Anti-war sign prompts neighborhood association lawsuit

http://www.wbir.com/news/local/story.aspx?storyid=32256



So if you can't express your opinion in your own home, where the hell CAN you do it?

MORE likely to buy a home in that neighborhood. Whereas knowing that censorship was actively practiced would make me LESS likely to buy a home in that neighborhood. I wonder if they would be saying the same thing if the sign was pro-Bush. :eyes:

There are liberals and progressives but they're outnumbered in large part. When Air America bought a station in Chattanooga, the local freepers went crazy with rage.

without paying serious penalties.

CHOSE to belong to and abide by.

If not, they have no case.

At a previous subdivision, one of the rules was "no signs on lawns, with the exeption of a single for-sale sign". They can get pretty nit-picky.

policies are ipso facto unconstitutional violations of first amendment. I seem to remember a similar case a couple years ago, where sign-displayer's right to display sign trumped local anti-signage ordinance. Can't remember whether it was state (CA) court or federal, though.

and the Homeowners Association lost every time.

mean it will stick in court.

More and more neighborhood association rules are getting challenged. I went through a similar thing in 2004 - we had a Kerry sign in our yard and the neighborhood association told us we had to take it down.
I wrote them a nice long letter about the spirit of the law vs. the letter of the law, and how I promised not to complain about people's halloween and christmas decorations with words on them. Never heard a response, until we received a note about a month later thanking us for removing the sign. Which we had, on November 3rd
:eyes:

But through it all, I did a lot of research, and I found that even private neighborhood associations with signed 'covenents' were sometimes losing in court. I was almost hoping to have a chance to take it to court, but they never enforced the fine we were supposed to pay, so I didn't have to.

As more and more neighborhoods have these condo-style associations, homeowners have less choice about living in them, and the court is starting to find in favor of the homeowner when it comes to signs. As for broke-down cars on the front lawn and storage sheds and whatever, I do not know what the courts think.

in their yard. Gives me the willies when I go through those neighborhoods. They say to me these are closed-minded people who are quick to hate. I guess I am prejudiced.

get ready to meet some of your learned brothers and sisters of the Tennessee Bar of Justice --