A subdivision has withdrawn its threat of $25 daily fines against a homeowner who put a Christmas wreath shaped like a peace sign on the front of her home.
Homeowner Lisa Jensen told The Associated Press Monday that the board of directors of the Loma Linda Homeowners Association had apologized, called the incident a misunderstanding and had withdrawn its request for the wreath's removal.
I'm glad Lisa Jensen got her apology, and will be allowed to hang her peace sign from her house this holiday season, but what misunderstanding? This isn't the first time this HOA has gone nuts about a peace sign, and they threatened to fine the homeowner $25 a day, because "three or four" idiots, including the HOA's president, think that the peace symbol is Satanic.
"The peace sign has a lot of negativity associated with it," said Kearns. "It's also an anti-Christ sign. That's how it started."
Wrong again, stupid. It got started because you have nothing better to do than stomp around your little fiefdom and impose your narrow views on everyone who is unfortunate enough to live there under your watchful eye, and your anti-peace sign crusade didn't even begin or end at Lisa Jensen's house!
The committee's former chairman, Jack Lilly, said Kearns had told committee members he was going to have them removed because they didn't think the wreath and another, unrelated peace symbol in the neighborhood should be taken down.
(Emphasis mine.) The more I read about this incident, the more it seems like this is just one man on a mission to eradicate a symbol he personally finds offensive. There was no "misunderstanding," other than the HOA president misunderstanding what is and isn't appropriate use of his limited authority. And apparently, I wasn't the only person who thought it was outrageous:
"We would like to thank everyone who has contacted us with moral support and offers of financial support. We are grateful to hundreds of complete strangers who felt so moved by this story they contacted us," she said.
"It seems whenever someone tries to say 'Peace on Earth' it is met with so much resistance," she said. "The incredible amount of support we have received over the last couple of days really is proof to us of how many people believe in peace and in our right to say it."
Yeah, what exactly do these self-appointed arbitrators of what's acceptable and what isn't have against peace? You know, peace means a whole lot more than "not war."
