Sign battle stuck in standoff
The soldier's wife and the president of the Westchase Community Association meet for a private discussion.
By REBECCA CATALANELLO and STEPHANIE HAYES
Published March 11, 2006
TAMPA - For a moment Friday, it seemed as if Stacey Kelley and Daryl Manning might reach a truce over the "Support Our Troops" sign anchored in the front lawn of her Westchase home in violation of deed restrictions.
Listeners to the Schnitt Show, a local radio talk show hosted by radio personality Todd Schnitt on WFLA-FM 970, heard Kelley, a military wife, and Manning, an Iraq war veteran and president of the Westchase Community Association, agree to meet in private that night and try to work things out.
They did meet - away from the airwaves and the photographers and the reporters.
They talked for about a half-hour and talked amicably, Manning said.
But they didn't reach a compromise. They're still negotiating.
"We shared some stories, got to know each other," Manning said. They talked about the sign, he said. They chatted about Kelley's husband David, who is in the Army serving in Iraq. They talked about how rules change in a neighborhood association.
But as they get ready to air their differences nationally today on Good Morning America at 7 a.m., they don't have a common ground.
At least not one they're ready to report.
Kelley said Manning told her he wanted to talk with the Westchase board before either of them go public with a potential compromise. In the meantime, Kelley said she plans to work within the system to change the bylaws to make them friendly to signs like hers.
Her husband called her Friday with the words she needed to hear. She says he told her:
"Baby, leave the sign up," he said. "It shows our guys over here that you're supporting us."
Though the bylaws call for her to be fined $100 a day for every day the sign remains, Kelley said she learned from Manning that it's possible the board could waive that fine.
Both said their discussion had been cordial.
"We're not best of friends," Manning conceded. "We're neighbors that talk to each other, that feel comfortable around each other. We both went away with the same thing - lets take a look at this and see how this can work out."
Kelley vowed during a Thursday board meeting of the Westchase Community Association that the sign would stay.
She refused an option Manning offered to move the sign to the Westchase Swim and Tennis Center, where more people could see it.
The sign has been in her yard since December, though she was notified that it violated deed restrictions only on Feb. 14.
No one complained about the sign. Manning said Friday the presence of the sign was called to the attention of the neighborhood association by a property manager making routine compliance checks.
Asked why she doesn't just comply with the rules she agreed to when she purchased the house, Kelley said she was 19 years old when she co-signed for the Westchase house with her mother, and didn't completely understand what it meant.
"And I didn't know I was going to be putting a sign up in my yard," she said.
Now, it seems like everyone knows, and has an opinion about it.
As the debate hit local and national media outlets this week, passions flew.
Kelley said her husband even received an e-mail in Iraq from someone in Clearwater who criticized her sign and her decision to keep displaying it.
Meanwhile, several signs popped up on utility poles, stop signs and trees in Westchase's Greens neighborhood Friday. "America Before Westchase, Support Freedom of Speech" declared white, notebook paper-sized pages held up with duct tape.
After hearing the issue discussed on a radio show Friday, Bob Phifer hammered his own "Support the Troops" sign into his front yard in the Greens, a Westchase neighborhood.
"Tell them to shove it," he yelled out his front door, referring to the Westchase Community Association.
Phifer has put the sign in his yard many times over two years, said his wife Isabel. Each time he puts it up, the Phifers receive a violation notice, she said.
Isabel Phifer says she understands why the rules exist, but thinks they are taken to extremes.
"I'm sure if they took a poll, nobody would care," she said of her sign.
Isabel Phifer said at election time, she and many neighbors on her street took turns briefly displaying a Bush/Cheney campaign sign at their homes to skirt the rules.
"Our country was founded on not obeying the rules," she said. "We are a nation at war. Maybe "at war' means not all the rules apply."
Gloria Nelson, Stacey Kelley's mother, said they're overwhelmed by the show of support they've received in the past few days. The phone has been ringing off the hook, she said, with reporters wanting interviews.
That little sign has made life at the Bridgeton Drive house pretty busy. But Nelson said she doesn't have any regrets: "I'm so proud of my daughter."
Asked if she would support someone posting an antiwar sign in their yard, Kelley said that if it were "tasteful," she would.
"To me, if it says, "I don't believe in the war. Bring the troops home,' then that's fine," she said. "As long as it's not a hateful sign."
Rebecca Catalanello can be reached at 813 226-3383 or rcatalanello@sptimes.com