A (too) high-flying flag?

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A Marine Corps veteran is being sued by his Cypress-area homeowners association because the flagpole on which he flies the United States and Marine Corps flags does not meet his subdivision’s design guidelines.

Mike Merola and his lawyer, Lee Thweatt, say this is a classic case of overreach by a nitpicking homeowners association. Lakeland Village Community Association says it is seeking to enforce its rules evenly on all residents.

Standing in his backyard in a black T-shirt bearing an eagle and the American flag, the 60-year-old Merola called that argument “a lame excuse.” After his application to erect a 20-foot flagpole in his backyard was denied, he protested in a series of letters and, ultimately, erected the pole anyway.

“They just don’t understand, unless they’ve been in the military, to feel the pride that I feel in flying that flag high and proud,” said Merola, who served in the Marines from 1969 to 1977. “The excuses and things that they came up with for me not being able to fly that flagpole, I just didn’t buy. That’s why I bucked the system and put it up.”

chron.com/disp/story.mpl/military/7369837.html
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Have I told you how much I dislike homeowner associations; almost as much as I dislike unions.
 
Is it denying him a flagpole period or just one of that height? If the latter it is his issue, not theirs.
 
From the article: emphasis mine
Such an approach is “in keeping with the residential nature of the community,” the board wrote in a statement. The suit alleges the pole is “a detriment to Lakeland Village and … (causes) imminent harm and irreparable injury to (the association).” The suit seeks a $10 fine for every day the pole stays standing, a court order to remove it and payment of attorneys’ fees.
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causes imminent harm and irreparable injury? WOW, the home owners association is really reaching.

BTW, how is the flag pole a detriment to the community?
 
Sabda said:
From the article: emphasis mine

causes imminent harm and irreparable injury? WOW, the home owners association is really reaching.

BTW, how is the flag pole a detriment to the community?
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It has the ability to carry that despicable thing called the American Flag.
 
This is just totally stupid. For one thing, 20 feet is not that high for a flag pole, at least not in my opinion. And for another, a 20 foot flag pole is not a danger in any way to anybody. Why on earth should this man be prevented from flying a flag that high up? In my opinion, he shouldn’t.
 
HOAs are very difficult to deal with and you often hear about hose kinds of things. However, I have to wonder something. Why do people voluntarily purchase properties in HOAs knowing they have strict rules about what you can/can’t do? This has been going on for a while. I’d never go to live in one of those HOAs knowing the rules are strict and they can have a say what you do with your own property.

I’m sorry this guy is having problems with his flag thing, but he chose to live in an HOA.
 
I don’t live in a home owners association and I do have a 20 foot flag pole and proudly fly our American Flag. I have the advantage of living on a corner so our flag is seen by more people.

The linked article above said HOA encourages the use of a 6 foot pole attached to the home. A 20 foot pole violates the HOA rules. If the rule was in place before my fellow retired veteran moved in, he should not violate the rule. He had the choice of not moving in. If he thinks the rule is too tight, he can campaign his HOA members to vote a change.

I wonder if, at the entrance to the HOA grounds, there is a suitable tall flag pole.

I would get a written copy of a well thought out expression of what the America Flag represents and I would distribute it to all my HOA members and to the local newspaper. People sometimes forget what the American Flag really stands for because they get too wrapped up in their personal lives and comfort zone.

Here are just a few of the places I have visited in my service to America, Freedom, and Justice.

Lexington and Concord
Valley Forge
Gettysburg
Pearl Harbor
Bataan Death March
Hiroshima
Normandy
The Tombs of the Unknown Soldiers
The Statute of Liberty
Ground Zero

When you walk amoung the graves, you know better than any book can teach. Our Flag represents all those lives spent to purchase and preserve our Freedom and it also represents our commitment to each other, even to this very day in Tuscon Arizona.

If my fellow retired veteran cannot have a 20 foot pole to fly the American Flag, then many of us here can put up our own 20 foot pole and fly the American Flag for him.
 
thomasf said:
HOAs are very difficult to deal with and you often hear about hose kinds of things. However, I have to wonder something. Why do people voluntarily purchase properties in HOAs knowing they have strict rules about what you can/can’t do? This has been going on for a while. I’d never go to live in one of those HOAs knowing the rules are strict and they can have a say what you do with your own property.

I’m sorry this guy is having problems with his flag thing, but he chose to live in an HOA.
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Good point
 
In many areas, new homes ALL come in HOA subdivisions. I (used to) design them for a living and here’s the deal: Municipalities WANT developers to do all sorts of expensive things like build ponds, entrance monuments, landscape buffers, walking trails and sometimes even parks and recreation centers. But these municipalities ALSO refuse to accept ownership or maintenance of these things. Obviously the builder can’t accept a perpetual burden of maintenance on something that long since ceased to bring him income, so the HOA idea was created.

The key to the HOA is the board. Good board, good HOA. Bad board, bad HOA. So simply get yourself elected to the board. Then refuse to enact stupid rules and overturn or at least vote to refuse to enforce stupid ones already on the books.

We have stupid HOA rules. Only wood fences of the shadowbox style, 4 feet tall with a top plate and decorative post caps are allowed. As far as I’m concerned, build anything the Village will let you. Clothelines are banned. Danged if I’m going to bother somebody who hangs clothes out to dry. Work vehicles (pickups and vans with logos) can’t be parked outside garages): to heck with that rule.

See benevolent dictatorship IS possible! Just make me emperor and I’ll have this country back on track in NO time! 😉
 
I find it interesting that a former Marine would act so dishonorably. He specifically agreed to this rule when he bought his property knowing that he intended to violate the rule and then cry foul to the press.

I would normally agree that he should be allowed to have the flag pole, but he agreed not to so that he could buy the house. He should do the honorable thing and keep his word.

Peace

Tim
 
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