Our own Madman posted this memorable diary a few days ago. In Pagosa Springs, Co., it seemed that madness had taken hold and expressions of peace were to become illegal. Or so it appeared.
Now it seems that sanity has gained/regained a footing in the southwestern Colorado town.
Last week, a couple were threatened with fines of $25 a day by their homeowners’ association unless they removed a four-foot wreath shaped like a peace symbol from the front of their house.
The fines have been dropped, and the three-member board of the association has resigned, according to an e-mail message sent to residents on Monday.
The former board members have made themselves scarce.
Two board members have disconnected their telephones, apparently to escape the waves of callers asking what the board could have been thinking, residents said. The third board member, with a working phone, did not return a call for comment.
And now others have embraced the peace symbol.
Mr. Trimarco said he put up the wreath as a general symbol of peace on earth, not as a commentary on the Iraq war or another political statement.
In any case, there are now more peace symbols in Pagosa Springs a town of 1,700 people 200 miles southwest of Denver, than probably ever in its history.
There have been other visible signs of support.
On Tuesday morning, 20 people marched through the center carrying peace signs and then stomped a giant peace sign in the snow perhaps 300 feet across on a soccer field, where it could be easily seen.
And now, there will apparently be an official version of the symbol.
Town Manager Mark Garcia said Pagosa Springs was building its own peace wreath, too. Mr.Garcia said it would be finished by late Tuesday and installed on a bell tower in the center of town.
