Category Archives: Jesus

How to be a Renegade in your HOA

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guest blog by Deborah Goonan

In the festive spirit of the season, I thought it was time for a little HOA Humor. Here’s my list of how to have a little fun, stir up a bit of conflict, and make yourself infamous in the eyes of your HOA Board. Warning: could be hazardous to your health and your bank account. In the comments section, feel free to add suggestions of your own!

Paint your front door purple, without getting approval from the architectural control committee.

Leave your garbage can out on the curb more than 24 hours after trash pick up.

Swap out your thirsty landscape for a xeriscape. Or plant herbs or vegetables.

Fly the American flag, upside down, on a pole that is 6” too tall.

Display the wrong kind of plants or “unauthorized objects” in your flowerpot on your porch or patio.

Hang window coverings that are any color other than pure white on the side facing outside.

Allow children to play in the yard, and leave some toys on the front lawn.

Refuse to submit a DNA sample of your pet pooch.

Ask to see financial documents.

Insist that the Board get at least three competitive bids for contracts, instead of going with the same contractor, year after year, despite poor service.

And, finally, display the holiday décor of your choice, even religious symbols, inflatable snowmen, and blinking lights!

Love Those Happy Homeowner Calls!

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guest blog by Nila Ridings
“Nila! This is Enock. WE WON!!!!”
Ward posted a blog with the video about Enock and Ines Berluche and their battle to keep their religious statues in their landscaping on September 30, 2014.
On this rainy day in Kansas hearing such a happy and excited voice just made my day! I asked if the legal fees were covered. Enock said Liberty Council provided their defense at no charge. That information added to the excitement of the phone call.
I promised to share this news with our readers in hopes it will provide renewed strength to those who fight these HOA battles. We are hearing from more homeowners that are winning their cases.
Tell me, are the judges getting wise to the antics of the HOAs? Are they seeing how ridiculous their bullying and abusing of the homeowners truly is? Something tells me they are.
Let’s hope this is the last time the Berluche’s hear from the HOA board. For now,
CONGRATULATIONS are in order.
Thank you for making my day, Enock!

Damn That Old Timed Religion!

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There’s nothing that angers an HOA board or management company more than the discovery that a homeowner believes in Jesus or the Virgin Mary. Well, I take it back, any expression of belief in Judaism also pops their gaskets.

Enock and Ines Berluche, a couple in the Shingle Creek Reserve in Kissimmee, Florida have been battling their HOA over the past year because the HOA says it doesn’t allow yard statuary. You couldn’t tell that by driving through the neighborhood, of course. Lots of homeowners violate the “no yard art” rule with garden frogs, cherubs and statues of Greek goddesses showing (can I say it?) bare boobs. There was even an ‘illegal’ fountain on the lawn of the HOA president.

But when a new homeowner requested permission to put up small statues of The Virgin Mary and Jesus they were denied.

After media publicity and threats of discrimination lawsuits the Shingle Creek Reserve board finally got religion. They reversed themselves and allowed Mary and Jesus to stay. The only tragic part of the story is that the couple had to spend thousands of dollars in legal fees just to assert their rights. But that’s the story with most HOAs. It’s not about the rules or rights. It’s all about harrassment and humiliation of homeowners who don’t toe the line.

(link to statuary story on WFTV, Florida)

 

Love Thy Neighbors – It’s Good For The Heart

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I’m going to slip into the religion zone for just a minute. But for you non-believers, just wait. It’s for you too.

When Jesus was asked about the most important commandments, the first was “Love your God with all your heart.”

When asked about the second he said, “Love thy neighbor as thyself. There are no greater commandments than those.” He actually said that!

Sooo, let’s go full circle and jump forward a couple thousand years to a scientific study of more than 5000 people and their health and general well-being. It seems like there’s a pretty solid connection between heart health and the amount of strife with neighbors.

I’ll leave the finer points of the study up to you in the link below. In the meantime, I’m using both hands and both sets of toes to count up the number of cancer and heart disease patients in my own HOA neighborhood!

(good neighbor study)

 

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)