| Submit your comments on this article | |
| -Short Attention Span Theater- | |
| WWII vet battles homeowners group over flag issue | |
| 2009-12-05 | |
| RICHMOND, Va. (AP) - A 90-year-old Army veteran who won the Medal of Honor during World War II is battling his neighborhood association for what he says is his right to fly the American flag from a pole in his front yard. Col. Van T. Barfoot says he erected the 21-foot flagpole in September, raising the flag daily at sunrise and retiring it at sunset. The Sussex Square homeowners' association told him recently that the free-standing pole violates the townhouse neighborhood's aesthetic guidelines and ordered him to remove it by 5 p.m. Friday or face a lawsuit. "I don't have any qualms with their authority, but the thing about it is that I cannot get enough conversation out of them where we can try to work out a solution," Barfoot said Wednesday in a telephone interview. A telephone message left for Alexandra D. Bowen, a lawyer representing the association, wasn't immediately returned on Wednesday. Barfoot, who moved into his townhouse in June, won his medal for actions near Carano, Italy, in 1944 and is one of about 90 surviving Medal of Honor winners. He also won the Purple Heart and other decorations, and served in Korea and Vietnam before retiring from the service in 1974. "I've flown the flag at my home as long as I can remember," said Barfoot, who lived in rural Amelia County before moving to suburban Richmond. "This is the first time in the last 36 years that I've been unable to put my flag up on the same pole, the same staff and take it down when it's time to come down." Neighbors largely have expressed their support, but he realizes that ultimately it's up to the nine-member association board whether they will grant an exception to the rules. "Emotional torture is what they've done to my father," said his daughter, Margaret Nicholls. "He has lost sleep, he worries about it constantly. He just doesn't understand. He thinks that if it's on his property they can't tell him what to do."
| |
| Posted by:Steve White |
| #7 the nice thing about HOAs is you know where they live. Just saying.... |
| Posted by: Frank G 2009-12-05 14:15 |
| #6 The truth about HOA's is they really don't have that much power. You would be surprised. A lot of them can levy fines and place liens. HOAs seem to attract little fascists. |
| Posted by: SteveS 2009-12-05 13:22 |
| #5 Hear about this way too often... |
| Posted by: Yo Adrian 2009-12-05 13:04 |
| #4 If his neighbors support him, they should get together and vote out the HOA board. |
| Posted by: Rambler in Virginia 2009-12-05 11:58 |
| #3 Tell the HOA to get Fuc*ed! He's 90 and should tell them to sue him! In VA he'll be dead before it goes to court. The truth about HOA's is they really don't have that much power. |
| Posted by: 49 Pan 2009-12-05 11:30 |
| #2 Does Virginia have any law on the books that pre-empts this sort of nonsense? Even out here in WA we have one that forbids any sort of prohibition on display of the flag. Unfortunately, the US Flag Code is silent on this |
| Posted by: USN, Ret. 2009-12-05 10:52 |
| #1 I wonder what would've happened if I moved into that neighborhood, and flew a Palestinian flag? |
| Posted by: g(r)omgoru 2009-12-05 05:11 |