It’s the anguished question from the fourth book of the Old Testament.
It was the astonished phrase that opened the first telegraph line between Baltimore and Washington in 1844.
It could also be used to express complete disgust at a current HOA news story from Detroit.
Waterford homeowner Natalie Forte bought a Chevy Volt which she charged from an outlet in her shared HOA garage. She had no problem with paying an extra charge for the power. But she says her HOA demanded four times the amount of power that her Chevy Volt actually used.
What did the HOA do? LOL! They just disconnected all the power to Natalie’s garage, forcing her to use a 100 foot extension cord to charge the Volt from her condo.
Really? Can HOA vindictiveness get any more ridiculous than this?
I’ve frequently said on this blog that our fight against HOA abuse is not a liberal/conservative fight, or a Republican/Democrat fight. It’s a fight by any patriot who believes our Constitution is a document worthy of the utmost respect. So if I tip my hat here to a performer at the 1982 convention of People For The American Way, I am not endorsing the organization.
I do think the performance by Robin Williams should be watched by everyone, especially in view of the vulgar meanness of many HOAs toward homeowners who want to display the American flag. In the video linked below, Williams takes the stage to become The American Flag and shows once again the comic genius that we all will miss.
Living in Colorado, I know there’s a big problem in this state with coyotes killing pet cats and dogs. Driving up and down suburban boulevards you see countless posters asking for people to help find a missing pet. In almost every case the pets have been killed by coyotes. And it’s not just small pets, either, it’s German shepherds, boxers, even pit bulls and mastiffs. When a pack of coyotes starts ‘harvesting’ there’s no breed of dog that can’t be easily taken down.
Some communities in Colorado have populations of mountain lions that exist primarily on household pets. In fact, the Division of Wildlife says Colorado has a population of between 5000 and 8000 mountain lions. The attacks are bold. It just amazing that more humans haven’t been killed by wildlife.
Nevada’s KTNV Hall of Shame report by Darcy Spears shows there’s an easy way to end backyard pet killings. But Homeowners Associations across the southwest refuse to recognize the solution: a four inch high fence top roller that prevents predators from jumping fences. It’s easy. It’s inexpensive. It’s certainly not a threat to power-hungry HOA board members.
But in HOA Amerika, self-interested board members don’t seem to be interested in welcoming sensible solutions to neighborhood problems. Their personal power trip is sometimes just beyond reason.
The Maple Hill Homeowners Association is becoming the laughingstock of Bear, Delaware. There are only 23 homes in this HOA, but these idiots have picked the most unbelievable fights with each other and have made their own neighborhood toxic to anyone thinking of buying a home there.
Dues are cheap. About $280 a year. But the petty bickering and the downright nastiness has churned up more than $45,000 in legal fees as various neighborhood crybabies run to the courts to try to get their problems solved.
Ken and Joanne Holbert have tried for years to pay their homeowners association dues by sending checks to the HOA’s mailbox. The president, Jutta Douglas, refused to accept the certified mail in a patently obvious effort to slander the couple with terms like “deadbeat” and “freeloader.” Those actually are actionable terms and the Holberts could probably win a good-sized slander lawsuit.
The numb-skulls at Maple Hill then filed liens against the Holberts’ home. Under Delaware law, you don’t even have to notify a homeowner that a lien has been filed. Just file and foreclose. It’s mean. It’s vulgar. It’s the kind of thing that’s led to violence in a number of other states.
A couple of Delaware politicians are talking about creating an Ombudsman’s Office to deal with petty strife like the viciousness in Maple Hill.
You can fix a law. You can change the way that some HOAs operate.
It always saddens me to see these stories. But with the number of flag fights going on around the country, is it any wonder that many of us think of the HOA movement as fundamentally anti-American? The latest is the Fieldstone Homeowners Association in Greenfield, Indiana.
