An elderly veteran has been forced out of his home after a decade-long legal battle that began with an American flag. Living in the town of Sweetwater, Florida, Larry Murphree decided to put a miniature American flag in a flowerpot on his patio. As a veteran of the United States Air Force who served six years as an air traffic controller during the Vietnam War, patriotism was near and dear to his heart. “It is a small flag, but it stands for a big thank you,” he explained. One day, Murphree received a letter from the local Homeowner Association that demanded the removal of the flag. It called the flag an “unauthorized object” that violated their rules about what could and couldn’t be displayed on front laws. Murphree was outraged, and he refused to take down the flag. This continued even after the HOA began fining him $100 a day for noncompliance. After accumulating a fine of $1,000, Murphree contacted a lawyer, and the legal battle commenced.
The HOA initially relented and said that the flag could remain on the porch. Over time, however, they introduced a “flowerpot ordinance” with terms that disallowed the flag once again. “It was the same flag, the same flower pot, the same dirt and the same plant,” Murphree said, before adding his suspicion that they’d recategorized everything just to target him. According to the new rules, if he wanted to fly a flag, he had to do it with a real flag pole. Murphree refused again, and the two sides continued their legal battle. The HOA began harassing him about everything from snowflake decorations in the window to not parking straight enough in his driveway. After several years of the back-and-forth, Murphree decided to take the offensive and file a $1 million lawsuit against the HOA. When the story broke on social media, there was an immediate outpouring of support for the vet as well as outrage at the HOA on his behalf. “This is America, [and] this is a man who served this country. Put his life on the line,” said one spectator. “He wants to represent the country with a little flag in his yard, and he can’t?” The HOA responded by alleging that Murphree had done damage to the Sweetwater community and its reputation by talking to the media about the case. They also tried to silence him with a court order, but the ruling was overturned by another judge. Detractors pointed out that Murphree’s original flowerpot flag had always been in violation of the rules. They said that he always knew the rules and deliberately flouted them. “Our association has rules and regulations in place regarding flying the American flag and does not prohibit proper use in any way,” said a neighbor. “Numerous residents in our community honor and fly the American Flag in a proper manner.”
Unfortunately, the story doesn’t end with the triumph of the little guy against the HOA. With fees piling up and officials threatening to foreclose on his property, Murphree was eventually forced to sell it. “I sold my place at a tremendous loss and got out of here,” he told reporters. He was more than $8,000 in debt with unpaid HOA fees. Ultimately, however, he hopes that someone will come along and challenge the HOA to the point where rules and regulations get changed. “Somebody had to stand up and say, ‘this is not right,'” Murphree said.
