed to this report.

**TopHatter** · 12 Mar 06,, 19:19

Originally Posted by RustyBattleship

Kelley, 24, never imagined that it would raise controversy, or that she would be threatened with a $100-a-day fine if she refused to take it down.

"I've been in tears. I couldn't believe that they wanted me to take it down," she said. The Westchase Homeowners Association threatened her with the $100 a day for up to 10 days because the sign is in violation of association rules, but Kelley said she was ready to pay.

Uh, lady, welcome to the "joys" of living in a homeowners association.
You signed on the dotted line acknowledging you wanted to live in fascist police-state neighborhood, and now you're shocked and appalled at all this?

WAKE UP AND SMELL REALITY!

Idiots

**astralis** · 12 Mar 06,, 19:30

for a fascist police-state neighborhood the terms are sure negotiable

**Confed999** · 12 Mar 06,, 19:33

Put the sign in the window. Problem solved.

**Jay** · 12 Mar 06,, 20:01

Originally Posted by Confed999

Put the sign in the window. Problem solved.

Exactly...I guess you cannot paint the messages to the exterior wall

**Bill** · 12 Mar 06,, 21:43

I would never live in one of those stupid communities.

And if i did, it would only be to really piss them off...

**TopHatter** · 12 Mar 06,, 22:11

Originally Posted by M21Sniper

I would never live in one of those stupid communities.

And if i did, it would only be to really piss them off...

Heh heh....I see we're on the same page again

**dalem** · 12 Mar 06,, 23:13

A buddy of mine back in Michigan who was kinda forced to live in one of those cookie-cutter neighborhood associations by his wife has his fun in the following manner:

He is a re-enactor, War of 1812. When he gets back from an event he takes pile of gear into the garage, leaves the door open, and cleans his Brown Bess in the open air.

A couple of neighbors freaked out and complained, but although a 6-foot rifled musket is certainly odd, it's not against the rules, heh heh.

All that being said, rules are rules.

-dale

**THL** · 13 Mar 06,, 00:53

Originally Posted by Confed999

Put the sign in the window. Problem solved.

Not really. She is most likely not allowed to do that either. When we owned our townhome the association had all sorts of "rules" on what we could and could not do. We could not, for example, out ANY signs in front of the home...even for sale signs. They could go in ONE window, but only For Sale signs, not For Rent signs, not Hello, Have A Nice Day signs, not Happy Birthday signs...For Sale only, so I assume she could not put this in her window. In fact, we even had to have neutral colored window treatments hanging in the windows (that were seen from the street, on the inside we could have whatever color we wanted). The good side to all this, is that I had no neighbors with neon purple sheets hanging in the windows making my townhouse look bad. When it came to signs of patriotism, though, they were much more laxed.

This lady is probably allowed to have a flag mounted on the outside of her house somewhere, most likely the porch. What she needs to do, is figure a way to hang this from a porch mounted flag pole.

**Confed999** · 13 Mar 06,, 01:03

Originally Posted by TopHatsLiberal

She is most likely not allowed to do that either. When we owned our townhome the association had all sorts of "rules" on what we could and could not do.

I only have this story to go by, and it was pretty specific about "yards". Either way, if it's a different rule about windows, that's a seperate violation and would have to be dealt with seperately, could get away with a few more weeks of signage for free.

**Ray** · 13 Mar 06,, 04:43

I find it perplexing that when the Iraq War and the Afghanistan War started, there was a whole lot of patriotism displayed in the US and this was also discernible in the various fora, apart from every house displaying the US flags etc and which was very commendable indeed.

However, these days, it appears that there is a discernable weariness that seem to have crept in where even the most outspoken votaries of the War (on other fora) seem to have developed a despondency wherein a member with the attitude "My Country right or wrong" is now advocating very vigorously that the US should pull out of everywhere and become isolationists! It maybe added that the worse is over and so why this despondency? Is it weariness prompted by impatience?

In this context, even the raising of this issue of not being allowed to display public patriotism is a very disappointing phenomenon as is with the other issue contained in the other thread "Thank God for Dead Soldiers".

What the dickens is happening?

**dalem** · 13 Mar 06,, 08:12

Originally Posted by Ray

What the dickens is happening?

In my opinion it's quite simple - the Lefties in America fear power, as they always have.

-dale

**THL** · 13 Mar 06,, 11:43

Originally Posted by Ray

What the dickens is happening?

Every so often an atheist gets bored and so to make life interesting stands up and decides that they do not want their kid saying the pledge of allegience ("...One nation, under God, indivisible with liberty and justice for all.) because the word "god" is mentioned and since they do not believe in "god" neither does their kid and so nobody should be allowed to mention the name around them. Same thing here.

I am going to guess that there is a quiet neighbor somewhere that has not voiced their support to this woman and who, with a little detective work, would be found the one that decided that they did not want to see those horrible red white and blue stripes adorning the outside of this home with a message of support for her husband.

We run into this every December when the religious set out their manger scenes and "offend" some atheists who have been forced to look inside it. Look away, folks...just look away.

I had a conversation much the same last week when my 3yo told my ex that she wanted to be reborn as a bunny. My step-grandfather passed on last month and at the funeral she asked what will happen to him now. Since this is not the 1st funeral she has attended and not the 1st time this has come up, I explained a little more by saying that what I believe is that...and went on with the whole Buddhist theory of rebirth. So when my ex asked me why I had her believing that she could die and come back as a lop-eared rabbit, I told him that "Anything is possible if she just sets her mind to it."

How else does a Buddhist respond to that Q to a non-believing, non-practicing Southern Baptist raised lost soul?

Back to the ribbon, I truly believe that a complaint was made to the association by a closet anti-war suspect and the association cannot tell them to shove-off, so they have to enforce the rules, no matter how trivial they are. The rep from the association and the homeowner were on cnn or fox yesterday and being a former member of the military himself, I would hope he is doing this only as a formality as not as a personal act of vengence...but who knows anymore.

**TopHatter** · 13 Mar 06,, 21:33

Originally Posted by TopHatsLiberal

I am going to guess that there is a quiet neighbor somewhere that has not voiced their support to this woman and who, with a little detective work, would be found the one that decided that they did not want to see those horrible red white and blue stripes adorning the outside of this home with a message of support for her husband.
Back to the ribbon, I truly believe that a complaint was made to the association by a closet anti-war suspect and the association cannot tell them to shove-off, so they have to enforce the rules, no matter how trivial they are. The rep from the association and the homeowner were on cnn or fox yesterday and being a former member of the military himself, I would hope he is doing this only as a formality as not as a personal act of vengence...but who knows anymore.

Ding ding ding!!! I think we have a winner. There is always some pr!ck out there who just can't stand little stuff like this..."it'll simply ruin the look of the neighborhood

" and they don't have the cojones to be up front about it

**gunnut** · 13 Mar 06,, 22:07

I always try the exact opposite first.

Put up an anti-war sign and see if the HOA objects. If it does, all is good. If it doesn't, I smell a lawsuit coming.

I don't mind rules as long as there are no double standards.