Flying the flag - don't this just twist your knickers

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I read this and was appalled, I, too, am a Blue Star Mom **************** Condo association tells Guardsman's mom she can't have flagpole in front of unit By:Kory Loucks, Journal Inquirer 08/31/2006 EAST WINDSOR - Theresa Richard is proud of her son, who is a member of the Connecticut National Guard serving in Afghanistan. To show her support she is displaying the American flag and the Blue Star flag on a flagpole in front of her condominium, but her condominium association says she must remove the patriotic display. In a certified letter dated Aug. 24 from property manager Mark K. Kubera, who wrote the letter on behalf of the board of directors of the Stoughton Ridge Condominium Association, Richard was told to "kindly remove the flagpole and the two flags presently attached." Failure to remove the pole will result in a $25-per-day fine, the letter says. "I don't feel like I should be subject to a fine or anything else," Richard, who has lived in the complex since 2004, said. "It's not hurting anyone," she added. The Blue Star flag is flown by relatives of those serving in the armed forces. Richard is a member of the Blue Star Mothers of America. "I thought nothing of it when a friend from my church made the flagpole," Richard said, until other condominium residents warned her that the association would probably order her to take down the pole. Which is exactly what happened. This is not the first time that the condominium association has challenged residents over flagpoles. In 2002 Gene Doering, a retiree who has lived in the 60-unit complex off of Davis Road for 16 years, was also sent a letter from the association to take down his flagpole. Doering refused to take it down, and it is still standing today. "I hired a lawyer and they quit bothering me about it," he said, and added, "I think it is a shame that the association is doing this." There are at least two other Stoughton Ridge residents who have flagpoles in front of their condominiums. "I called them and told them that I was not going to take the flag down," Richard said. A state law that went into effect July 24 states that a condominium association may not restrict or prevent a member "from displaying the flag of the United States on residential property within the associaton." However, the law does give the association a right to have "reasonable restrictions" of "the time, place, or manner of displaying the flag ... to protect a substantial interest" of the association. According to the letter from Kubera, the problem the association has is not with the flags, but with how they are displayed. In the Stoughton Ridge Condominium Association rules and regulations, section D says: "No flags, including the American flag, may be displayed from poles in planting beds or any common or limited common areas." The association, however, takes no issue with flags displayed on poles attached to the condominium owner's "front entrance wood trim or deck rails." It is just the "common ground" area that the association has a problem with. Kubera was not available for comment today. "This is crazy. We have better things to do with our time than argue about a flagpole," Richard said. ©Journal Inquirer 2007 So what do you think? http://www.journalinquirer.com/site/index.cfm?newsid=17136052&BRD=985&PAG=461&dept_id=569380&rfi=8