Hatfield
11/27/2006, 10:59 AM
tis the season and all....this is beyond silly.
http://www.pagosadailypost.com/UserFiles/Image/2006/11/27Peace.jpg
PAGOSA SPRINGS, CO
Peace on Earth Illegal in Loma Linda?
Bill Hudson | 11/27/06
“Peace on Earth” has apparently been deemed an illegal message in Loma Linda subdivision, as of last week.
Loma Linda resident and former homeowner association president Lisa Jensen, and her husband, Bill Trimarco, mounted a large holiday wreath, decked out in Christmas lights and a red ribbon, on the side of her home on November 19, and promptly received a letter from the Loma Linda association board, informing her that she would be facing a fine of $25 per day for continuing to display her wreath. The board’s issue? The wreath is in the shape of a peace symbol.
“I hung a similar wreath last year,” Lisa said in a Post interview Sunday, “and had no complaints. But that one wasn’t in the shape of a peace sign.” Jensen said people have been asking her if the wreath was meant as an anti-war statement, “and I really didn’t mean it to mean anything like that. It simply meant ‘peace on earth.’ That’s kind of a universal sentiment this time of year.”Homeowner association president Bob Kearns was quoted in the Durango Herald as saying that the board had required another resident to remove peace symbols a week before, and that property owner complied. Kearns told Jensen that the peace symbol expressed a controversial sentiment, and that the board had received several complaints” about Jensen’s wreath.
The Herald said Kearns had declined to describe the complaints he had received about Jensen's wreath, but expressed his own opinion.
"The peace sign has a lot of negativity associated with it," he said. "It's also an anti-Christ sign. That's how it started."
According to a University of California web site, the peace symbol was designed in 1958 by British designer Gerald Holtom as a symbol promoting nuclear disarmament, and has since been used around the world as a symbol of peace.
The subdivision covenants include prohibitions against the display of signs, billboards and advertising, but Jensen said she has counted about 50 real estate and construction company signs currently displayed throughout the subdivision. After receiving the warning letter on Tuesday, Jensen attended the association’s Architectural Committee meeting on Wednesday, to find out about appealing the board decision. The Architectural Committee, whose duties include the enforcement of the no-signage covenant, told Jensen that they’d had nothing to do with the letter.
In a letter posted on the Pagosa.com web site, Architectural Committee chairman Jack Lily wrote, “I and my four fellow members were told to resign our positions on this committee as we disagreed with the Association Board….The three person Board of Directors received two complaints from residents who are understandably sensitive to the current efforts in Iraq and believed these symbols to be other that a wish for peace. The Architectural Committee was asked to intervene. The five members met and decided that no message, other than a wish for peace could be inferred in the symbols and saw no violation of the CC&R's. The Board of Directors has the authority to override the ACC and did so. But that wasn't enough. They demanded that anyone that disagreed with them should be removed from the committee. We all resigned.”
Jensen said that the neighbors she has spoken with about the fine “are all pretty outraged by what’s happening.” Since the Durango Herald story appeared, Jensen said she has received phone calls from concerned people as far away as Denver. “These are total strangers; some have offered money to help pay for the fine. But I’m hoping the board will drop it and we’ll never have to pay this fine.”
Jensen said she intends to leave the wreath up through the holidays. At $25 per day, she estimates, the board-ordered fine will amount to over $1000.
http://www.pagosadailypost.com/UserFiles/Image/2006/11/27Peace.jpg
PAGOSA SPRINGS, CO
Peace on Earth Illegal in Loma Linda?
Bill Hudson | 11/27/06
“Peace on Earth” has apparently been deemed an illegal message in Loma Linda subdivision, as of last week.
Loma Linda resident and former homeowner association president Lisa Jensen, and her husband, Bill Trimarco, mounted a large holiday wreath, decked out in Christmas lights and a red ribbon, on the side of her home on November 19, and promptly received a letter from the Loma Linda association board, informing her that she would be facing a fine of $25 per day for continuing to display her wreath. The board’s issue? The wreath is in the shape of a peace symbol.
“I hung a similar wreath last year,” Lisa said in a Post interview Sunday, “and had no complaints. But that one wasn’t in the shape of a peace sign.” Jensen said people have been asking her if the wreath was meant as an anti-war statement, “and I really didn’t mean it to mean anything like that. It simply meant ‘peace on earth.’ That’s kind of a universal sentiment this time of year.”Homeowner association president Bob Kearns was quoted in the Durango Herald as saying that the board had required another resident to remove peace symbols a week before, and that property owner complied. Kearns told Jensen that the peace symbol expressed a controversial sentiment, and that the board had received several complaints” about Jensen’s wreath.
The Herald said Kearns had declined to describe the complaints he had received about Jensen's wreath, but expressed his own opinion.
"The peace sign has a lot of negativity associated with it," he said. "It's also an anti-Christ sign. That's how it started."
According to a University of California web site, the peace symbol was designed in 1958 by British designer Gerald Holtom as a symbol promoting nuclear disarmament, and has since been used around the world as a symbol of peace.
The subdivision covenants include prohibitions against the display of signs, billboards and advertising, but Jensen said she has counted about 50 real estate and construction company signs currently displayed throughout the subdivision. After receiving the warning letter on Tuesday, Jensen attended the association’s Architectural Committee meeting on Wednesday, to find out about appealing the board decision. The Architectural Committee, whose duties include the enforcement of the no-signage covenant, told Jensen that they’d had nothing to do with the letter.
In a letter posted on the Pagosa.com web site, Architectural Committee chairman Jack Lily wrote, “I and my four fellow members were told to resign our positions on this committee as we disagreed with the Association Board….The three person Board of Directors received two complaints from residents who are understandably sensitive to the current efforts in Iraq and believed these symbols to be other that a wish for peace. The Architectural Committee was asked to intervene. The five members met and decided that no message, other than a wish for peace could be inferred in the symbols and saw no violation of the CC&R's. The Board of Directors has the authority to override the ACC and did so. But that wasn't enough. They demanded that anyone that disagreed with them should be removed from the committee. We all resigned.”
Jensen said that the neighbors she has spoken with about the fine “are all pretty outraged by what’s happening.” Since the Durango Herald story appeared, Jensen said she has received phone calls from concerned people as far away as Denver. “These are total strangers; some have offered money to help pay for the fine. But I’m hoping the board will drop it and we’ll never have to pay this fine.”
Jensen said she intends to leave the wreath up through the holidays. At $25 per day, she estimates, the board-ordered fine will amount to over $1000.