@$$#0!e

[montana.matt]

Originally Posted by engineerjoe

He doesn't need to do the landscaping but he needs to pay someone and make sure they do it. That is his responsibility.

So active duty servicemen don't need to take care of their responsibilities? They don't need to keep their sides of contracts?

The bottom line here is that the soldier signed a legal contract and when his personal life (not his job) got in the way he went crying to the media.

From my perspective the developer seems like he is willing to defer the agreements of the covenant for a soldier fighting overseas (which this soldier is not and was not)

He hired a landscaper and they walked out on the job....
Sounds to me like he was trying to take care of his responsibilities.... hired a landscaper, got called up, landscaper flaked out....
The soldier did sign a legal contract.... but I don't see how you can call being called up (involuntarily) his personal life? Perhaps you can try to explain that comment....
The developer put his oversized shoe in his oversized mouth. He didn't sound very willing when he said: “I really don’t give a f**k where he is or what his problem is”
'Ol Chick the hay farmer really inserted his oversize foot into his oversize mouth..... Good luck trying to sell his houses now

[engineerjoe]

Originally Posted by montana.matt

The soldier did sign a legal contract.... but I don't see how you can call being called up (involuntarily) his personal life? Perhaps you can try to explain that comment....
The developer put his oversized shoe in his oversized mouth. He didn't sound very willing when he said: “I really don’t give a f**k where he is or what his problem is”
'Ol Chick the hay farmer really inserted his oversize foot into his oversize mouth..... Good luck trying to sell his houses now

I'll explain that comment by saying that he had plenty of time to get the landscaping done before he was called up. Therefore it is his personal life that interfered with it getting done.

I agree, the developer should have been more tactful when talking to the media. I'm sure he was frustrated at the time, but since then he has shown willingness to compromise.

[BJoe]

Found this on another forum I posted this story on

Originally Posted by ehostler

You missed the great followup article
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/htm...yndication=rss

Volunteers steps in to complete yard for reservist headed to Iraq
KENNEWICK — A whirlwind of effort Thursday at the Kennewick home of a military reservist who's being sent to Iraq kicked off a volunteer makeover that's expected to give the family a fully landscaped yard by the end of next week.
By John Trumbo
Tri-City Herald
KENNEWICK — A whirlwind of effort Thursday at the Kennewick home of a military reservist who's being sent to Iraq kicked off a volunteer makeover that's expected to give the family a fully landscaped yard by the end of next week.
The volunteer effort was spurred after a Herald story told about how the subdivision developer had given Burke and Heidi Jensen an ultimatum to complete their landscaping, as required by the subdivision covenants. Burke Jensen has been called up for active duty, and a landscaper he'd hired apparently walked off the job, leaving the yard in bare dirt and a partially completed irrigation system.
On Thursday, a crew from Montgomery Construction Sprinkler Systems Specialists in Richland began laying out concrete curbing, fabric weed barrier and spreading decorative stone by the ton.
The crew of 10 and a small frontloader made short work of the heavy lifting at the home on 2.5 acres in the upscale Oak Hills Country Estates at the south end of Oak Street. Miniature U.S. flags marked the driveway entrance.
Landscaper Tim Montgomery also picked up shrubs and trees donated by several Tri-City nurseries and arranged for 18,000 square feet of sod to be delivered and laid next Friday. "We want everyone to come on out for sod day," he said.
The effort has attracted dozens of volunteers and donations from at least a dozen businesses, Montgomery said. There have been donations of plants, sod, rock, dirt, labor, even food for the workers, thanks to Operation Thank You, a Tri-City veterans support organization.
Jensen bought the home after getting a job at Energy Northwest about a year ago, but was called to active duty earlier this year. He did not get his yard in within the year allowed by subdivision homeowners covenants.
Chick Edwards, a hay farmer who is developing the 200-acre subdivision, threatened to take action against the Jensens, telling the Herald that Jensen had had enough time to ensure the work was done.
Jensen's pregnant wife, Heidi, chose not to remain in Kennewick alone while he was overseas and moved to live with relatives in New Jersey. That left the home unoccupied and without landscaping for the past six months.
After the Herald's story on the situation five days ago, dozens of people called with offers of help. Montgomery said he offered to lead the volunteer landscaping effort because his wife's son recently returned from serving in Iraq.
The Jensens do not expect to return to their home until after his military assignment is completed late next year. Until then, volunteers have agreed to maintain the yard, Montgomery said.
A loaner home security system also has been offered.
Business donors include Wood's Nursery, C&M Nursery, Red Mountain Feed, Job's Nursery, Bedrock, American Rock Products, Kennewick Industrial, United Pipe and Plumbing, Moon Security, Subway, Costco Home Depot and Basin Sod.
Other support has come from Fluor Hanford, Operation Thank You and many individuals, including military reservists, the Elks Club and River View High School Panthers, Montgomery said.
Some people also have offered financial support. Donations can be made to the Lt. Burke Jensen Landscaping Fund at any branch of HAPO Credit Union, said Norma Nunamaker, director of Project Thank You.
Montgomery said the landscaper hired by Jensen to do the work while he was on military duty didn't finish the job, but what work was done was done well.
"In all fairness to him, he got it in good. That got us a day ahead on this job," Montgomery said.
After work is finished late next week, Montgomery said there will be a ceremony in the front yard at a new 20-foot flagpole.
Those who have volunteered or supported the Jensen family will be allowed to place a handprint in wet concrete at the flagpole base.
"It will be a way for the Jensens to see how many helping hands were involved," Montgomery said.

[Mr.Slave]

Originally Posted by STEEL_CITY_CRAWLER

wow, you really know how to put your foot in your mouth, EH?

have you ever had to DEAL with any of these "homeowners associations?"

i have friends that have, and you literally have to beg for permission to do the littlest things to your home. i had a friend and his family end up going to court with a homeowner's association over a friggin' STORM DOOR!!!


once again, this goes to show that these "homeowners assocIATIONS" that most new housing developments REQUIRE you to join when you move in are nothing but BS and corruption....

thank god my neighborhood is old enough that one of these doesn't exist in it....

this was probably severely distorted so they could get just such a repsonse and get intersest so they could sell more copies/charge more for advertising.. etc etc.

fear fear fear buy buy buy

[pantablo]

Originally Posted by montana.matt

Gee, thanks for the HOA lesson
You obviously didn't comprehend my post, or didn't listen to that POS being "interviewed" or didn't read the newspaper article. If you did, you'd understand why I said what I said

no need to be rude. My post was not a response to you but just an explanation to others about why a developer would be the only member of the HOA. I tried very hard not to tint my post with ANY opinion...I know better than to do that.
I don't think that even those who live with HOA's would know about the initial HOA legal rules.
I was just trying to help clarify.

On an unrelated note, its great to see the neighbors rally to the aid of their countrymen. Something you dont see regularly enough...

[montana.matt]

Originally Posted by pantablo

no need to be rude. My post was not a response to you but just an explanation to others about why a developer would be the only member of the HOA. I tried very hard not to tint my post with ANY opinion...I know better than to do that.
I don't think that even those who live with HOA's would know about the initial HOA legal rules.
I was just trying to help clarify.

On an unrelated note, its great to see the neighbors rally to the aid of their countrymen. Something you dont see regularly enough...

My apology for being rude
We had subdivisions with HOA's all around us in Northern California. Luckily, my family was there for 100+ years before the other homes were built, so my family never had to deal with the sometimes looney rules that they had. HOA's in some instances could be a good thing. The developer that we're all talking about here went off the deep end, IMO.
Like you said, it is great to see neighbors and strangers come in and help out that family.

[pantablo]

no prob.
I hate HOA's. Good in theory, bad in practice. breeds little minded people to taste power...
Every time I have to deal with my HOA I want to strangle someone...

[BJoe]

Originally Posted by pantablo

Every time I have to deal with my HOA I want to strangle someone...

Atleast you wouldn't be convicted by a jury of your peers

[skellyo]

Just saw this on cnn today:

http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/liv...awn.fight.krem