Jeff German of the Las Vegas Review Journal is one of the few who’s done ongoing stellar work in reporting on the massive Nevada HOA scandal. If there are still any skeptics in America who think I’ve been exaggerating about the American HOA Movement being rife with old fashioned organized crime, then please follow German’s reporting.
Here’s his latest:
original source:
These words were once penned by one of the mightiest men in our movement. Understand, of course, there are still miles to go before we sleep. But read, Dear Friend, and take heart.
In the beginning
There was the land,
And the land was good
And the people were happy.
Soon upon the land
Came the moneychangers
In the guise of builders
Of the community.
And the moneychangers said
Behold, the covenants, conditions and restrictions
Were sacred and holy works,
And the people shall flourish and prosper.
And the legislature looked upon these CC&Rs
And said they were sacred and holy,
And that land values shall multiply ten-fold,
And the people shall flourish and prosper.
But the moneychangers were not content,
Seeking laws that forced the people
Against their judgment and wishes
Into mandated planned communities.
Soon, the multitude became angry at their plight,
Yet the moneychangers and legislature
Cast the people into involuntary servitudes
With continued tithes while disputes went unresolved.
The child-like people, seeking paradise
on earth and the gates of heaven,
Were not permitted audiences
With the magistrates.
And so the multitude suffered
A long and terrible time,
Praying for a savior one day
To deliver them from their existence.
One sect sought the accommodation
With the ruling powers and moneychangers.
Another sought a cleansing
Of an unworkable oppression upon the people.
Those seeking accommodation held fast to their desires
To see their fortunes on earth multiply ten-fold,
And that all such plans were good and just,
For the land values increased for all the community.
But many saw the desecration of the beliefs, values and ideals
Of the founders of the Great Nation that covered the land,
Saying behold the society that thou hast created,
Where Me First has replaced Love Thy Neighbor.
A babble of communities arose
By the followers of the moneychangers,
With beliefs, values and ideals of the Old Ways,
Once rejected by the Founders of the Great Nation.
Woe unto the followers of the moneychangers
For the sins of the fathers shall be cast upon the sons.
Repent now and restore the beliefs, values and ideals
Of the Great Nation and make the land good once again.
Yep, nobody’s guiltier than this long-time reporter. So many times over the past four decades the real import of a story has just sailed over my stupid fuzzy head.
But it’s fun to be a witness when a reporter suddenly has that head-thunking moment when he or she realizes that they’re actually reporting on a story that has real national significance!
Today’s ‘head-thunker’ is Jodie Fleischer of “Channel 2 Action News” in Forsyth County, Georgia. She’s just discovered that private HOA security guards are embued with the same powers as police officers in making traffic stops inside Homeowners Associations. Now try to understand this: Homeowners Associations are private non-profit corporations which have ZERO government powers, ZERO government enforcement abilities. Yet these sleazy little white-bastion gated communities are acting like they have all the Constitutional Powers customarily reserved for trained police officers. Every trained cop in the country should be mightily offended.
We’ve already had the Trayvon Martin disaster where an untrained ‘HOA security cop’ killed a kid who was walking through the neighborhood. Again, I have no opinion as to whether the fault was Trayvon’s or George Zimmerman’s. But this is like a ticking time bomb in every one of the nation’s carefully coiffed gated communities.
Trial lawyers are broke right now. Their phones have stopped ringing. The recession has eaten deeply into their personal savings. They are birds-of-prey at this moment, floating and circling over the countryside looking for any available carrion in these HOA communities. Every single time a private security guard pulls his lights, siren, badge and ticket writing stunt on a detained motorist, there’s a lawsuit in the making.
Every time a lusty young private HOA security guard takes a sideways glance at a low-cut blouse on the most recently detained motorist, there’s gonna be Hell to pay.
And it ain’t Hell that’s going to be paying the legal bills. It’s each and every member of that private gated Homeowners Association.
Jodie Fleischer, take it from a long-time fellow reporter. You’re hanging onto the threads of a donkey’s tail. This story will kick you into the mud, or into the Big Leagues.
(original source)
http://www.wsbtv.com/news/news/local/do-security-guards-issuing-traffic-tickets-overste/nXXbD/
You just can’t imagine how much these 5-star reviews on Amazon lead to increased book sales. Thank you so much! It really does help get the word out. I appreciate the support more than you know. And I’ve promised that for every six books I sell, I can ‘bomb’ a legislator of your choice with a book and a handwritten note saying, “Your Constituent, ______ ______, insisted that I send this book to you.” So far, I’ve kept to that promise!
Now, keep a promise to me. After you read Neighbors At War! don’t put it on the bookshelf. Make someone else in the neighborhood read it. That’s not a profitable thing for an author to say, but at least you know it comes from the heart of someone who wants to make in impact.
Ward Lucas
Kudos, once again, to Las Vegas reporter Darcy Spears. Her latest expose’, though, makes me want tear someone’s eyes out of their head.
Vegas is sort of the center-of-the-world for corruption among HOA boards. But the latest crimes are the ones committed against children. 10 year old Paul Busch has been banned by the Central Park Homeowners Association from playing in any of the common areas for the next six months. His crime? A board member claims he saw Paul and a friend break a sprinkler head. There’s no proof of course, except the word of this board member. Well, I take that back, there was another witness who specifically said the boy didn’t do it.
Still, Paul’s mother was hit with several HOA fines.
The creepiest part of the story is that Paul’s mom grew up in Communist East Germany. She says the spying that went on there was at least a little more subtle.
Well Comrade Eva, welcome to HOA Amerika.
http://www.ktnv.com/contact13/hoahallofshame/204757411.html
