Category Archives: privacy

Blondie & The Bimbo, “Back in the Saddle, Again”

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guest blog by Dave Russell　

The news this past weekend was shocking! Blondie Brewer signed Senate blondieBimboBill 1482 which prevents property owners from screening potential renters in Homeowners Associations. 

This controversial bill essentially eliminates crime-free programs in HOAs. It banishes criminal background checks on renters, and will allow criminals to move in right next door to your family.

Gal-Pals & Realtor chums Rep. Michelle Ugenti & Senator Gail Griffin plotted a sneaky scheme to bully their HOA legislation through. And they totally snowed fellow lawmakers into passing it.

Homeowner advocates are lining up at the courthouse to file their lawsuits to block SB 1482. As a community manager in Mesa, Arizona, I have now filed my own lawsuit to block this bill from becoming law.  I believe there are serious Constitutional issues with this legislation. 

The Stakeholders of this bill, none of whom were actually homeowners, told the Legislature that SB 1482 wouldn’t affect crime prevention programs. They’re dead wrong.

This same sneaky legislation slipped its way through last year. Rep. Ugenti hid it by tucking it away in a campaign finance bill. It was deemed illegal because it violated the state constitution and it was thrown out by the courts. 

Do Blondie Brewer and Bimbo Ugenti just not care about the safety of folks and their children who live in HOAs?

(CBS5 TV story on controversial law)

(link to Dave Russell’s lawsuit)

 

 

Found: More Petitions Against HOAs

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guest blog by Nila Ridings

I’ve learned some additional information and wanted to share it with our readers.
 
Go to www.petition2congress.com and  type HOA in the “search” box.  There are numerous petitions demanding attention from the legislators regarding the subject of HOAs.  
 
One petition started by a person in Nevada declared a hunger strike!
 
On another note, today, I received an email from a gentleman named Nathan Cline.  He said, “I would sooner jump into a river of molten lava than move into a house with an HOA.”
 
Nathan, the molten lava would take you out of your misery a whole lot faster.  Living in an HOA is a slow and painful death to the body and bank account.  It’s so refreshing to hear yet another person refuses to suffer in an HOA!
 
www.petition2congress.com
 

Power In Petitions, Numbers, and Voices

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guest blog by Nila Ridings

Today, let’s talk about change.
 
When was the last time you decided it was time for a change?  
 
We easily change the small stuff; hair styles, clothing, or the store where we buy groceries.  The not so small stuff; a new car, taking a trip around the world, or going back to college for another degree.  And the biggest change of all; buying a new house, vacation home, condo, or a ranch where the neighbors can’t see you grilling steaks in your skivvies.  
 
We all know by now, buying any property with an HOA, COA, or any other association where neighbors are dictators over neighbors and your bank account is at risk for all debts of said “organization” comes as a life-changing experience.  A change you could never dream in your worst nightmare.
 
More and more of those who have suffered mercilessly in these hellholes are connecting and working hard to create changes that will benefit the homeowners.  One of those hard-working folks has created a petition that was found on the internet.  Whether you sign or not, reading the comments written by the hundreds of signers is confirmation that all across America HOA homeowners are living in misery. 
 
It’s time for our legislators to listen!
 
 
http://www.petition2congress.com/1940/stop-hoas-from-stealing-peoples-homes/view/1
 

Who’d Have Ever Thought?

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Yes, folks. Some home sellers know exactly how to market their properties! The photo is a bit blurry. But the second panel is what’ll get this guy the highest possible price: “No Homeowners Association.”no HOA

Very Personal… On Easter

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In the past I’ve told my friends on this website about the sacrifices my dad made fighting with the 3rd Armored Division in France and Germany. And I’ve told you that I have five family members buried in Arlington. But I’ve never told you the following story because I didn’t know it until three weeks ago.

My dad was commanding one of General George Patton’s tank battalions in the last months of World War II when a German soldier fired a bazooka from the upper floor of a chalet in the town of Kaiserslautern, Germany. Dad, who had massive head wounds and extensive brain damage, was taken by the Nazis as a prisoner of war. How he got out is a story for another day. But he survived and after a long battle with Alzheimer’s he died in 1997. The basic facts are in his seventy year-old military and medical records.

Just a few weeks ago a close friend discovered that many graves in Arlington have their own websites. I never knew that! But it gets stranger, still. On my dad’s website is a poem posted by my younger brother several years ago. On this Easter Sunday I would be an irresponsible son and a horrible brother if I neglected to re-post it for you.

　
                               PASSPORT

Dedicated to LTC Edward D. Lucas, Jr.  1915-1997
　

Daddy was a soldier in 1942,

A quiet man who never told of all that he went through.

But this fading soldier was dying in his bed,

While memories and battle wounds made war inside his head.

“A stamp is all I need. A stamp is all I need.”

His circuit board had failed him. He prattled as he went.

We heard his words but no one understood just what he meant.

“A stamp is all I need. A stamp is all I need.”

　

Now some think there’s a Heaven for heroes who pass on,

Who give their lives for God and country until God calls them home.

But Daddy seemed to know that he’d never get that far,

Until Somebody put the perfect stamp upon his heart.

　

“A stamp is all I need. A stamp is all I need.”

It was January when it was time to die.

They knew my Dad would pass that night,

But I could say, “Goodbye.”

　

His eyes were glazed and fixed upon the passport by his bed.

And finally I understood the countless times he said,

“A stamp is all I need. A stamp is all I need.”

 
As his light was fading, and I looked into his face,

Some mysterious visitor had stamped his passport with Grace.

By Gregory D. Lucas  Son of LTC Edward D. Lucas, Jr.
Added: Dec. 10, 2011

(link to Arlington gravesite)