The Flower/Fairy House on Lakewood Heights Blvd

[Amy Martin]

I was talking about the garden gnome on the side of the house . .. . man, are you paranoid.

[kate e parker]

I was talking about the garden gnome on the side of the house . .. .

hey! leave rossen out of this!

[Corey Rossen]

I was talking about the garden gnome on the side of the house . .. .

hey! leave rossen out of this!

Thumbs up emoji!!

[Valerie Molinski]

first world problems amuse me so. and so does that house. the owners are delightful and no matter my mood when I pass it I always end up smiling.

Yup.

[kate e parker]

that's what i'm talking about!

[Gary Rice]

Everyone,

Perhaps I'd better put my old teacher's hat back on for a moment...

Let's think this through....

Way back when our country was founded, a fellow named Thomas Jefferson drafted a letter to the British king that would eventually be developed into America's Declaration of Independence. Drawing from other sources involving theories about the Rights of Man, the rights to "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness" became enshrined in that document.

Historically, Americans have been among the strongest defenders of personal property rights, and the right to live in private homes is one of the most fundamental of those rights. Of course, rights are always joined with responsibilities not to hurt others in the exercise of those rights.

Drive down any street and you will see a virtually infinite variety of homes, lawns, porches, and gardens. Occasionally, you will run into properties that are distinctly different from those around them. In cases where there are safety issues, municipalities sometimes get involved. Sometimes too, there are neighborhood contracts that limit what can and cannot be done cosmetically in a given neighborhood. On the whole however, without such restrictions, an individual's home remains their private castle. While I'm certainly no lawyer, having taught school for many years, I believe that would be a pretty safe statement to make.

If neighbors or governmental entities attempt to subjectively dictate what one person can or cannot do cosmetically to their own property, we run the risk of having others attempt to subjectively dictate what we can and cannot do with our own private property, and that is a very slippery slope indeed. Do we really want to allow such incursions into our personal right to live as we choose?

We may or may not like what our neighbor has done to their property, but when we attempt to encroach on their right to have their property the way they want to have it, you can be sure that others will soon attempt to encroach upon your own rights.

All just my opinion, and I may be wrong, but I doubt it.

Back to the banjo...

[Peter Grossetti]

Sing it from the mountain tops, Brother Rice!

[cameron karslake]

I usually smile when I go past that house too. Come to think of it, I smile AND shake my head at the same time when I pass that house, always have. It sure is better than passing a home where you can tell the owners obviously don't give a damn how it looks.

[Brian Pedaci]

I think if that guy took the cue and put a few more flowers on that boring bungalow, he'd do better on the market. The lady who didn't want to show her face cracked me up too, I'm sure all the neighbors know who she is. Seems like a very unpleasant person in general.