Category Archives: firearms

Rancorous Racism, HOA Style

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guest blog by Dave Russell
I have lived in HOAs for nearly two decades. I have also managed one for five years. Trust me when I tell you, I’ve heard and seen it all. I have also postulated a number of theories as to why HOAs seem to attract some of the craziest folks I have ever met.

I’ve seen seemingly normal neighbors turn into backstabbers, liars and some of the most unreasonable people you’ve ever met. I have seen neighbors hook up, break up, and then turn into complete psychopaths.

I have also seen neighbors join the board and steal their neighbors trust and money. But the one thing that just makes my skin crawl, is when one homeowner, goes after another homeowner, simply because of their race. It happens more often than you could ever imagine, especially in homeowners associations.

Sure, I’ve come across my fair share of racist homeowners. I’ve also seen my fair share of racist board and committee member. But I have never seen anything like the racial shenanigans going on in the Courtyards HOA in San Diego, California.

Seems like a homeowner has made some pretty damning accusations against his neighbors. A resident of the Courtyards HOA is in shock after she said a letter accuses her family of making meth, selling children and huffing paint was sent to 200 people in her condominium complex. Accusations that the targeted resident and her family adamantly denies.

Now the president of the HOA is calling an ’emergency meeting’ to discuss the matter with his fellow board members. It appears that the president of the association doesn’t believe any of the accusations contained in the hate letter.

I’m a little more than suspicious as to why the HOA President called an ’emergency meeting.’ Usually HOAs don’t get involved in neighbor vs. neighbor, unless perhaps, the perpetrator of the poison pen letter is an HOA committee or board member. I guess we will soon find out who he is, hopefully upon his arrest. Something about HOAs just seems to put the ‘S’ back in stupid.

Laughably Unconstitutional

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Lots of HOAs have tried to ban expressions of Free Speech. Some have discovered, to their chagrin, how expensive it is to flout the Constitution by forbidding campaign signs, religious symbols in windows or Mezuzahs on door jambs. In one famous case an elderly gentleman who stopped on his lawn to talk to two elderly women was cited for holding an unlawful assembly. Cases like that go to the Supreme Court where the lawyers make hundreds of thousands of dollars.

All that being said, you have to wonder at the idiocy of city leaders in South Pittsburg, Tennessee who decided to forbid all city employees from making negative comments on social media about other city employees, or about the city itself. Criticize your government? Go to jail!

Last night I was repeatedly brought to tears by a movie called American Violet. I would recommend it to every American of every race and religion. As a TV reporter I’ve been on many police raids and I’ve (not often) but occasionally seen physical abuse of suspects that troubled me. I’ve been in courtrooms and have seen plea bargains that greatly troubled me. This movie showed me why I had reason to be troubled.

An attorney friend of mine once told me, “A right not exerted is a right soon lost.” He wasn’t the originator of the quote. But we all should claim that quote as the guiding principle of our lives. We live in a great country. Memorize your rights. Get it clear in your mind who grants you those rights. And shout your rights from the mountaintops.

(link to story about banning Free Speech in Pittsburg, Tennessee)

 

Bombshell Lawsuit in Nevada

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You’d think developers and Homeowner Association boards would think twice about harassing anyone with a Brooklyn accent. If a kid grows up on the mean concrete streets playing stickball with a broom handle and a pink Spaulding ball, you’d think he’d be a good person to stay away from. Make nice. Don’t be a jerk.

Jonathan Friedrich, now a homeowner in Nevada, has filed a humdinger of a lawsuit. It’s got lots of twists and turns, so I won’t attempt to describe it. But here’s his lawsuit for your reading pleasure.

(copy of Friedrich lawsuit)

 

David Beats Goliath: Eminent Domain Land Grab Squashed!

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guest blog by Deborah Goonan

Here’s more positive news for homeowners, just in time for the holiday season.

Residents of homes in Pleasant Ridge, Charlestown, Indiana, have good reason to celebrate this year. They fought City Hall, and won! A few months ago I blogged about the Mayor of Charlestown declaring the modest neighborhood of 345 homes “blighted” and planning to sell the land to a private developer. That would have meant all the existing homes would be razed to make way for new development of multifamily homes.

Institute for Justice has been working with citizens in a grass roots campaign to defeat the planned sale. It turns out that Indiana was one state that amended its eminent domain laws in 2006, in response to the well-known Kelo v. City of New London “Little Pink House” legal case. Indiana’s law now states that land cannot be taken and handed over to a private developer.

What do we take away from this story, combined with the recent news of the NJ’s Supreme Court’s decision to uphold free speech in common interest communities – a huge victory for HOA homeowners?

Grass roots pressure works, when properly organized. Our State Constitutions matter! States can strengthen their own Constitutional laws to prevent Developers and Real Estate corporate interests from exploiting loopholes and running roughshod over the interests of Ordinary Citizens. In both of these cases, it was legal advocacy – not political advocacy – that resulted in justice being served.

Local politicians in Charlestown fell in line when public pressure reached critical mass, with the help and guidance of advocacy group IJ, possessing legal clout and credibility to get the job done.

A tenacious retired prosecutor was determined to defend his rights. The ACLU in New Jersey stepped up to the plate, and submitted an Amicus Brief that blew CAI’s legal arguments out of the water.

Despite all of the political polarity we have in our country these days, note that positive changes are happening with bipartisan advocacy efforts – the “Conservative” Institute for Justice, and the “Liberal” ACLU.

When concerned Americans unite against injustice, in ways that are constructive, good things happen!

What are your thoughts?

(link to IJ news release: Largest Eminent Domain Land Grab Defeated

 

Another Delicious HOA Indictment

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I suppose it’s bad manners to dance on someone else’s grave, but if I had good manners I would never have started this website. But this one is too good not to note.

Another woman has been indicted in the federal racketeering case against a dozen Nevada Homeowners Associations. There’ve been about forty federal indictments already, with most of the suspects pleading guilty in exchange for their testimony in court. Stephanie Liane Markham has the honor of being the latest to be indicted for perjury and obstruction of justice. Seems she’s accused of lying to the feds about the fact she only had a one percent interest in a condo at the time she ran for a seat on the board.

A number of other suspects in the federal case were planted onto boards so defect mitigation money could be siphoned away from homeowners into the pockets of crooked lawyers, police officials, politicians and businessmen. And I’ll never let a story like this slip by without noting that a prominent attorney and three other suspects in this investigation committed ‘suicide.’ At least two of them were highly suspicious deaths, Las Vegas style.

The federal HOA case is going to trial in February. It’s long been my contention that a nearly identical criminal investigation could be launched in 49 other states.

(link to Stephanie story in Las Vegas Review Journal)