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Article Courtesy of WINK
NEWS
By Morgan Rynor
Published June 8, 2021
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WATCH VIDEO |
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SWFL veteran honors his fellow soldiers with yard signs and now he’s being fined
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A community is
rallying behind a SWFL veteran now that he’s being asked to
remove his yard signs. These signs show support for his
fellow veterans.
He’s being charged $50 for every day those signs remain
posted.
A letter from The Rotonda West HOA says that veteran, Larry
Altenburg had until may 26, not even Memorial Day, to remove
all of the signs from his front yard.
His neighborhood is filled with veterans and they’ve made it
clear that they won’t accept this.
American flags line every driveway in one Rotonda West
Community. |
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“I put that up myself. My wife and I go around and we plant those flags at
no cost to the residence and we tell them to keep them and put them up
whenever they wanna,” Altenburg said.
But, Altenburg didn’t stop there. He turned his yard into a place of
rememberance. “I have a sign that says ‘let us remember those who paid the
ultimate price for freedoms’ and then each sign is each different war and
lists how many killed in action and how many were wounded in each war,” said
Altenburg.
For 12 years, he put up his signs with no complaints from his homeowners’
association. On May 21, that changed.
“I then went to the board meeting and presented it to the board and
explained to them what I had, what it was, and one of the board members said
that it is ”black and white. A sign is a sign,'” said Altenburg.
A sign is a sign and three more board members agree with that sentiment.
This means Altenburg can only put up one sign or face fines of $50 per day.
“To me, it’s just showing disrespect to all those who died for our freedom,”
Altenburg said.
Neighbors, like Michael Baker, decided to step up and help Altenburg keep
those signs posted.
“We love it. We think it’s a wonderful thing and it gives us a chance to
remember the fallen so it’s a wonderful thing for the whole community,”
Baker said.
They raised $1900 to keep the flags waving. Any money that is leftover they
will donate it to a veteran’s charity.
WINK News reached out to that Rotonda West HOA to see if the board plans to
fine Larry hundreds of dollars. So far, we have not yet heard back.
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