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Sounds like a scene out of a Hitchcock movie, doesn't it?
Should Condos have access to privately owned units? Is this an invitation for abuse?
Thursday, July 22, 2010
Man Pulled Gun On Condo Tenant In Shower
A Boynton Beach homeowner's association member was arrested after pulling a gun on someone in the shower Wednesday, police said."He had the gun within 12 inches from my face, shaking his hand," tenant James Korienek said.Korienek said he came face to face with an armed man inside the Boynton Beach condominium where he lives early Wednesday.Boynton Beach police said Virgil Wilkinson, a homeowner's association board member, broke into the unit."I was locked in the bathroom," Korienek said. "I come out, open the door and the gun is pulled on me like this, and he had the Boynton (Beach) police on the phone. He said, 'Just stand back. Stand back.' And I'm like, 'Virgil, it's me, Jim.'"
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6 comments:
This is an example of why HOAs need to prohibit their members from owning guns.
Gun owners won't mind (see here, here, and here). Like most other conservatives and libertarians, they will gladly trade essential liberty for the (false) promise of protected property values, and thus deserve neither.
How about prohibiting Condos and HOAs from entering a privately owned unit. Many condos require that the owner provide the association with a key "in case of emergency".
There have been incidents where the condo association has used a privately owned unit for bathroom facilities for contract workers on the premises.
I have heard from owners that while they were at work, their units had been entered into and moved things around.
Just like everything else in an association, the power is abused because the people with the power are not mature enough to handle it and have no integrity.
I'd like to be able to protect myself and my home from intrusion by some crazed condo board or employee and taking my right away to do that is unconscientious.
You think we imprison people on a whim? If you think our humanistic system capable of such a thing, that alone would justify your arrest.
"Just like everything else in an association, the power is abused because the people with the power are not mature enough to handle it and have no integrity."
Wrong.
It is the homeowners who abuse their freedom, and aren't mature enough to handle it. Which is why HOA boards need more power.
"I'd like to be able to protect myself and my home from intrusion by some crazed condo board or employee and taking my right away to do that is unconscientious."
Not if you agree to waive your right to protect yourself and your home.
I'm from Palm Beach County and grew up with the crazy condo commando stories, but this one puts all new meaning into the commando part.
South Florida will have to start building special geriatric jails for the Board members that have been taking the perp walk the last few years.
HOA Boards need more power like So. Florida needs more condos.
On the topic of HOAs entering your home, remember this story from January? Keep in mind that this is a single-family home, not a condo.
Resident: HOA Threatens To Break Into Home
Homeowners' Association Wants Couple To Remove Sign
POSTED: Tuesday, January 5, 2010
HOMESTEAD, Fla. -- A South Florida couple said their homeowners' association has threatened to break into their home to remove a sign posted in a window.Bill Elliot and his girlfriend, Mary Ann Frye, bought a single-family home in Aruba at the Oasis in Homestead in 2007. The couple said the house is infested with Chinese drywall, and they want Lennar to buy them out so they can move on.
The couple has posted two signs on their property -- one on the front lawn, another in a window.
The signs read, "For Sale: Shoddy construction, Lennar toxic Chinese drywall."
"We have had appliances just stop working, computers, television sets. Even my electric toothbrush has stopped functioning. Both of us have had a lot of sore throats and a lot of headaches. That's pretty much a regular occurrence," said Elliot.
At first Elliot's neighborhood association sent a friendly reminder saying he could have no signs, displays, advertisements or lettering without approval. Then, he received a lawyer's letter warning if the signs don't come down, the association will come and remove them.
A letter from Association Law Group said, "Should no one be home at the time the Association comes, the services of a locksmith will be utilized and you will be responsible for the cost."
"How would you feel if someone said they were going to come with a locksmith and open your door?" said Elliot. "They're threatening to break into our home."
"We have a right to tell people how we feel. This is what America is all about," said Frye.
But Local 10 has discovered something Elliot and Frye didn't know. According to the by-laws that govern the neighborhood, which Elliot signed when he bought the house, the association does have the right to enter his property and remove any violations after a written notice.
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