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I COULD NOT HAVE SAID IT BETTER MYSELF

I received the following from an old college roommate of mine, Len Lescosky, who has had a successful career in the pharmaceutical business as a research scientist and started law school this fall. I was quite impressed with his insightful and "right on" analysis of the situation and felt he deserved his own link to get his message across to those of you who might care to listen:

Someone was afraid of you, afraid for his safety? I'm laughing so hard I can't breathe!

I'm disappointed, but not surprised, that your neighbors didn't understand the relevant facts issues and supported the HOA Board. John Dean, Nixon consul and friend of Barry Goldwater, recently published a book titled "Conservatives Without Conscience." Here Dean argues that the Republican party has been hijacked, and conservatives replaced by authoritarians. These authoritarians come in two flavors, leaders and followers. The followers ignore all manner of craziness wrought on them by their leaders because they have some critical common belief with the leader. Nothing outside that common belief matters, so whatever else the leader says goes.

Because of the demographics of Georgia I'll bet you have a number of authoritarian followers in your community. The common link between the community and the HOA board is The Catfish because it is a highly visible noncompliance statement. The community ignores the twists and turns in the story that resulted in The Catfish because you are not obeying the authoritarian leaders. From the HOA perspective, the authoritarian HOA Board protects them from troublemakers like you. So while you would likely have prevailed in a court of law, the court of public opinion in your neighborhood is a different matter. Just give the neighbors some more time. Once the unpleasantness is behind you and they get to know you they will come around.

I appreciate the thoughtful commentary and think Lenny will be quite successful in the legal profession.

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