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IT'S NOT ABOUT THE CATFISH

Those of you with the impression that I am fighting for the right to keep a stupid-looking (albeit humorous) mailbox are missing the point completely. While I am a believer in individual rights and self-expression and personally would not have a problem with a number of different mailboxes in the neighborhood, the Catfish stands as our personal protest against the tyranny of the HOA Board and the neighborhood's unyielding adherence to "The Covenants" and "The Rules" without any appreciation of the context in which those covenants and rules should be applied. Review the Declaration and my discussion of selective enforcement for yourself and tell me how many other residents of High Gables are violating the covenants in one way or another.

Most of us spend our lives sitting on the sidelines while injustices are done around us on a regular basis. We are all busy, and why should we get involved in something that does not directly affect us? Believe me, I understand. While I probably go further than most in fighting for the rights of the oppressed masses, I certainly have been apathetic when it comes to a number of issues I could have addressed - who really has the time to care, anyway? Back me into a corner and leave me with no alternatives, however, and you have a different story. I doubt that any of you out there who found yourselves in my situation would feel any differently. The only difference between me and some of you, however, is that I make my living tackling these kind of issues, and I find them academically interesting and challenging.

I have no doubt that a number of my neighbors think I am nuts or that I have gone off the deep end, and my only reply to them is that they most certainly would feel differently if these issues were affecting their time, their families and their pocket-books in the same way they are affecting mine. Unlike the HOA Board, I did not choose to litigate this issue, and I have done my best (other than writing a check for fines or attorney's fees I do not believe I owe) to stop this debacle before it got out of hand. All I ask of my neighbors is that when they see me, they remember the words of ESPN's Stuart Scott and "Don't hate the player, hate the game."

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