Free Republic

<p>It's like a traditional neighborhood watch, but instead of crime, volunteers will be on the lookout for grime. And they'll put neighbors on notice for basic problems ranging from overgrown grass and unkempt shrubs to parking on the lawn and putting trash out too early.</p>

A zoning board in Fairfax County, Va., is standing firm in its decision to order a war veteran to destroy a tree house he built for his two young sons. County officials determined Mark Grapin, an Army aviation specialist, violated zoning regulations when he built a tree house in his backyard. “The boys wanted a tree house,” Grapin told Fox News Radio, explaining it was a promise he made to his 8-year-old and 10-year-old sons before he left for Iraq. “It was a commitment I made to the boys and, frankly, we should do our best to keep our commitments...

(CNN) -- Charlotte Bevins' long blond hair blows in the wind as she stands amid protesters, her eyes red and puffy from crying. Just four months ago, Bevins' brother, Charles, lost his life in a drilling accident in central New York. He was 23, a father of two small children. Gazing at the ground, Bevins tightens her grip on the handles of the baby stroller that cradles her young niece while hundreds of protesters lining the nearby streets wave signs and yell around her. No fracking way. No fracking way. No fracking way, the crowd chants. Bevins recently made the...

THE United States became the world’s largest economy because we invented products and then made them with new processes. With design and fabrication side by side, insights from the factory floor flowed back to the drawing board. Today, our most important task is to restart this virtuous cycle of invention and manufacturing. Rebuilding our manufacturing capacity requires the demolition of the idea that the United States can thrive on its service sector alone. We need to create at least 20 million jobs in the next decade to offset the effects of the recession and to address our $500 billion trade...

A 64-year-old woman trying to raise money to pay for medical bills incurred in her fight against a terminal form of bone cancer has been told she must stop her garage sales or face a fine. Jan Cline has been selling off her belongings in the backyard for a few weekends after being diagnosed with a type of cancer that eats through her bones and makes walking extremely difficult. But as the bills for treatment pile up, city officials in Salem, alerted by a complaint from a neighbour, say she is breaking the law and have shut the yard sales...

A south Bossier City homeowners association has sued to force a family to remove a front yard sign supporting their son's military service because it violated subdivision covenants. The Burrs placed a large multicolored banner with a picture of their 20-year-old son, Marine Corps Lance Cpl. Corey Burr, and the phrase "Our son defends our freedom" in January after Corey Burr was deployed to Afghanistan.

<p>Just in time for Independence Day, a retired Marine will be able to fly his United States and Marine Corps flags without fear of fines.</p> <p>The Lakeland Village Community Association filed a lawsuit Dec. 9 against Mike Merola, who has a 20-foot flagpole in his backyard. The neighborhood association claimed the flagpole violated the northwest Harris County community's design rules.</p>

SAN ANTONIO --With 100-degree, hot, dry days, Armando Urdiales decided to plant a new lawn. Well, not really. It was his HOA, he said, that suggested it, after they found patches of dirt amongst the withered blades in his front yard. "That was the kicker for me. Really? You're going to tell me to grow grass in a drought," Urdiales said. The social studies teacher said after receiving two threatening letters in the last 60 days, he planted $150 worth of sod and started watering it. "Isn't there a better use of our resource--of our precious resource of water--other than...

ROSWELL, Ga. -- A public declaration of affection written on a Roswell family's property has them at odds with their neighborhood association. Resident Duden Yegenoglu said her father left the love note on her driveway for her mother. "He was washing my car one day about a month and a half ago, and he wanted to be cute, so he wrote 'Benur,' which is my mom's name, 'I love you,' on our driveway," Duden Yegenoglu told Channel 2’s George Howell. The pressure-washed message was written in all caps, inside a heart. Several neighbors said it was sweet, but while the...

U.S. Veteran Faces Legal Action for Flying American Flag Published June 26, 2011 | FoxNews.com A retired U.S. Army chaplain is being threatened with legal action for flying the American flag in his front yard, the Daily Mail reports. Fred Quigley, 77, of Macedonia, Ohio, a minister who served active duty during the Vietnam War, has been told by the homeowners’ association that his flag violates the property rules. The association has offered to fly the flag at the entrance of the building development, but Quigley refused the offer. “If they can dictate to me that I cannot fly an...

A 77-year-old Army veteran is being threatened with legal action for flying the American flag in his front yard. Fred Quigley, of Macedonia, Ohio, a retired Army chaplain and minister who served active duty during the Vietnam War, has been told his flag violates his homeowners association's rules on flagpoles. As an alternative, the association offered to place the flag at the entrance of the development, but Mr Quigley refused. ***** Mr Quigley's lawyer Gerald Patronite said the association has no right to stop his client. He cites a 2003 state statute that addresses the homeowner's rights in such a...

Perhaps this will feel a little counterintuitive after seeing today’s jobless numbers, but it actually makes a lot of sense. Gallup’s latest poll on soak-the-rich tax policies show that Americans are less open to redistributionism than at the peak of the pre-Great Recession economy, with a plurality rejecting “heavy taxes on the rich”: Americans break into two roughly evenly matched camps on the question of whether the government should enact heavy taxes on the rich to redistribute wealth in the U.S. Forty-seven percent believe the government should redistribute wealth in this way, while 49% disagree, similar to views Gallup found...

EDGEWATER, Fla. -- A Central Florida homeowners association is preparing to vote on banning children from playing outside. The revamped rules and regulations are being considered by the HOA at the Persimmon Place subdivision on North Ridgewood Avenue in Edgewater. The neighborhood consists of 48 townhomes surrounded by a parking lot and little room for children to play. "I think it's ridiculous. I think the kids should be allowed to play," a resident said. "I think people forgot what it was like to be a kid and want to go outside and play," said resident Shawna Magee, who is fighting...

UNITED NATIONS -- Somalia's U.N. Mission said Friday that pirates hijacked a yacht carrying four U.S. citizens in the Indian Ocean off the Somali coast.

The debate is over how much power an association should have and Harvella Jones, President of the National Homeowners Advocate Group, says associations can serve a purpose, but they've gone too far. “My goal is to stop the foreclosures because they don’t have the right to take our homes for maintenance fees when the Constitution does not give them the authority,” says Jones. Jones adds some associations have been compared to the mafia for how they act. “That is how they operate sometimes and sometimes they use strong arm methods to shut you down when you start complaining,” Jones says....

BALDWIN, Pa. – A western Pennsylvania man has been ordered to remove a 24-foot illuminated cross from his front yard following complaints by his neighbor, who claims the act of faith is actually an act of revenge. Carl Behr, 24, of Baldwin, Pa., received a notice on Monday ordering him to remove the cross within five days or face a penalty. But Behr plans to fight the order at a Baldwin Borough meeting late Tuesday. "It's all about my faith, and some people are trying to turn this into a real circus," Behr told FoxNews.com. "They're going to get a...

A Marine Corps veteran is being sued by his Cypress-area homeowners association because the flagpole on which he flies the United States and Marine Corps flags does not meet his subdivision's design guidelines. Mike Merola and his lawyer, Lee Thweatt, say this is a classic case of overreach by a nitpicking homeowners association. Lakeland Village Community Association says it is seeking to enforce its rules evenly on all residents. Standing in his backyard in a black T-shirt bearing an eagle and the American flag, the 60-year-old Merola called that argument "a lame excuse." After his application to erect a 20-foot...

LAVEEN, Ariz. — Don’t tread on Andy C. McDonel. This year, Mr. McDonel began flying a yellow “Don’t Tread on Me” flag on his roof in this unincorporated area just outside Phoenix. The historic banner — which dates to 1775, when it was hoisted aboard ships during the initial days of the Revolutionary War — has been adopted by the Tea Party movement. But Mr. McDonel said that he had unfurled the flag for its historical significance and nothing else. He notes that the banner, the Gadsden flag, has been widely used over the years and was even featured on...

Is there anything you can do if HOA is not keeping up their end of the deal?

Michael Clauer is a captain in the Army Reserve who commanded over 100 soldiers in Iraq. But while he was fighting for his country, a different kind of battle was brewing on the home front. Last September, Michael returned to Frisco, Texas, to find that his homeowners' association had foreclosed on his $300,000 house—and sold it for $3,500. This story illustrates the type of legal quagmire that can get out of hand while soldiers are serving abroad and their families are dealing with the stress of their deployment. And fixing the mess isn't easy.---snip---"It's ridiculous how much this is costing...