Holiday Jeer

We wouldn’t have believed this one if we hadn’t read it with our own eyes. Who would have thought decorating for the holidays would be so controversial. Read on.

Last week Lisa Jensen and Bill Trimarco, a couple living in Pagosa Springs, CO, were recently threatened with fines of $25 a day by their homeowners’ association and told that their take on holiday decorating was divisive and perhaps satanic. The couple had chosen to express their yuletide spirit by doing WHAT?

A. Hanging an elaborate light display in front of their home that flashed in red and green, “Love Thy Neighbor.”
B. Displaying a four-foot Christmas wreath in the shape of a peace symbol in front of their house.
C. Decorating a pine tree in front of their house and putting the Jewish Star of David on top of the tree rather than a traditional five-point star.
D. Refusing to keep with neighborhood tradition by not putting up Christmas lights or decorations and instead displaying a rainbow flag by their front entry.


ANSWER
B: Displaying a wreath in the shape of a peace symbol. In its original letter, the homeowners’ association said some neighbors had found the peace symbol politically “divisive.” And a board member told a newspaper that he thought the familiar circle with angled lines was also, perhaps, a sign of the devil.
The fines have been dropped and the three-member board of the association has resigned, according to an e-mail message sent to residents on Monday.
Mr. Trimarco said he put up the wreath as a general symbol of peace on earth, not as a commentary on the Iraq war or another political statement.
In any case, there are now more peace symbols in Pagosa Springs, a town of 1,700 people, than probably ever in its history.
Last Tuesday morning 20 people marched through the town carrying peace signs and then stomped a giant peace sign in the snow roughly 300 feet across on a soccer field, where it could be easily seen. Merry Christmas!