The Flagpole Flap
The "Flagpole Flap" has been resolved. Mr. and Mrs. Loomis have asked we express their appreciation for all who wrote e-mail and hardcopy letters of support directly to them and to the news media.
To capsulize, as best this writer can discern it all: The judge ordered the case into arbitration between the two parties. The good news coming from that is that the Loomis' got to keep their flagpole and Old Glory waves proudly as ever at the Loomis residence in Majestic Oaks. And, the Loomis' are now clear of this nonsense imposed upon them by the Majestic Oaks Homeowners Assn. The sad news of it going to arbitration is that no clear winner emerged and no legal precedent was set for other put-upon homeowners to draw from.
As such, the various pages of contact links and press coverage on this web site have been closed-out and this page only shall remain for those latecomers who have just recently discovered this Flagpole Flap that began in December of '96.
The following synopsis is solely the opinion of Steve Harrison, author and sponsor of this web page, and does not represent the opinions or attituded of the Loomis' or any other party directly involved in the Flagpole Flap.
From this vantage point, the Flagpole Flap represents a troubling symptomology of our present-day legal and tort system. It's the "Golden Rule" of the late 20th Century. (Whoever has the gold makes the rules). What was established in the minds of all the little guys in this Flagpole Flap ordeal is that if a foreigner wants to run roughshod over a US community, and has the funding to throw lawyers at those who would oppose his oppressive tactics, the US courts are ready to oblige him.
All it takes is a little symantics. Call the governing body for your development a "homeowner's" association, stack it with your lackeys, and know that if anybody steps out of line you can always up the fees collected from those very homeowners to cover your "homeowners association's" legal expesnes. Of course, the objective is to run the little guy out of money paying his own lawyers, fully expecting them to cave-in, and you have a perfectly captive situation. This writer expresses his sympathy for those who bought into Majestic Oaks under the mistaken impression that they would be represented by a democratically elected association of their peer homeowners.
Quite obviously, there were only two winners in this whole affair, those being the opposing attorneys who were hired to contest the matter. Nothing much has changed in Majestic Oaks, except perhaps for the fact that more homeowners were awakened to the fact that they truly are at the beck and whim of a Panamanian developer who could hardly care less how the homeowners would have their home community governed. The Loomis' can hold their heads high. They resisted the heavy-handness as far as the judge would allow it. But shame on the court. And shame on us all for allowing our legal system to become the predatory circus it is today, as demonstrated so clearly by the Flagpole Flap.
We are all, actually, captive to those vulturous practitioners who are eager to represent any petitioner who has the gold, regardless of the moral or ethical rightness of the situation. With only a few minor twists we could be using the same language to describe a different trade, and could be speaking derisively about pimps and whores. But, that's pretty strong language and the intent here is to forewarn and not simply to insult anyone. Apologies to the pimps and whores of the world for lumping you in with such scum.