http://www.newsobserver.com/standing/collections/wake/200000005112.html
<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Long may it wave -- but not out front
Cary man carries the banner against his neighborhood's flag restrictions.
Al Martin, who lives in Cary's Williamsburgh Commons neighborhood, says his flag will remain on his front porch.
By JAY PRICE, Staff Writer
CARY -- Al Martin figures that he's no more patriotic than the next guy, even though he has flown Old Glory outside his various homes for at least 17 years. But around Memorial Day, almost on a whim, he decided to move the flag from the back of his house to a more prominent place on the front porch.
Turns out the flag's placement was a little too prominent.
On Monday, Martin received a call from the company that enforces the restrictive covenants for Williamsburgh Commons, his subdivision. He could take the flag down or move it to a more discreet location beside or behind the house, but one way or another the flag had to go.
Martin, a soft-spoken communications consultant, said he was irate. July 4 is just days away, after all.
"On top of that, Saturday was my last day serving on the National Guard after 20 years, and I just couldn't believe it," he said. "I think we should be able to fly the American flag whenever, however and wherever we want. Everyone all up and down this street should have flags flying."
Three of his neighbors in the meticulously groomed subdivision -- situated on the south side of Cary and styled closely after Colonial Williamsburg -- apparently disagree. They complained that Martin wasn't following the rules, said Sheri Fincher of R.S. Fincher & Co., the business that maintains the subdivision's appearance and enforces the rules.
Flags are allowed, but only on the sides or backs of the homes, and Martin will either have to move his or take it down, she said.
Martin, who moved to the neighborhood about three years ago, said he thinks the rule was aimed at the pineapple flags and other theme flags that have become popular decorations on suburban homes in recent years, but surely it wasn't meant to include Old Glory.
"It's legal to burn the flag, but it's not legal to display it," he said. "I could probably burn it out front and they wouldn't care. Well, maybe they would if it caught the grass on fire."
Even if Martin fights for his flag, the neighbors will only have to put up with it for six months at most: He is selling his house and moving to Apex, where he is building a home. But until then he vowed not to strike his colors.
"It's staying up, that's all there is to it," he said. "Basically, I just want to fly my flag. I don't want to make a big deal out of it, I just want to leave it up. And I will until I get a court order."
"He'll get one," Fincher said. "We'll go as far as we have to. He will move that flag if we have to fine him daily to get him to do it."
State law, she said, allows the homeowners association to fine Martin up to $150 a day if he doesn't comply with the covenants.
Martin was aware of the rule, she said, since he had to sign documents that included the covenant when he bought the house.
There are perhaps three other American flags in the neighborhood -- which is home to several veterans -- and they follow the rules and attach them to the side or back of the home, she said.
"These rules have always been in place there," she said. "For whatever reason, this guy just wants to act like Nazis are trying to take down his flag, and I'm offended that he's using our nation's flag to gain notoriety.''
Martin can seek a change to the rule, but only if he can get 90 percent of homeowners in Williamsburgh Commons to agree, she said. He also could seek special permission from the association's architectural committee, but that might be hard to get, because such permission would set a precedent.
Martin said he wouldn't be asking for permission.
"I don't think I should have to," he said.
In recent years, courts have tended to side with homeowners associations when a resident fights a specific covenant, particularly when the language of the rule is unambiguous.
Henry W. Jones, a Raleigh lawyer who represents more than 200 community associations, estimated that between 5 percent and 10 percent of them explicitly restrict flag placement and that more general language in others' covenants could restrict flags, too. He said he has had two or three cases in which residents objected to restrictions on flying their flags, but in each a settlement was reached before the case went to court, typically with the homeowner moving the flag or taking it down.
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John/az
"When freedom is at stake, your silence is not golden, it's yellow..." RKBA!
www.cphv.com
<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Long may it wave -- but not out front
Cary man carries the banner against his neighborhood's flag restrictions.
Al Martin, who lives in Cary's Williamsburgh Commons neighborhood, says his flag will remain on his front porch.
By JAY PRICE, Staff Writer
CARY -- Al Martin figures that he's no more patriotic than the next guy, even though he has flown Old Glory outside his various homes for at least 17 years. But around Memorial Day, almost on a whim, he decided to move the flag from the back of his house to a more prominent place on the front porch.
Turns out the flag's placement was a little too prominent.
On Monday, Martin received a call from the company that enforces the restrictive covenants for Williamsburgh Commons, his subdivision. He could take the flag down or move it to a more discreet location beside or behind the house, but one way or another the flag had to go.
Martin, a soft-spoken communications consultant, said he was irate. July 4 is just days away, after all.
"On top of that, Saturday was my last day serving on the National Guard after 20 years, and I just couldn't believe it," he said. "I think we should be able to fly the American flag whenever, however and wherever we want. Everyone all up and down this street should have flags flying."
Three of his neighbors in the meticulously groomed subdivision -- situated on the south side of Cary and styled closely after Colonial Williamsburg -- apparently disagree. They complained that Martin wasn't following the rules, said Sheri Fincher of R.S. Fincher & Co., the business that maintains the subdivision's appearance and enforces the rules.
Flags are allowed, but only on the sides or backs of the homes, and Martin will either have to move his or take it down, she said.
Martin, who moved to the neighborhood about three years ago, said he thinks the rule was aimed at the pineapple flags and other theme flags that have become popular decorations on suburban homes in recent years, but surely it wasn't meant to include Old Glory.
"It's legal to burn the flag, but it's not legal to display it," he said. "I could probably burn it out front and they wouldn't care. Well, maybe they would if it caught the grass on fire."
Even if Martin fights for his flag, the neighbors will only have to put up with it for six months at most: He is selling his house and moving to Apex, where he is building a home. But until then he vowed not to strike his colors.
"It's staying up, that's all there is to it," he said. "Basically, I just want to fly my flag. I don't want to make a big deal out of it, I just want to leave it up. And I will until I get a court order."
"He'll get one," Fincher said. "We'll go as far as we have to. He will move that flag if we have to fine him daily to get him to do it."
State law, she said, allows the homeowners association to fine Martin up to $150 a day if he doesn't comply with the covenants.
Martin was aware of the rule, she said, since he had to sign documents that included the covenant when he bought the house.
There are perhaps three other American flags in the neighborhood -- which is home to several veterans -- and they follow the rules and attach them to the side or back of the home, she said.
"These rules have always been in place there," she said. "For whatever reason, this guy just wants to act like Nazis are trying to take down his flag, and I'm offended that he's using our nation's flag to gain notoriety.''
Martin can seek a change to the rule, but only if he can get 90 percent of homeowners in Williamsburgh Commons to agree, she said. He also could seek special permission from the association's architectural committee, but that might be hard to get, because such permission would set a precedent.
Martin said he wouldn't be asking for permission.
"I don't think I should have to," he said.
In recent years, courts have tended to side with homeowners associations when a resident fights a specific covenant, particularly when the language of the rule is unambiguous.
Henry W. Jones, a Raleigh lawyer who represents more than 200 community associations, estimated that between 5 percent and 10 percent of them explicitly restrict flag placement and that more general language in others' covenants could restrict flags, too. He said he has had two or three cases in which residents objected to restrictions on flying their flags, but in each a settlement was reached before the case went to court, typically with the homeowner moving the flag or taking it down.
[/quote]
------------------
John/az
"When freedom is at stake, your silence is not golden, it's yellow..." RKBA!
www.cphv.com
