Pagosa Springs Peace Wreath Okayed--Removal, Fines Withdrawn

Bill Trimarco and Lisa Jensen stand next to their peace wreath at their home near Pagosa Springs on Friday. The couple received a letter Tuesday from their subdivision’s homeowners’ association telling them to take down the sign or face a fine of $25 per day.
RANDI PIERCE/Special to the Herald

"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?"

Exactly. 'Tis the season and all.

Jensen said she put up the wreath to honor the biblical call for peace and goodwill toward men.

Peace on Earth in Pagosa Springs as the war on the Christmas peace wreath ends (video):

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.

With that settled, the striking reason for not permitting a Christmas wreath in the shape of a peace sign came not from its political significations, but from a perceived (and bizarre) anti-Christian religious statement:

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.

Let's leave the moonbattiness to the usual suspects, okay folks? Christians and those with political positions in opposition to peaceniks and other dhimmis/liberals should not succumb to the same type of overreaction that characterizes the Cindy Sheehan/Michael Moore/Howard Zinn crowd.

The flap began less than a week ago, and made the jump to national headlines in less than a day:

Then came a local news story, followed by a wire-service story, followed by national news stories, followed by blog and message-board posts, and radio and TV segments, and on and on - until by Monday evening the second-most popular story on CNN.com was an article about the controversy titled "Peace on earth? Not in our subdivision!"

The article gets the order a bit confused, as it was first blogs and internet sites that broke the story, long before the MSM and CNN lumbered into the fray.

Previously:
Pagosa Springs Peace Wreath Stirs Opinions, HOA Bans Wreath

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