White flag flies in peace symbol war

Homeowners board quits, ends threat to fine wreath owners

Dick Foster, Rocky Mountain News

Published November 29, 2006 at midnight

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Peace has broken out in Pagosa Springs.

Three weeks of discord over peace symbols displayed by two homeowners in the Loma Linda subdivision ended abruptly Monday night.

In two sudden moves, members of the homeowners association's governing board withdrew their threat to fine two homeowners then submitted resignations.

"I think it's over," said Jack Lilly, a member of the Loma Linda Architecture Control Committee, which was eliminated, a casualty of the feud.

The Loma Linda subdivision leaped into the spotlight once word leaked that the homeowners association attempted to force residents Bill Trimarco and Lisa Jensen to remove a wreath shaped into a peace symbol from their home.

The board acted after an avalanche of media inquiries from all over the world swept over the southwest Colorado community at the western foot of Wolf Creek Pass.

"I think things will settle down now," Lilly said. "I think there's some healing that will have to go on. We're going to let people calm down for a little bit, and then we'll have an election in December to elect a new board."

Bob Kearns, the board president who resigned Monday night, will move with his wife back to Pennsylvania, as they had planned before the controversy erupted this month.

The other two board members, Jeff Heitz and Tammy Spezze, submitted their resignations in a letter sent late Monday to the subdivision's roughly 100 households.

The three members also sent a separate letter late Monday to Jensen and Trimarco, rescinding the threatened $25-per-day fine for each day the couple displayed their peace-symbol-shaped Christmas wreath.

"We had a misunderstanding with your Christmas decoration, and for that we apologize," the board wrote.

"We withdraw any and all previous requests for removal of your decoration."

The flap began to unravel early in November when another resident, Will Dunbar, placed a pie-plate-size peace sign in his front yard.

Some neighbors objected, including Donald Haywood, a Vietnam veteran, who said it sent the wrong message to U.S. troops at war in Iraq.

Kearns and the homeowners board told Dunbar to remove the sign or face fines.

Jensen and Trimarco then hung their wreath, saying it was not a political statement but a sign of the season that represented peace. They, too, were threatened with fines.

Kearns fanned the controversy as he explained that the peace symbol had "a lot of negativity associated with it," from the Vietnam War, and that it was also "an anti-Christ sign."

When Lilly's five-member architectural committee disagreed, Kearns demanded their resignations.

Besieged by peace symbol sympathizers and a growing legion of reporters from around the country, Kearns, Heitz and Spezze disconnected their phones this week.

On Monday, Jensen and Trimarco vowed to keep their peace wreath and retain lawyers. The board members resigned, and could not be reached for comment Tuesday.

"We never had an issue with the Christmas wreath," said Haywood, the vet who was among the first to complain. "We had the issue with the pie-plate one.

"But I'm peaceful with everything that's gone on."

Meanwhile, Trimarco said the wreath story seemed to strike a nerve.

"We've gotten calls from around the world - Romania, Australia, Costa Rica, the Netherlands, Canada, England. There have been peace signs popping up all over Pagosa here," Trimarco said.

"We've gotten so many calls from parents of kids in Iraq saying don't take those lights down. This is what our kids want," he said.

Online wreath poll results

We asked you what your views were on the wreath and what it symbolizes. The results, as of 12:15 a.m. today:

• Should the Pagosa Springs holiday wreath stay or go?

(723 total votes)

Stay

95.7% (692 votes)

4.3%

(31 votes)

• What does the wreath symbolize to you?

(365 total votes)

Peace