Veteran learns high cost of flying flag

[thedrifter]

Veteran learns high cost of flying flag
Court ruling goes against veteran


By Bill Douthat, Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
Saturday, March 29, 2003



WEST PALM BEACH -- A Jupiter veteran -- backed by the governor and state legislature -- fought his homeowners association for two years for the right to fly his American flag.

George Andres gets to keep his flag but may lose his house in the process.

Because of a state law enacted last year, Andres' flag is aloft outside his Jupiter home. But that doesn't absolve him of a $21,000 judgment won by the homeowners association before the law was enacted, a judge ruled Friday.

Circuit Judge Edward Fine said it doesn't matter if the law was made retroactive, it can't wipe out the court's ruling.

"If a legislative body can void already vested rights, then no judgment can ever be final, even if it is 20 or 50 years old," Fine wrote in his order. The judge said such a legal concept could void land titles, inheritances, divorces and criminal convictions.

Andres, a 66-year-old Marine Corps veteran, said he will appeal Fine's ruling. Meanwhile, his pole-mounted flag will stay put.

"As long as I can breathe it will fly," he said. "I'm not going to give up."

The ruling opens the way for the Indian Creek Phase III-B Homeowners Association to seek a court order to foreclose on Andres' home to collect money spent on legal expenses.

"When our country is at war, it's unconscionable that a homeowners association would try to take away a veteran's home," said Barry Silver, Andres' attorney.

The association doesn't want to foreclose but needs reimbursement of expenses and legal costs, association attorney Steven Selz said.

Andres refused to negotiate a settlement before Circuit Judge Catherine Brunson ruled in August 2001 that the flagpole Andres installed on his front lawn violated homeowner restrictions, Selz said.

The flag itself was never an issue, Selz said, because the association allows flags on brackets attached to homes. But Andres put a flagpole and light in the middle of his yard, Selz said.

The attorney questioned Andres' motives for erecting the flagpole, saying it went up soon after he was voted off the board of the homeowners association.

Andres says his motives are purely patriotic.

"That flag means my liberty," he said.

The veteran's fight brought Gov. Jeb Bush to Andres' front yard last summer to help him hoist the flag and donate $100 to his cause.

Two months earlier, the Florida Legislature had passed a bill to permit American flags to be displayed regardless of homeowner association rules.

By that time, the association had already won its case, which was confirmed on appeal.

Andres hopes to keep a foreclosure ruling at bay until he's exhausted his court battles.

A lien the association put on his home four years ago means he can't borrow money to fix his roof, but he says he's not giving up.

"I'm good to keep fighting," he said.

bill_douthat@pbpost.com

Sempers,

Roger