One of the many titles for Jesus Christ is Prince of Peace. And one of the many symbols of the Christmas holidays is a wreath. One Colorado homeowner combined the two ideas into a peace symbol wreath. Now one man – the president of the homeowners association – is seeking to force the holiday decoration down because he and a few other community members don’t like the perceived message.

A homeowners association in southwestern Colorado has threatened to fine a resident $25 a day until she removes a Christmas wreath with a peace sign that some say is an anti-Iraq war protest or a symbol of Satan.

Some residents who have complained have children serving in Iraq, said Bob Kearns, president of the Loma Linda Homeowners Association in Pagosa Springs. He said some residents have also believed it was a symbol of Satan. Three or four residents complained, he said.

"Somebody could put up signs that say drop bombs on Iraq. If you let one go up you have to let them all go up," he said in a telephone interview Sunday.

The homeowner has a different point of view.

Lisa Jensen said she wasn't thinking of the war when she hung the wreath. She said, "Peace is way bigger than not being at war. This is a spiritual thing."

Jensen, a past association president, calculates the fines will cost her about $1,000, and doubts they will be able to make her pay. But she said she's not going to take it down until after Christmas.

"Now that it has come to this I feel I can't get bullied," she said. "What if they don't like my Santa Claus."

And Kearns is quite clear that he is out to suppress a point of view that he does not like.

The association in this 200-home subdivision 270 miles southwest of Denver has sent a letter to her saying that residents were offended by the sign and the board "will not allow signs, flags etc. that can be considered divisive."

But the bylaws state that billboards, advertising and signs (and a wreath, even one with an unorthodox design, does not fall into any of those categories, in my humble opinion) may be permitted by the associationÂ’s architectural control committee. When Jensen went to the committee and ordered them to require the wreathÂ’s removal, the committee refused, presumably on the grounds that there was nothing wrong with the holiday decoration.

So Kearns acted like any other fascist dictator would when he failed to get his way.

He dismissed the committee and imposed the fine himself.

After all, we can’t let ideas like “Peace On Earth” get associated with Christmas.

Posted by: Greg at 09:55 AM | Comments (5) | Add Comment
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