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Ward Lucas is a longtime investigative journalist and television news anchor. He has won more than 70 national and regional awards for Excellence in Journalism, Creative Writing and community involvement. His new book, "Neighbors At War: the Creepy Case Against Your Homeowners Association," is now available for purchase. In it, he discusses the American homeowners association movement, from its racist origins, to its transformation into a lucrative money machine for the nation's legal industry. From scams to outright violence to foreclosures and neighborhood collapses across the country, the reader will find this book enormously compelling and a necessary read for every homeowner. Knowledge is self-defense. No homeowner contemplating life in an HOA should neglect reading this book. No HOA board officer should overlook this examination of the pitfalls in HOA management. And no lawyer representing either side in an HOA dispute should gloss over what homeowners are saying or believing about the lawsuit industry.

Question: How Corrupt can a Las Vegas HOA System Get? Answer: How Wild is your Imagination?

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Another Las Vegas Police Captain has agreed to take a guilty plea in the massive federal investigation of crooked Homeowner Associations. Captain Frank Sutton admits he’s guilty in a massive fraud scheme to stack the boards of Homeowner Associations so they could steer legal work and construction defect contracts and litigation to a group of Las Vegas insiders. He’s the fourth police official connected. The first one, Christopher Van Cleef, committed suicide.Captain Sutton says he served simultaneously on three HOA boards, High Noon, Mission Ridge, and Park Avenue in an effort to stack the boards. He tried to get on a fourth board, Pebble Creek.At the same time, Sutton worked for construction company boss Leon Benzer, a night club owner, whose ancillary businesses included a long list of construction companies which handled the HOA work. Insurance companies poured money into Benzer, and into construction defects attorney Nancy Quon.It’s the largest official corruption investigation in Nevada’s history. It’s also one of the largest in the history of the FBI and the US Attorney’s office.

There are still many public officials contemplating whether to take guilty pleas or be indicted, including police officers, judges, elected officials and others, and a whole lot of frightened public officials in Nevada who rightly think they could be next.

Stalling the investigation, is the spector that four of the first ten suspects indicted committed “suicide,” several in extremely suspicious circumstances. But the federal investigation plods on.

Some of the future indictments are said to be “earthshaking.” Hopefully, no political influences will be brought in this election year to surpress the kinds of indictments which could actually make a difference in American justice.

Another interesting thought: this identical type of FBI investigation could be dropped into any major American city and it would discover the same kind of endemic corruption. It’s organized crime. It’s absolutely in violation of federal RICO statutes. It’s desperately in need of being stomped out in the strongest possible and aggressive attack. If our prisons were filled with corrupt HOA officials, there wouldn’t be too many tears shed on the outside. A national investigation of this sort could actually save a number of suffering Homeowner Associations.

Excellent reporting, BTW, by Las Vegas Review Journal reporter Jeff German.

http://www.printthis.clickability.com/pt/cpt?expire=&title=Ex-police+captain+to+plead+guilty+in+homeowners+association+probe+-+News+-+ReviewJournal.com&urlID=479742121&action=cpt&partnerID=192612&cid=153201385&fb=Y&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.lvrj.com%2Fnews%2Fex-police-captain-to-plead-guilty-in-homeowners-association-probe-153201385.html

HOA Child Abuse In Clearwater Ended by Judge

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One of the most tragic child abuse cases in the country has been ended by a judge in Clearwater, Florida.

When Kimberly Broffman was just six months old, her grandparents took her into their home becase the infant’s mom was a drug abuser. The problem was that her grandparents, Jimmy and Judie Stottler, lived in the Lakes Homeowners Association which was restricted to residents aged 55 and older. The Lakes HOA wouldn’t give in. They wanted the kid gone.

But the massive recession hit, and the Stottlers couldn’t sell their home. They discovered, to their horror, that there’s no institution on earth as hateful and as unforgiving as and HOA scorned.

In 2007, the HOA filed a lawsuit against the elderly couple and the little girl. The only saving grace was that Florida attorney, Robert Eckard, took on the case for free (proving that there really are angels in Heaven), and after five years and $200,000 in pro bono work, the family won. The Pinellas-Pasco Circuit Judge ordered the Lakes Homeowners Association to back off. No, they would not be allowed to send over the sheriff and throw the child out onto the street.

There’s really not much good news in the nation’s HOA movement these days. But when good happens, you’ll read it here.

Star War’s Revenge!

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Movie producer George Lucas must have incredible patience. But even the most patient man in the world burns out sometime.

Lucas has owned a large ranch in Marin County for the past forty years. His dream was to create a 300,000 square foot movie studio that would have brought 300 million dollars worth of new economic activity to that part of California. Despite the fact that his studio would not have been visible to his rich neighbors, the adjacent Homeowners Association has spent two and a half decades fighting him every step of the way.

Lucas is well-known for his previous environmentally sensitive projects. He has planted thousands of trees on his properties and spent millions making sure his movie developments were low key. He has also built many miles of hiking trails for his neighbors.

But George Lucas has finally given up. A press release from his office says, “The level of bitterness and anger expressed by the homeowners in Lucas Valley has convinced us that, even if we were to spend more time and acquire the necessary approvals, we would not be able to maintain a constructive relationship with our neighbors.”

But then comes the zinger that’ll be talked about by Lucas fans for many years. He agrees that Marin County is a bedroom community. So he’s now going to use his ranch to build housing for low income families. It’s a perfect movie plot ending, as his foul-mouthed millionaire neighbors watch all those “po’ folk” move into their new double-wides. This blogger seriously doubts Lucas will plant trees to screen off the view.

Lucas’s press release is linked here:

http://gradyranch.com/pdf/Grady_Ranch_4_10.pdf

And it’s priceless.

And if you know george lucas, Please tell him we’d love to talk to him! He’s our hero. We’d love to complete the circle! There’s not much time to interview him for our blog! God loves those who take a public stand! Help us if you can.

HOA Cancels the 2nd Amendment to the Constitution

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I’ve long argued that signing HOA documents for all intents and purposes, trashes any rights a homeowner thinks he has under the U.S. Constitution. The Second Amendment says the government may not interfere with the right to keep and bear arms.

But the Pleasant Hill Condominium in the Bay Area thinks it has a better idea than the U.S. Constitution. Guns aren’t politically correct, so anyone with an interest in guns deserves to be tossed into the street.

By way of background, Rico Tedjakusuma requested a home occupation permit for LNC Arms, an online firearms business. He doesn’t sell guns from his apartment. He’ll be federally licensed. His gun purchases will never go through his apartment building, he’ll just serve as a broker between customer and buyer, all on the web. No buyers will ever visit his apartment, he will literally use his apartment for record keeping. But Pleasant Hill Condominiums, which as an HOA has more powers than state government, has decided that it doesn’t like the concept of a gun broker living an apartment in their complex. They want him gone.

In a state that’s on the verge of financial collapse because of Governor Brown’s sudden “discovery” that California is 16 billion dollars in the red, you’d think that California would be begging for entrepreneurs to help turn the state around. But the PC movement is so much larger than common sense.

attribution: http://www.mercurynews.com/breaking-news/ci_20612245/online-gun-business-based-pleasant-hill-condo-raises

Ward Lucas
Author of
Neighbors At War: The Creepy Case Against Your Homeowners Association

Watch Out for Young Black Males? Oh, My!

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I have not investigated this incident personally, so I can only pass on the link to another blogger’s website. But I have seen rampant racism in a number of other HOAs across the country. In my upcoming book, Neighbors At War: The Creepy Case Against Your Homeowner Assocation, I trace a number of similar cases that should be of intense concern to anyone who respects the civil rights of all people.

If this story in Houston is even halfway accurate, then all men and women should read and weep:

http://blogs.houstonpress.com/hairballs/2012/05/walnut_bend_black_males_e-mail.php

Ward Lucas
Author of
Neighbors At War: The Creepy Case Against Your Homeowners Association

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