Medal of Honor recipient fighting for flag.
12-04-2009 | 02:23 PM
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Medal of Honor recipient fighting for flag.
Henrico Medal of Honor recipient, 90, ordered to remove flagpole | Richmond Times-Dispatch
It's a sad day in the US when a service member, not to mention a decorated war hero, is denied the right to fly the Colors
It's a sad day in the US when a service member, not to mention a decorated war hero, is denied the right to fly the Colors
Col. Van T. Barfoot, a local Medal of Honor recipient, 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.
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.
12-04-2009 | 03:06 PM
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man I hate to say it, but my ex wifes family is from the Henrico area, and hearing this sad story is not a surprise. The people in that part of VA are not the brightest bulbs, when it comes to common sense or courtesy. I may be a bit jaded though
12-06-2009 | 11:39 AM
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From: 747 FO
I agree. These stories will always be in the news as long as there are HOA's. Read the story carefully though. He's allowed to fly the flag, he's just not allowed to have the tall vertical flag pole.
People gladly give up their freedoms for a manicured appearance to their neighborhood. Call me Montanan, but property ownership is a sacred right of all Americans; buying into an HOA is not real property ownership until the city, county, and state governments prevent HOA's from restricting personal freedoms in their contracts.
People gladly give up their freedoms for a manicured appearance to their neighborhood. Call me Montanan, but property ownership is a sacred right of all Americans; buying into an HOA is not real property ownership until the city, county, and state governments prevent HOA's from restricting personal freedoms in their contracts.
12-06-2009 | 02:44 PM
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The HOA's serve the purpose of providing "zoning" to an area- eliminating a municipality's requirement for enforcement. Basically, let the residents getting into it with each other, it's not a town problem.
Living in an HOA there are some benefits, but overall-
1. Board members tend to to be nosy busybodys or power hungry know-it-alls. One neighbor is the nosiest b!tch going was on it just to hear the gossip and see "who's getting a letter". Nothing about doing anything productive.
2. Based on our covenants, I believe the attorney who drafted them did so post a 3 martini lunch. They have gaps and are (thankfully) very hard to enforce consistently.
3. Developers and HOA mgmt companies keep the situation alive by working sweetheart deals, etc.
4. The HOA could not address real problems in the neighborhood but were happy to send a letter concerning a bike left on the lawn- there were 50 kids under 12 living in the 25 houses on our street- it wasn't my kids' bike.
5. HOA's provide an avenue for neighbors to stick it to people they don't like- just call about the lawn or something else.
Things like the developer stipping every last pound of topsoil and then you're wondering why no-one in the neighborhood can get a lawn started.
Our HOA had significant financial improprieties ($40,000+) with developers and mgmt companies, ws facing an ADA lawsuit, which we would've lost, etc. My wife ran, was president for 3 years, got things straightened out and now it is running smoothly without much "enforcement".
It some areas (like ours) it is virtually impossible to purchase a new home, in a neighborhood (which we wanted- and got- for our kids), without having to get into and HOA. Fortunately ours is tolerable, but if I had my druthers, I wouldn't belong.
Living in an HOA there are some benefits, but overall-
1. Board members tend to to be nosy busybodys or power hungry know-it-alls. One neighbor is the nosiest b!tch going was on it just to hear the gossip and see "who's getting a letter". Nothing about doing anything productive.
2. Based on our covenants, I believe the attorney who drafted them did so post a 3 martini lunch. They have gaps and are (thankfully) very hard to enforce consistently.
3. Developers and HOA mgmt companies keep the situation alive by working sweetheart deals, etc.
4. The HOA could not address real problems in the neighborhood but were happy to send a letter concerning a bike left on the lawn- there were 50 kids under 12 living in the 25 houses on our street- it wasn't my kids' bike.
5. HOA's provide an avenue for neighbors to stick it to people they don't like- just call about the lawn or something else.
Things like the developer stipping every last pound of topsoil and then you're wondering why no-one in the neighborhood can get a lawn started.
Our HOA had significant financial improprieties ($40,000+) with developers and mgmt companies, ws facing an ADA lawsuit, which we would've lost, etc. My wife ran, was president for 3 years, got things straightened out and now it is running smoothly without much "enforcement".
It some areas (like ours) it is virtually impossible to purchase a new home, in a neighborhood (which we wanted- and got- for our kids), without having to get into and HOA. Fortunately ours is tolerable, but if I had my druthers, I wouldn't belong.
12-06-2009 | 04:01 PM
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From: B777 FO
This man ought to be able to have a ferris wheel on his lawn if he wants. HOA or not, he's a Medal of Honor winner and deserves to fly his flag in any fashion he wishes.
Great publicity for the law firm, I wonder if they even looked into the guy before sending the letter. I say keep it and if they sue, there will be hell to pay. Rest assured, this man will never have to pay a cent, the grateful among us will do it for him.
Great publicity for the law firm, I wonder if they even looked into the guy before sending the letter. I say keep it and if they sue, there will be hell to pay. Rest assured, this man will never have to pay a cent, the grateful among us will do it for him.
12-06-2009 | 05:15 PM
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The HOA obviously is ignorant to the fact that if it weren't for this man, and others like him, that there wouldn't even be an HOA for them to fart around in?
Disgraceful and unAmerican. I would never think twice about a neighbor having a flag pole for our colors.
Disgraceful and unAmerican. I would never think twice about a neighbor having a flag pole for our colors.
