Today, it often seems like veterans don’t receive the respect they deserve in our country, despite their sacrifices for our freedoms.
In a story that has recently gone viral, a veteran has once again faced troubling disrespect from his community.
Larry Murphree, a war veteran, proudly displayed an American flag at his condominium. However, his homeowners’ association (HOA) claimed this violated their rules, pressuring him to sell his condo because he refused to take the flag down.
“One day, I was thinking about the country, so I placed a small American flag in a flowerpot on my front porch,” Murphree shared. “It’s just a small flag, but it stands for a big thank you.”
Soon after, he received a letter from the HOA at Tides Condominium asking him to remove the flag. Murphree, who served six years as an Air Force air traffic controller during the Vietnam War, declined to take it down.
“I got a violation letter that called the American flag an unauthorized object and demanded I take it down,” he explained.
Murphree was fined $100 for every day the flag remained. When the fines totaled $1,000, he contacted attorney Gust Sarris. “We believe we have the right to display the American flag,” Sarris stated. They filed a federal lawsuit, eventually reaching an agreement that allowed Murphree to keep the flag in his flowerpot.
However, the HOA later reversed its stance, requiring that the flag be displayed on a pole rather than in a flowerpot.
“They changed the rules again—same flag, same flowerpot, same dirt, and same plant,” Sarris said.
This legal battle stretched over seven years, during which Murphree faced harassment from the HOA, receiving fines for every possible infraction, from minor parking issues to holiday decorations.
He later discovered that the HOA had used his payments toward fines, allowing them to place a lien on his property in 2014. This lien forced him to sell his condo to avoid foreclosure.
“I had to sell my home at a huge loss,” Murphree said. “But someone had to take a stand and say, ‘This isn’t right.'”
Though he no longer lives at the condo, Murphree continues his legal fight against the HOA, with a new lawsuit set for trial soon.
It’s disgraceful that this veteran was treated so poorly by his own neighbors. Share this story if you believe he should be allowed to fly his flag freely!
