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Walkers are asked to prepare for the event by asking for sponsors to donate checks or cash to APET to support your walk. You show up on the morning of the event with your dog on a leash to walk the periphery of the Civic Center (approximately a mile). We would like to see big numbers of walkers this year, and it would be fun if you start a healthy competition for sponsors with other volunteers, within your neighborhood, Sunday school class, civic clubs or whatever! This is a great opportunity for you to help us gain much needed funds and show your support for our many causes.
Please call if you have any questions: Peggy Pellegrini – (903) 569-2332

Recipients of the award receive a $25 gift certificate from East Texas Burger Company, two movie tickets from Mineola’s Historic Select Theater (now fully digital video with digital surround sound audio) and a plaque from Hometown Trophies in Mineola.

If you would like to nominate someone for Mineola Citizen of the Month, click here. If you nominated someone who did not win, please nominate them again. Nominations are not carried over from month to month.

Many thanks to our sponsors of Mineola Citizen of the Month:

• East Texas Burger Company
• Historic Select Theater
• Hometown Trophies

The Frys have made yet another offer to the Spring Lake HOA to settle this suit. This is the second such offer. The first one expired with no response from the Spring Lake HOA or their attorney.

This family really just wants to move on. They have offered to move the swing set at their own expense with each side paying their own legal fees. So far…no response.

In the meantime, an account has been set up at Mineola Community bank for anyone who wishes to help them with their legal fees.

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I’ve always been under the impression that the best practice is to do everything possible to find a resolution to a problem before filing a law suit. When a law suit is filed, it uses resources at many levels. Sooner or later our courts can become congested with cases that could have been settled far before this stage, had the litigants wanted that.

This seems to be the case in the saga of Bill and Candi Fry. You should know by now about the swing set that prompted a suit from the HOA, but there might be a few things you don’t know. In lieu of writing a long, drawn out article, I will list some points of information I gleaned from a recent interview with the Frys. I also tried to contact their attorney, William Powers, but got no reply.

• The head of the architectural committee for the HOA told Mrs. Fry that ‘it’s a swing set, go ahead and put it up’ when she asked about putting it up.
• A few days later, the chairman of the HOA and the head of the architectural committee were watching as it was being erected. The HOA chairman told Mrs. Fry, “Go ahead and finish putting it up, but you might have to move it if someone complains.”
• After receiving such mixed messages, the Frys referred the HOA to a family friend, an attorney who handles real estate negotiations, in hopes of negotiating an agreement.
• Immediately after this, the HOA broke off communication with them and filed a suit.
• Since the suit was filed, communication has been null.
• A settlement offer has been made by the Frys, without any response at all from the HOA attorney, as of the time of my interview.
• When sued, the Frys hired an attorney to represent them. Since then, all progress seems to have stopped.

It’s sad that once the attorneys get involved, it almost seems as if progress and reasoning give way to billable hours. That seems to be the case here.

This swing set is clearly obnoxious, as seen from the street. It stands out and can be seen from miles away, as shown in this photo. Some have even claimed it is visible from space. We're waiting for a call back from NASA on that.

One especially sad thing the Frys told me was how their kids ask why the people of the neighborhood don’t like them. You see, some in the Spring Lake subdivision would rather it be zoned as a retirement community. There are only two families with kids, so apparently there is some subtext involved regarding this swing set issue. Either way, it is sad when children grow up thinking the neighbors don’t like them because of something as silly as a HOA that insists on proving its dominance over a homeowner.

Would you rather have a neighbor with this in their yard, or a hog farm? Tough call. huh?

Alas, there are some things that come out of such a situation, such as attorney William Power’s comment to the Dallas Morning News equating this swing set controversy to the Frys starting a hog farm on their property. I found that humorous, in a ridiculous kind of way.

Meanwhile, the already clogged court system continues to fill up with cases as ridiculous as a swing set.

Support the Frys in their battle against the unfair Spring Lake HOA

What’s your opinion on this? Go to our Facebook page and weigh in, or leave your comment here.

We saw a jump of $17.501 in February over 2011 figures. This is a percentage gain of 18.14%.

February’s gain was the largest single month sales tax gain for Mineola since May 2007.

Over the 5 days of the rally, 66 local businesses were patronized by the RVers and $30,139.78 was spent in those businesses. Add to that the $22,984 spent at the civic center and the economic impact of the event is $53,123.78 for Mineola.

Charlotte Hall, manager of the Mineola Civic Center and RV Park, collects receipts from the guests for a grand door prize given away on the last day of the event. This drawing generates a tracking mechanism for merchants.

The Mineola Civic Center and RV Park is a very nice, and very useful public facility for the citizens of Mineola. It also works to spur commerce.

Congratulations to Charlotte and Terry on a job well done.