Fill out this form to email this article to a friend
It's a free country - unless you've agreed to some restrictions
By HOWARD TROXLER
Published March 12, 2006
Can you believe that a homeowners association in Tampa wants to prevent the wife of a soldier serving in Iraq from keeping a "Support Our Troops" sign in her yard? The nerve of those idiots!
It's not that simple.
What do you mean, it's not that simple? Sure it is. This is a free country. That family is serving our country. Why is it anybody else's business what her yard sign says, anyway?
It's other people's business because Westchase is a deed-restricted community. Anybody who bought a house there is supposed to have signed a form agreeing to those rules.
Well, this is a special case. They oughta bend their rules and let her keep the sign.
They can't just say, "Your case is special so we'll bend the rules for you."
Sure they can! Why not?
If they don't enforce the rule the same way for everybody, then the next joker who comes along will sue their pants off. It will cost the homeowners big time.
In that case, they ought to change the rules. Who the heck can be opposed to a patriotic sign? Geez Louise, the man is in Iraq!
Yes, we owe that family honor and our gratitude. But how exactly would you change the rules?
Just change them to allow "Support Our Troops" signs!
What about signs that said, "Get Out of Iraq Now"?
No way! That's not patriotic.
Sorry, but that won't work. Like you said, it's a free country. You can't have rules that permit one opinion but forbid another.
Isn't there some kind of law about this? There oughta be.
Sure, these associations have to obey state and federal law. The law says some things can't be banned - U.S. and military flags and alarm company signs, for example. Neither can these places violate the laws about fair housing, or the disabled.
Then that's the answer! We'll get the Legislature to pass a law saying that "Support Our Troops" signs can't be banned by homeowners associations.
Uh, sorry, but ...
What now? For Pete's sake.
Same problem as before. The Legislature can't pick and choose the message, either. You can't say, "We will allow only those opinions that we like."
So bottom line here, you're siding against the troops? You're saying this woman shouldn't be able to have a "Support Our Troops" sign in her yard?
For Pete's sake, yourself! No, I am NOT siding "against the troops." It doesn't matter what her sign says. It could say, "I DON'T Support Our Troops," and she'd be in the same boat. She's the one who decided to live there.
What about that guy in Clearwater who wanted to bring his grandkids into an adults-only mobile home park, because their dad was in Iraq? I suppose you're against him, too?
I'm not "against" him. It just seems odd to move into a place with a certain rule and then turn around and complain about exactly that rule.
Why are you sticking up for these stupid associations?
I'm not, really. I wouldn't live in one. But people built these places exactly because they wanted extra rules. Everybody who lives there agreed to live by them. We love to play up these stories in a one-sided way, but it's really more complicated.
I guess I can't imagine living there, either, having to get somebody else's approval of the color of my house, or what I can park in my driveway - or my yard sign. I'm not knocking the folks who choose to live that way, but it's not for me.
See? You and I think exactly alike.
[Last modified March 12, 2006, 01:17:10]
Share your thoughts on this story
|
News
Fifty years ago, they were screwed-up kids sent to the Florida School for Boys to be straightened out. But now they are screwed-up men, scarred by the whippings they endured. Read the story and see a video and portrait gallery.
Print
Email story
Comment
Email editor
