Henrico Medal of Honor winner, 90, ordered to remove flagpole

[yrualeg]

What a load of horseshit, and for the record my opinion he's not a "Winner" he's a recipient it's not a fucking contest......

LINK

Henrico Medal of Honor winner, 90, ordered to remove flagpole



Col. Van T. Barfoot, a local Medal of Honor winner, is under the gun from his Henrico County community's homeowner association.
In a five-paragraph letter to Barfoot that he received yesterday, Barfoot is being ordered to remove a flagpole from his yard. The decorated veteran of three wars, now 90 years old, raises the American flag every morning on the pole, then lowers and folds the flag at dusk each day in a three-corner military fashion.
In a priority mail letter, the Coates & Davenport law firm in Richmond is ordering Barfoot to remove the pole by 5 p.m. Friday or face "legal action being brought to enforce the Covenants and Restrictions against you." The letter states that Barfoot will be subject to paying all legal fees and costs in any successful legal proceeding pursued by the homeowner association's board.
Barfoot's daughter said this evening that news reports about the association order have prompted an outpouring of sympathy and offers of help from people following her father's ordeal.
Tonight, the Sussex Square Homeowners Association issued a statement reiterating its position that Barfoot directly violated the association board's denial of his request to erect a flagpole.
"This is not about the American flag. This about a flagpole," the statement reads.
Barfoot lives in the Sussex Square community in far western Henrico; its board of directors rejected a plea from Barfoot in July to approve the pole, disallowing the fixture on aesthetic grounds.
There is no provision in the community's rules expressly forbidding flagpoles, Barfoot's daughter said. But she said the board ruled against her father's fixture and ordered it removed in July, deciding that free-standing flag poles are not aesthetically appropriate. Short flag stands attached to porches dot the community.
"Dad sort of feels like this is the end," said Margaret Nicholls, Barfoot's daughter, who lives a few doors away. But she said this morning that she and her husband are attempting to generate support for her father's cause, a flag-raising rite that he has undertaken for most of his life.
Barfoot received the Medal of Honor on the battlefield during World War II in Italy and fought as well in the Korean and Vietnam wars. A portion of a highway in rural Mississippi, his native state, was named in his honor this fall. A building at McGuire Veterans Hospital in Richmond also carries his name.
Barfoot began regularly flying the flag on Veteran's Day this year despite the Sussex Square board's decision.
He said in November that not flying the flag would be a sacrilege to him.
"There's never been a day in my life or a place I've lived in my life that you couldn't fly the American flag," he said.
For more on this story, see tomorrow's Richmond Times-Dispatch.
-- Bill McKelway

[abnbull]

I just finsihed reading the comments on this issue (can't remember what site).

Most were pro-vet and anti-HOA but some of the asshats out there truly amaze me.




Oh and FUCK HOAs!

[P-Chop]

This is up the road from me. The Richmond Times Dispatch originally covered the story and it is one of the heaviest commented articles this week. More pros than cons.............

Let the hero fly the flag on the property he owns!

[bg]

HOAs serve their purpose in keeping up property values by preventing people from storing dead cars on their lawn, major appliances on their porch, or letting the house fall apart. Try selling your house when your neighbor has turned his into a shanty.

That being said, many of these HOAs are corrupted with power (as in this case) like a teenager babysitting her little brother for the first time. Their board members typically have nothing to do all day but play gestapo and roam the streets looking for violations.

[Mortarman11c]

The HOA will come out looking like big ol douchebags in the news........and rightly so.

[Darksaga]

There are reports his old unit is getting involved and his Senator.

[gunsmittys]

This shit is getting old...there have been many stories in the news the last couple of years about shit like this. These HOAs, civic groups, etc need to all go fuck themselves; start dumpin on the shit birds.

[zuluzerosix]

We should send him a letter of support

[yrualeg]

It appears that the Home Owners Association lacked the intestinal Fortitude to follow through with their threats

LINK

RICHMOND, Va. — A 90-year-old Medal of Honor recipient can keep his 21-foot flagpole in his front yard after a homeowner's association dropped its request to remove it, a spokesman for Democratic Virginia Sen. Mark Warner said Tuesday.
The Sussex Square homeowners' association likewise has agreed to drop threats to take legal action against retired Army Col. Van T. Barfoot, Warner spokesman Kevin Hall said.
The association had threatened to take Barfoot to court if he failed to remove the pole from his suburban Richmond home by Friday. It had said the pole violated the neighborhood's aesthetic guidelines.
Neither Barfoot's daughter, Margaret Nicholls, nor homeowners' president Glenn Wilson immediately returned telephone messages.
Dropping the issue effectively ends a request that White House press secretary Robert Gibbs on Monday called "silly."
Warner and Sen. Jim Webb, both Virginia Democrats, had rallied behind Barfoot, a World War II veteran.
In a letter last week, Webb urged the association to "consider the exceptional nature of Col. Barfoot's service when considering his pride and determination in honoring our flag."
Barfoot's fight also has lit up veterans bulletin boards and blog sites supporting him.
Barfoot won the Medal of Honor for actions while his platoon was under German assault near Carano, Italy, in May 1944. He was credited with standing up to three German tanks with a bazooka and stopping their advance.
He also won the Purple Heart and other decorations, and served in Korea and Vietnam before retiring from the service in 1974.

[lz_NorthPole]

It appears that the Home Owners Association lacked the intestinal Fortitude to follow through with their threats

LINK

Good on Col. Van T. Barfoot! Thank you Sir for your service.

[Ops NCO]

I guess we saw who blinked!

[Guymullins]

I am not even American and this pisses me off no end. The locals should get together and petition to make a bylaw that enforces every house to raise a 20ft flagpole on the property. These fuckers need to be attacked, not defended against.

[Feetasshead]

The HOA should get throat-chopped for trying something as stupid as that. Way to go fuckers, there is a special place in Hell for you.

By the way, I want to put in for the contest to "win" A medal of Honor. Where are the entry forms?

[Guymullins]

Bin Laden has some.

[rcook7440]

By the way, I want to put in for the contest to "win" A medal of Honor. Where are the entry forms?

If it can be won ... oh-bam-uh will win it!