He Didn't Serve His Country Enough?
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Harrison
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american flag appeasement Dallas homeowners association Frank Larison hypocrites Liberals Mary Castagna McLucas patriotism Semper Fi texas
What have they done for you... lately?
An interesting story out of Houston, Texas about a disabled veteren who has stickers on his car with such “offensive” stickers on his car such as the Marine Corps. motto “Semper Fi” may have his car towed away and be fined:
DALLAS – Frank Larison is a disabled veteran with more than 14 years of service, including more than a year of combat duty in Vietnam.
The 58-year-old former Marine now finds himself under attack by his Dallas homeowners association for displaying seven decals on his vehicle supporting the Marine Corps.
“To me, it’s being patriotic, and it shows that I served,” the veteran told FOX 4.
The board says the decals are advertisements that violate HOA rules, and must be covered or removed.
Otherwise, the homeowners association for The Woodlands II on The Creek — where Larimore has lived for eight years — says in a letter it will tow the car at Larimore’s expense. The board also threatens to fine him $50 for any future incident.
Larimore says the decals, ranging from the Marine emblem to Semper Fi slogans, aren’t advertisements for anything. “You can’t buy freedom,” he reasoned.
Some neighbors are outraged.
“That is his identity,” said neighbor Mary Castagna. “He goes to a lot of the veteran meetings, and it means a lot to him. Everyone else agrees with it; it doesn’t bother anybody.”
“He’s in the Marines, and he’s proud of it, and I don’t blame him,” said neighbor Paul Hardy. “If I’d gone through what he’s gone through, I’d be kind of proud of it myself.”
The letter from the board states you can’t have any form of advertisement anywhere on your car on your property. FOX 4 cameras spotted bumper stickers for political parties, health causes, and other non-commercial interests on the property as well.
One board member said he was unaware the HOA presidents sent the letter and did not know of any issue with Larimore’s vehicle.
“I will be looking into it,” said board member Art Bradford. “I didn’t know anything about this. I haven’t seen this.”
The board president was out of town and unavailable. The condo management company did not want to comment.
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How the flag should be flown today.
What is wrong with people nowadays? The man served his country honorbaly now is being harrassed for expressing his patriotism? Although the story doesn’t say it, I find it difficult to believe that a Conservative would have issued such an order. This incident is similar to what happened to a hosptial worker who had the American flag in her cubicle for Memorial Day and had the flag removed and dumped on the floor:
She decided to hang an American flag in her office at the hospital where she works.
But McLucas’ supervisor, who is from another country, complained that the flag was offensive.
McLucas was ordered to take it down.
“The flag and the pole had been placed on the floor,” McLucas said. But McLucas also said hospital higher-ups had told her some patients’ families and visitors had also complained.
The two cases do differ because in the first case we are talking about decals on a man’s car while the second case is in a private company but the impulses are the same: patriotism is bad. What is becoming of this country?
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12:11 PM
This is NOT fair to any man or woman that served his country honorbaly and sacrficed so much. To me it is just a way of expressing his patriotism? No harm done.
Salute’s last blog post..Thank You
12:20 PM
Agreed. But there are many who view the U.S. flag as a symbol of “oppression” and military service as an example of “murder.”
Of course, these people aren’t willing to leave the country and live in whatever utopian paradise they think exists.
5:51 PM
Glad we agree. I think he had only 4 or 5 stickers on his car but others in the same development had political stickers on their cars and nothing was said to them.
7:28 PM
I can only assume that he would suffer the same fate for a bumper sticker that said “Obama Change You Can Live With.”
This is an infraction of his 1st Amendment rights Straight Up.
Of course he doesn’t count because he’s probably another Tea Bagging Red Neck right.
9:21 PM
As to the 1st Amendment… Home Owner’s Associations can dictate any number of things residents can do from what color you paint your house to how many shrubs you have in your front lawn. The article pointed out, however, that other people had political stickers on their car but they had not received and letters about them threatening to fine the owners of those cars.
4:24 AM
I cant see how stickers refering to the Marine Corps can be seen as ‘advertising’. They should be proud to have someone who has served the country like he has living intheir neighbourhood. Sounds like political correctness gone mad.
5:53 AM
If someone agrees to abide by the rules of a Homeowner’s Association then why should military-related stickers be exempted? It sounds to me like Frank Larison went “over the top” by plastering seven stickers all over his car. As usual the right-wingers take the position that the Homeowners Association is unpatriotic, when all they’ve done is ask Frank to abide by the rules. This is a pathetic attempt to make a mountain out of a molehill.
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10:05 PM
The report makes clear other had stickers on their car that were “political” but they were not told to remove their stickers. Explain that.
8:29 AM
How is a marine sticker an advertisement? It isn’t persuading anyone to take any form of action. It would be difficult to argue that it is even an act of branding. If this logic were to be applied, then he also ought to remove any parts of the car that designate the car’s make and model. Those markings can certainly be considered a form of advertisement. What if someone in the complex wears branded clothing?
HOAs can be ridiculously tyrannical if you let them. This sounds like a situation where they are probably trying to crack down on another homeowner, and that homeowner said, “What about Frank’s marine stickers?” The HOA is probably pretending to be fair so they can go after another offender. I know there is now evidence for this, but after being on an HOA board, this seems to be what is going on. It seems like this HOA needs to give up on being fair and justice etc. and they should learn a little more about empathy.
Burro’s last blog post..You Get What you Vote For
8:30 AM
Sorry, when I said “now evidence for this” above, I meant “no evidence for this.
Burro’s last blog post..You Get What you Vote For
10:16 PM
askcherlock,
As usual the leftist remark above is all wrong.
He wasn’t asked, he was told. There is a difference. As far as Mr Larisa being “over the top” goes I wonder how many years service to America you have?
1:38 PM
Hello all, I work for the attorney that is representing Mr. Larison. I friend guided me to this site. We are thrilled to see the support in your comments. As of today, Mr.Larison is yet to receive even a hint of an apology from the HOA. Mr. Larison and his Attorney Michael Burns appeared on CNN yesterday afternoon. When the reporter Kyra Phillips questioned the member of the HOA board that phoned in to the interview about why they appeared to be targeting only Mr. Larison in their threats, he was speechless. He did say, it was not b/c it was military – He expressed thier support for our troops. He further added he truly felt the patriotic stickers were a violation of the HOA rules. THEN CHANGE THE RULES!!! DON’T YOU THINK!! I will be issuing regular updates on our ABVLAW twitter page. Please follow along. We need to keep the pressure on. Email me directly, at cesar@abvlaw.com if you have any messages you’d like for me to pass on to our client Mr. Larison.
10:04 PM
Thanks for your comments. I hope your client prevails what has happened to him is unAmerican.