Peace on Earth? It's a little closer

Homeowners board apologizes, withdraws threat of $25 fines

Dick Foster, Rocky Mountain News

Published November 28, 2006 at midnight

Text size

More Local News

More stories »

It's the season of peace, but the residents of the Loma Linda neighborhood in Pagosa Springs have been at war with one another.

And the object of their fight?

The peace symbol.

When Bill Trimarco and Lisa Jensen hung their holiday wreath in the shape of a peace symbol Nov. 19, it touched off a battle within the Loma Linda Homeowners Association board that engulfed the residents of the rural subdivision.

The president of the association, Bob Kearns, and two other governing board members demanded Jensen and Trimarco take down their wreath or face a $25-per-day fine for violating subdivision sign restrictions, said Jack Lilly, former chairman of the association's Architectural Control Committee.

Kearns also demanded the resignation of Lilly and the other four members of the committee charged with enforcing subdivision rules after the committee ruled that the wreath was not a violation.

Monday, the homeowners assocation board withdrew its objection to the wreath and threat of daily fines.

"We want to let you know that this evening we just received a letter from the Loma Linda Home Owners Board of Directors stating: 'We had a misunderstanding with your Christmas decoration and for that we apologize. We withdraw any and all previous requests for removal of your decoration,' " Jensen told The Associated Press.

None of the three members of the board was available for comment late Monday. Kearns and Jeff Heitz had their phone numbers changed to unlisted numbers Monday.

The fight began two weeks earlier when another Loma Linda resident, Will Dunbar, put up a plate- size peace symbol atop two crossed skis in his front yard.

A neighborhood couple, Donald and Renee Haywood, took offense.

"There's a whole lot of guys left over from the Vietnam War who remember the peace sign as something very negative," said Donald Haywood, who was in the service during Vietnam.

Kearns had told The Associated Press he'd received several complaints before ordering Dunbar to take down the symbol. Kearns also told the Durango Herald that the peace symbol "has a lot of negativity associated with it. It's also an anti-Christ sign."

Some people believe the symbol is satanic and represents an upside-down cross with broken arms.

Dunbar said he sees nothing un-American about his peace symbol. "I am a Vietnam veteran, and two members of the Architectural Control Committee are Vietnam veterans and one is a Korean veteran, and none of these people found it offensive," he said.

Then came Jensen and Trimarco.

"We put this up without any thoughts of a political message - just peace," Trimarco said. "People are dying everywhere. And this is the season - if you can't say peace now, when can you say it?"

After the board ruling Monday, Jensen said, "We would like to thank everyone who has contacted us with moral support and offers of financial support. We are grateful to hundreds of complete strangers who felt so moved by this story they contacted us. We received calls from people who called themselves grandmas, mothers, military families, veterans, devout Christians, agnostics, atheists, a Rabbi, veterans of various wars, people with children in Iraq."

Subscribe to the Rocky Mountain News