Its been a while...

...and Im sorry. Nothing new to report, but there is another HOA meeting Tuesday Nov 2nd (voting day).

 The HOA board and management company has not pursued anything, ie fines, letters, litigation, etc, so i am really stuck until they make the next move.

 The flag is still flying, the laywer is still in my corner, as is the ACLU.

When I have something of substance i will update you all

Thank you for following...


Andy

Another great article

Steve Tuttle did a GREAT article on the Gadsden Flag, and dedicated a paragraph to me.

 The article can be seen here

 I am goign to rattle some cages Monday, by calling the HOA managment company, and possibly their attorney to see what is going on.

 More to come....

Meeting tonight

Well, I showed up to the meeting, and had my legal counsel with me. The heads turned when I walked through the double doors with a guy in a suit carrying a briefcase.

 The look on the board members faces, along with the community manager was PRICELESS.

 There were about 8 other homeowners there, and they all started asking if they thought "the flag guy" would show. That was my cue to introduce myself. We chatted side bar from the yet to start meeting, and every homeowner openly voiced their support for me.

 Meeting was called to order, and quickly ended due to no quorum. We did not meet the 35 homeowners. The board and management company cut out QUICK. A couple homeowners wanted to ask questions, and they were shot down.

 I have a feeling the HOA will have their counsel at the next meeting.

Interesting sidenote, seems they have updated my account on the association website. They have  closed the issue with the flag, and have opened up a architectural design request and stated I must submit a design request for the flag, please do so asap.

 Does THIS mean they have caved?

Hey guys

Well, tomorrow night is the annual meeting and election. I will be in attendance, but I am not sure if I am going to vote.

 The "secret ballot" the association mailed out CLEARLY had my name, and lot # on the envelope.

 Not REAL secret if you ask me.

 But, none the less, I will be attending the meeting. I will update as soon as its over if anything good happens.

more to come...

The latest

Nothing new over the labor day weekend. My attorney was contacted by the HOA attorney late last week, and they stated "no action will be taken until after the annual board of directors meeting and election". What this means, I have no clue. Will they not fine me until the new board is in place? Will they re-present the issue to the new board to have them vote on it?  I know the annual meeting to elect board members is later this month.

I did notice on the association website, there was a executive meeting of the board of directors (meeting not open to the general homeowners) on Thursday of last week. That seems to been called out of the blue, because it wasnt on the calendar of events, then all of a sudden it was...Hmmmm??


The one thing I DO know is, according to the association website, I am set to start receiving fines for flying the Gadsden as of 9/5/10. The first seems to be $25.00. Will I actually receive a fine? We shall see


 So I think we are at a stand still. Do not think for a moment I have let up on my side of this fight. Everyday I get another person who says they stand behind me, another small donation to help with my attorney fee's, and great companies like DTOM.com, Phoenix Firearms, and FrontSight who donate time and items for raffles.

 more to come....

Raffle

I have secured some nice donations from Dont Tread On Me clothing and Frontsight Training to use in a raffle. I cant express my thanks enough to these two fine companies who want to help.

Phoenix Firearms has also stepped up and set out a donation jar, so if you are local in Phoenix, and need anything firearm related, please see Mont over at Phoenix Firearms.

 If you would like to buy a raffle ticket, email me at andycmcdonel@aol.com. I have a third party involved to run the raffle. i will give you details


more to come

Legal Fund Donations

For those concerned about security issues (i know how some HATE paypal) you can also contact

Dessaules Law Group
602-274-5400

and ask how to donate monetary contributions in my name.

 Jonathan Dessaules is a spectacular HOA law attorney in the Phoenix area, and is the man spearheading the legal side of this battle.

 You can also contact Darrell Hill, or anyone over at the Arizona ACLU if you would like to contribute to them for my fund. This great organization helps the people who find themselves in a fight for their God given, civil liberties. These same civil liberties the founding fathers stated we are entitled to.

 All funds will be funneled into one account and used for legal defense. No fines occurred during this process, no assessments, NOTHING will be paid with these donations.

 As I have stated before, ALL funds not used to win this fight will be handed over to the wounded warrior project. This GREAT organization helps our men and women wounded in battle adjust once they are back home.

more to come....

Thursday press

I will be on the Sludge show on 93.3 KDKB thursday morning at 7:20am, and then on the Bob Dunning "Across the Nation" show on Sirius Sat radio. You can see more about the show here

I was on The Mike Broomhead show today on AM550 KFYI..another great hit.

Arizona Republic did a nice article Wednesday...

more to come...

Shock and Awe

I want to say hello to everyone from the Yahoo news link...

Thank you to Liz over on Yahoo.com for posting my story and making it front page news. For those who are still confused over the fight, read the previous blog posts. I am within Arizona Law and HOA guidelines in flying this flag, yet teh HOA doesn't want to recognize the law and their own rules.

 Anyway, my legal counsel sent off a very nice letter to the HOA attorney, I enturn sent it to all my media contacts. This letter picks apart the HOA's claims and points out all the contradictions they have on their own CC&R's, bylaws, and activities.

Thank you all that have supported me..


more to come...

Well well well

A old wise man once said

"You gotta know when to hold em, and know when to fold em.."

 I just got my river card in this poker game....hint hint, it came from a .gov website... 

Also, I got contacted by a law firm here in Phoenix. I will speak to them tomorrow.


Now we're cookin' with gas...

more to come (but who knows for how much longer now)...

NY Times Article

Mr. Lacey at the NYTimes did a EXCELLENT write up.

You can view it here

Donations

Ok, after a great number of requests, I am going to disclose my paypal account info.

Andycmcdonel@aol.com is my email associated with my paypal account. If you would like to make a donation in support of my fight please do so there. IF this goes legal, that is where that money will go.

 If this DOESNT go legal, then I am going to do the following -

All funds donated to this account will be handed over to the wounded warrior project..

I hope to hand over a decent size donation to this great group of people.

more to come...

Monday rambles

NY Times just did their photo shoot, that article will be on nytimes.com after 7pm PST.

I received a copy of the letter the ACLU sent to the law firm in regards to their press release Thursday. In essence the letter states that the whole reason ARS 33-1808 came about was due to a HOA telling a homeowner he couldn't fly the Gadsden flag.

 more to come....

What a week....

I cant believe its only been four days. I feel like I have been at this for MONTHS. I am beat. I think I have had maybe 4 hours sleep since I woke up Wed morning.

NBC12 and 3TV both came out today and did excellent stories. I am what, 5 for 5 with the video media, and batting 1.000 with the radio media? Thats a feat seeing the majority of the media I have spoke with seem to lean VERY left. I also did a call in segment on KTAR News/Talk 92.3.Thank you Michaele for waking me up and telling me John Hook was talking about me. That segment went decent


 Friday will be a close to the week. I am doing a call in for 93.3 KDKB for their morning show with Sludge. Apperently this guy has a campaign to pay some of my fines (if this goes that far). It AMAZES me how much my hard headed fight has rallied people..

 Speaking of monitary compensation....

 I have been asked numerous times if I am going to set up a pay pal account to solicit donations.

 I DO have a paypal account, but I do NOT want to start down that avenue just yet.  Apperently the HOA attorney said I will be recieveing "a letter outlining my appeals process". I want to find out if I set the motion of a *proper* appeal, this can stay until Oct when the board meets again. So lets see what this guy has to say/offer. I have a few ideas of my own....




more to come..

One stop shop

I figured I would link and post some of the media stuff for everyone to see

WWMT Michigan
FoxNews.com
Local Fox10
Phoenix NewTimes
Local ABC15
KTAR News/Talk 92.3
Todd Starnes Fox News Radio
Fox8 Cleveland
Freedoms Phoenix
My National Interview on Fox and Friends
Richard Dixons Show on 100WAPI Birmingham Alabama
Arizona ACLU

or you can just google me and see all the articles, plus all the other blogs and what not that have attached to the story.


 I have support from all of my friends, family, former coworkers, former military, current military, and complete strangers. I can't say thank you enough for the forwards, emails, and notices you have put out regarding this.

more to come...

Quick facts

Moved into the home June 1st 2009

I was voted onto the HOA Board of Directors as Secretary/Treasurer Sept. 2009

I have had ZERO fines, NEVER been late on my dues since moving in.

The Gadsden flag went up early 2010

I resigned from the board July 2010

NOTHING was said, remark made, hinted at, asked of regarding my flag until 8/5/10 when it was labeled "debris" and a CC&R violation under the "garbage" section.

I appealed the CC&R violation, was not given written notice when I was to be heard (as per the appeal process in the CC&R's).

 The appeal was "denied" with no reason given, and it the denial letter states my "architectural request" was denied. I never requested a architectural design change, I appealed a CC&R violation.

When asked by ABC15's Brian Webb for a comment, the management company stated they have a lawyer. Why? I have emailed/called NUMEROUS times to try and talk to the community manager to try and educate her on the historical significance of this flag to no avail. I guess its easier to lawyer up and intimidate with the threat of LEGAL proceedings before a fine has been leveled  against me, or I have the proper avenue to lay out my case.

more to come....

Welcome to my blog

As suggested by many, I have started a blog to keep track of the goings on in my fight with my H.O.A. over me flying the Gadsden flag. For those not in the loop, you can view my stories at ABC 15 and FOX 10, or just by googling my name.
The latest is this, I have a interview with "Fox and Friends" Wednesday morning at 5:30am local time, which will be shown nationally live on the Fox News Channel. I have spoke to news channels from Arizona to Michigan. This thing has ignited like a wildfire.

More to come....