|
World War II veteran Phil Stack battled the homeowners association in Salem Fields in 2007. |
RICHMOND
--When a Henrico County homeowners association tried to bar a Medal of Honor recipient from flying a U.S. flag on a pole in his yard, state Sen. Richard Stuart got angry."It offended me to think a homeowners association could prevent someone from properly displaying the flag in their yard," said Stuart, R-Westmoreland. "As a Marine, as a former prosecutor it very much offended me. To me, that should be a fundamental right, to be able to fly your country's flag."
So Stuart has submitted a bill in the General Assembly that puts the burden on homeowners associations to prove that a flag would cause harm.
The issue arose a few months ago when Col. Van T. Barfoot, a 90-year-old Medal of Honor recipient, received a letter from the homeowners association of his Sussex Square community in Henrico County.
The letter told Barfoot he couldn't fly his U.S. flag on an upright pole in his yard.
The association had rejected Barfoot's request to erect the flagpole; the community prefers flags to be flown from angled poles attached to houses.
The association board said Barfoot's upright pole was a problem for aesthetic reasons.
The board's letter to Barfoot--which threatened legal action--sparked an outpouring of support for Barfoot, with attorneys offering to represent him for free, according to news reports. The story spread to national outlets, and Gov. Tim Kaine and Sens. Mark Warner and Jim Webb weighed in, backing Barfoot.
Eventually the homeowners association board backed down, but Stuart said he submitted his bill to make sure such instances don't happen again.
His bill would allow homeowners to "properly display" the flag according to federal rules on that subject. Homeowners associations would have to prove that flying the flag would create "substantial harm" to the community.
"This bill is sort of unique because I put the burden on the HOA," Stuart said. "I don't see how an HOA can prove a flag causes substantial harm."
Stuart's measure drew cheers from Spotsylvania County resident Phil Stack, who ran into controversy when he flew a flag on a 16-foot pole at his residence in Salem Fields.
The homeowners association told him to remove it in 2007, but he resisted and eventually won approval to keep it in front of his home.
"I'm real proud to hear of it," said Stack, an 86-year-old World War II veteran.
Stack said he kept up with the Henrico flag dispute and said a similar one also occurred in Florida in recent months.
On the House side, Del. Scott Lingamfelter, R-Prince William, has also submitted a bill that would prevent homeowners associations from restricting the proper flying of a U.S. flag.
Chelyen Davis: 540/368-5028
Email: cdavis@freelancestar.com
