Some stories are just too weird to embellish, even for the sake of humor. But the U.S. Senate seat from Iowa may boil down to a neighborhood dispute over chickens.
Democratic Congressman Bruce Braley is running for Senate in a razor thin race. Braley has a vacation home in the ritzy Holiday Lake neighborhood in Brooklyn, Iowa. Covenants in the neighborhood say, “No animals or birds other than household pets can be kept in the subdivision.” But one of Braley’s neighbors (also a registered Democrat) keeps chickens on her property as ‘therapy animals’ for mentally handicapped youngsters.
The chickens apparently strayed into the Braley’s yard and litigation was threatened. The owner of the chickens tried to make amends with a gift of eggs, but the Braleys wouldn’t have any part of that.
Now, there’s a hot new Iowa Republican attack ad with some talking chickens making fun of Braley’s threatened lawsuit. You can read the rest of the details at the links below, but the story is just too ridiculous for words.
If the balance of power in the U.S. Senate shifts in this election, finally, FINALLY folks in Congress might start talking about the idiocy and meanness of neighborhood disputes in Homeowners Associations.
This time it’s not the HOA that ran a family out of the neighborhood. It’s 6000 brown recluse spiders.
Brian and Susan Trost purchased their $450,000 dream home in a Saint Louis, Missouri suburb and soon found it had little creepy crawling dangerous poisonous spiders running everywhere. They sued the previous owners, David and Tina Gault and got a settlement of $472,000 but haven’t collected a dime.
They contacted Jamel Sandidge, an expert from the University of Kansas. He determined the spiders did not arrive after the Trost’s purchased the property. They have State Farm Insurance, but no settlement has been given. Based on my experience with State Farm Insurance all I can say is, Good Luck!
Overall, if they end up not buying another HOA house, I think they will live happily ever after. Next time it could be the HOA that bites them. That could be worse than any spider out there.
I am so happy to share this wonderful news from Rori Halpern. She is the mother who fought long and hard to keep the family’s pot-bellied pig for her sons.
“Long day for all involved. We are beyond elated to say Wilbur Bacone will remain forever in our home, continuing to bring joy and happiness to all. Due to confidentiality agreements between both parties we cannot share details. The only thing that matters is that we can keep our boy without anymore worries. Thank you from the bottom of our hearts to all who came forward in support of us. We love you all.”
It is no surprise that the notorious HOA “gag” order has been placed on the Halpern’s. Typical HOA style when they lose a legal battle. We know in this case they did lose because Wilbur is staying put. I sure hope the judge awarded the Halpern’s reimbursement for their legal bills and punitive damages for their pain and suffering.
Who wants to take a guess at how long it will be before the next HOA sues a homeowner over a pot-bellied pig? My guess: at least one more before the end of the year!
CAI proposes the following in Community Association Living:
“… the board has an obligation to listen to the owners’ concerns and to take those concerns into consideration in making its decisions. Formal means for obtaining owner input include the:
Resident/owner forum at board meetings
Participation of owners on committees
Annual membership meeting
Other means of owner input include owner surveys and letters and suggestions from owners. Just as a board has the responsibility to encourage owner input via these means, owners have the responsibility to use them to make their views known.”
Sounds good in theory, right? Put the onus on the owners to speak up and be heard!
But, suppose the Board does not care to listen, and resists serving the interest of HOA residents?
The truth is, the person who comes forward with ideas or suggestions is often ignored or rebuked by the Board. That has been my personal experience, and one frequently recounted by many other HOA residents. How often have we experienced or heard accounts of the following?
Owners sit through 2-hour long meetings, only to be told that there is “no more time” for comments at the end of the meeting.
Owners are told to sit down and “shut up.” Some meetings even result in physical altercations, or police or security escorting owners out of the meeting.
Meetings are adjourned prematurely to prevent input.
The Board avoids meetings altogether. If there are no open meetings, how can there be owner participation?
Meetings are not openly announced, or are held in secret.
Bottom line: HOA governance structure must be legally modified to comply with Federal and State democratic processes. Additionally, States must enforce these processes by allowing members to legally challenge non-compliant governance without having to file a civil suit and pay out of their own pockets, while also paying for the HOA to defend its actions.
Unless fundamental Constitutional rights are incorporated into their governance structures, HOAs will continue to operate as closely held corporations and/or de facto oligarchies.
Well, at least one Florida lawyer is warning all Homeowners Association residents that they’d better start buying bear-proof trash cans. Seems that if a homeowner fails to buy one of these $140 trash cans a person mauled by a bear can start filing negligence lawsuits against every homeowner for miles around. Dang! I wish I’d gone to law school.
Colorado has its own bear problems. Aspen is especially famous for the dozens of bears that roam the downtown area each night. Bear maulings, of course, are a bad deal for the victims.
But my evil mind is running some quick calculations. 64 million HOA homeowners, each needing at least two bear-proof trash cans. That’s 128 million cans times $140 apiece. My mind doesn’t even calculate that high, but wouldn’t you like to buy stock in a trash can company? Heck, I’d be satisfied with just getting a dollar per can.
