Category Archives: firearms

Net ‘Neutrality’ and this Website!

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Well, the news this week is pretty bad for net neutrality. The White House has come up with a 332 page book of regulations that it’s going to hand to the FCC for implementation. Just as in the Affordable Care Act, they have to pass the bill so we can all see what’s in it. A lone renegade on the FCC is warning that this bill is so heavy handed that it will fundamentally change the way the Internet is governed, essentially treating it as a public utility.

Hundreds of billions in new taxes, controversial websites (like this one) may be subjected to a version of the old (and failed) Fairness Doctrine, and smaller businesses and smaller political operatives will essentially be driven off the web. Websites will be censored. Another name for the bill is “full employment for trial lawyers.”

The Internet has given us a measure of freedom that never would have been granted by traditional government. It has fundamentally changed the world, both socially and financially.

FCC Commissioner Ajit Pai says the future looks pretty grim.

http://dailycaller.com/2015/02/10/fcc-commissioner-unprecedented-involvement-of-executive-branch-in-our-decision-making/

 

HOA Drives Man to Commit Suicide

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guest blog by Deborah Goonan

This story brought tears to my eyes! Another one out of Florida.

(man kills himself over emotional support dog)

This on the heels of the man in a Chapel Hill, North Carolina, who killed three neighbors, possibly over parking disputes.

The comments on threads related to the senseless shooting of three young students, who happen to be Muslim, are shocking, disturbing, and heartbreaking. I cannot believe the number of people who believe this “gun-toting atheist” was justified in taking three lives because these three allegedly drove him to that point over parking disputes! Was this a hate crime as well? It wouldn’t surprise me, the way that HOAs are set up to intentionally exclude and harass residents who may be different or unpopular. The social structure just reinforces prejudices.

What is happening to our country, when a significant portion of our population is so unable to deal with conflict that they must resort to abuse, violence, and suicide?

 

 

Stop Building Crap!

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That’s the power phrase that came out of an interview with Jon Harris, who owns a condominium in Denver’s Five Points neighborhood. Five Points leaders tried for decades to turn around its image as a run-down part of the city. Back in the 20s and 30s it was the home of some of the best jazz clubs in the country. But as Denver expanded in all directions of the compass, Five Points was subjected to typical inner city decline.

Still, neighborhoods can be reborn and Five Points leaders have worked hard to try to make the neighborhood a showplace once again.

The problem is that they mandated higher density ‘affordable’ housing which meant developers were ordered to create Homeowner and Condo Associations. To encourage developers to build such high density housing the city loosened zoning regulations and inspections.

Condo owner Jon Harris desperately wanted to buy a quality home and live in a neighborhood rich in Colorado history. Now, he says, every condo in his complex is beset with construction defects. Meanwhile, the State Legislature is trying to pass a bill that would limit lawsuits against builders.

Harris says the legislation is wrong. The only right answer is for builders to “STOP BUILDING CRAP!”

Most of us could agree with that.

(link to KDVR-TV story on construction defects)

 

1st Amendment Win for Orthodox Jewish Congregation

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guest blog by Deborah Goonan

Just this week, a Colin County, Texas judge threw out an HOA’s case against owners of a home used as an Orthodox Jewish synagogue. The legal battle began in 2013, when an owner by the name of David R. Schneider independently sued the Congregation Toras Chaim and the owners of the dwelling, Mark and Judith Gothelf, for allegedly violating restrictive covenants specifying “single family” use. The HOA intervened in the case in 2014, shortly after Mr. Schneider was elected to the Board of Highlands of McKamy IV & V HOA.

The Liberty Institute assisted the Gothelfs and the Congregation free of charge. Haynes and Boone LLP also represented the Congregation.

Of course, the media and Liberty Institute are reporting the victory for the small Jewish congregation. They are now permitted to continue using the Gothelf’s home as a synagogue for their small congregation. The Judge dismissed the case primarily based upon two applicable Texas laws: The Texas Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA) and the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act of 2000 (RLUIPA). Both statutes invalidate restrictive covenants against use of real property as a religious institution, upholding First Amendment rights.

Reading the lengthy Motion for Summary Judgment filed by attorneys for the defense, available from the Liberty Institute news release, it was obvious that Mr. Schneider, representing himself, and the HOA, represented by their attorney, had no chance of prevailing. In addition to the obvious violations of religious freedom rights, there were hundreds of pages of case law to back up at least a half dozen affirmative defenses, and transcripts of depositions of Rabbi Rich, Mark Gothelf, Mr. Schneider and two other HOA Board members.

So what exactly happened in Highlands of McKamy IV & V HOA?

Well, it was another typical story of HOA conflict. From 2011 – August 2013, before the Orthodox Jewish Congregation moved the location of their gatherings from one home in Highlands of McKamy to another one across the street from David Schneider, there had been no complaints from neighbors or the HOA.

It often takes just one person, in this case Mr. Schneider, to instigate conflict in an HOA. And that conflict is almost always about some alleged or trumped up violation of a restrictive covenant or Board enacted rule. And quite often – as was the case this time – the restriction itself is unconstitutional at the state or federal level, or both.

Based upon testimony supplied by the Rabbi, Mr. Gothelf, Schneider and two other Board members, the reader recognizes the typical hallmarks of HOA conflict:

·      A ringleader (Schneider) that organizes an allegedly questionable “election” based upon proxies that are not adequately handled in an unmonitored election process

·      A Board President that pushes his own personal agenda as soon as he’s elected

·      A Board member with a history of being difficult to get along with, that has a history of suing people

·      Fellow Board members that follow the Board President’s lead

·      Questionable record-keeping and official document storage and handling practices

·      Board members that are unfamiliar with HOA law and/or their own governing documents

·      A Board that fails to heed their HOA attorney’s advice, yet that attorney is complicit in filing a case he knows has a high probability of failing

·      The tendency of a Board to keep the cost of this legal challenge a secret

·      A divided membership, resulting in angry homeowners and a Board recall attempt that is successful in removing Mr. Schneider in July 2014, but not the remaining Board members

·      Negative attention for the HOA in the local media, and by word of mouth

·      Over a year of stress and unnecessary legal expense for the Gothelfs and the Congregation

Hopefully, this will end the campaign against the Congregation, many of them neighbors in the HOA.  I certainly hope there will not be an appeal. The good Rabbi Rich is wise when he states, “We don’t view this as a victory. The victory would be when the whole neighborhood comes together.”

http://dfw.cbslocal.com/2015/02/04/hoas-case-against-dallas-congregation-tossed/

https://www.libertyinstitute.org/news

Strange but True, and Twice as Funny

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A landmark in the town of Fountain, Colorado has been stolen. It’s a relief for some but others are dismayed.

Several years ago when the Cody Driver family built their house, the neighborhood HOA required that he name his road and put up a street sign. I’m not sure what frustration led to the naming of his road, but it quickly became a landmark:

“A Dog Will Lick His Butt, But He Won’t Eat A Pickle Road”

It became a legend on the Internet. People drove from a thousand miles away to visit and get their picture taken with the sign. But it’s gone now. Somebody stole it.

(KRDO story on famous Colorado street sign)