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Homeowner fights HOA violation over Christmas-themed skeletons
The HOA notice said Kyle Sarazin had seven days to remove the skeletons, or he would start facing fines.
DOUGLAS COUNTY, Colo. — Kyle Sarazin fought the law, and this time he won.
The Sterling Ranch resident decided to do something different with his Christmas display this year, converting his 12-foot yard skeleton into Santa Claus and turning the smaller skeletons from his Halloween display into Santa’s reindeer.
The display expands on what he and his wife did a year ago, when they dressed their giant skeleton up and positioned him like he was hanging ornaments on a nearby tree.
“We decided, let’s just change it up. You don’t ever see anything like this, let’s give everybody something unique to look at,” Sarazin said.
And it certainly is unique. Sarazin said people seemed to enjoy it – stopping to take pictures with the display.
But not everyone enjoyed it.
“A couple of days later, we got a notice in the mail and an email saying that we weren’t seasonally appropriate,” he said.
The notice from the Sterling Ranch Community Association Board (CAB), a combination of a number of Metro Districts that govern the Sterling Ranch neighborhood, accused Sarazin of violating a policy on holiday decorations, with a note that skeletons weren’t “seasonally appropriate.”
The notice said Sarazin had seven days to remove the skeletons, or he would start facing fines. He said he calculated what it would have cost to keep the decorations up through mid-January and realized he would have paid more than $200.
“The definition of what is seasonally appropriate or not is not specifically defined, per our guidelines,” he said.
So, he went to work, questioning the CAB about that definition. In an email response to his inquiry, a CAB staffer said she had performed a search on Google and couldn’t find a seasonal reason for the skeletons.
“In performing a Google search for holidays (nationally and internationally) for the month of December, I find nothing that references skeletons as part of the symbolism,” the staffer wrote in an email response.
Sarazin had also questioned why the skeleton wasn’t considered appropriate because of the movie “The Nightmare Before Christmas,” where a skeleton named Jack Skellington schemes to take over a Christmas town by playing the role of Santa.
“If you Google Nightmare Before Christmas, you will find that those involved in the making of the film consider it a Halloween movie not a Christmas movie,” the staffer replied.
Sarazin said the explanations further frustrated him.
“As I started continuing to press more and more for answers, the CAB continued to Google their way around things to try to prove their point, because they didn’t have any basis to stand on anything,” he said.
It seemed the association felt grounded in their Internet searches about holidays and wouldn’t budge.
“I am sorry to continue to be the bearer of bad news, but we do need the display modified as to not include any Halloween décor,” the staffer wrote.
Sarazin, frustrated by the lack of flexibility, said he turned to a Facebook group of Sterling Ranch neighbors about the issue, posting many of the responses he’s received from the association along with pictures of the display. He said the post generated a hundred comments. Some neighbors decided to put skeletons with Christmas hats on their own lawns to protest the association’s decision. Others commented saying they liked his display.
A few comments suggested Sarazin take the story to the news.
After that suggestion, Sarazin said he got a follow-up email from a different CAB staffer saying the violation was closed and that the association decided to include skeletons in their definition of seasonally appropriate.
“As I’m sure you’re aware, skeletons, especially the large skeletons have become very popular this year,” Jessica Towles, director of community experience and resident support for the Sterling Ranch Community Authority Board wrote in a statement to 9NEWS. “We’ve enjoyed seeing them incorporated into not only Halloween décor, but also Thanksgiving. We have a handful of families here at Sterling Ranch that also incorporated skeletons into their Christmas holiday decorations and letters were sent to them a few weeks ago.”
“However, after our management team became aware of the issue, we determined that these decorations are in line with our policy, which states ‘Seasonally appropriate’ décor is allowed. The violations have been rescinded in the best interest of the community and holiday spirit and no further review is necessary.”
Towles told 9NEWS Google searches to determine compliance with community rules is not a standard operating procedure and reversed the action against Sarazin because they believe it wasn’t the right thing to do, especially during the holidays.
Sarazin, fresh off a win against his homeowner’s association, now says he plans on getting more involved to ensure things like this don’t happen to more of his neighbors.
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The chief was discussing the shooting of Davis Maturi, who for months had been contact with the MPD about escalating harassment from his neighbor, John Sawchak.
MINNEAPOLIS — Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara said his department “failed” after a man was shot, allegedly by his neighbor in the city.
“We failed this victim. 100%, because that should not have happened to him,” said O’Hara in a Sunday evening press conference.
The chief was discussing the shooting of Davis Moturi, who for months had been contact with the MPD about escalating harassment from his neighbor, John Sawchak.
Sawchak was charged with shooting Moturi as he was pruning a tree on his front yard on Oct. 23.
Moturi remains hospitalized with a fractured spine, two broken ribs, and a concussion.
O’Hara and the MPD came under a heavy attack from the Minneapolis City Council after it was revealed that the Hennepin County Attorney’s Office had charged Sawchak, but the MPD had not arrested him.
“MPD still has not arrested the suspect despite charges from the Hennepin County Attorney’s Office for Attempted Murder, 1st Degree Assault, Stalking, and Harassment and a request from the HCAO for a warrant with $1 million bail. MPD told the HCAO they do not intend to execute the warrant ‘for reasons of officer safety,’” said the letter from the Minneapolis City Council.
“We failed to act urgently enough,” said O’Hara, before citing staffing concerns as a contributing factor.
It was a stark difference from the tone the chief initially took on Friday, then saying “If we wound up in a deadly situation, the headlines would read ‘MPD shot mentally ill person’.”
On Sunday, O’Hara said his previous comments were meant as a response to accusations that the MPD “didn’t care,” about the case.
“This is the result of over-politicizing policing in Minneapolis,” said O’Hara.
O’Hara stated that the MPD will, for the moment, continue waiting for Sawchak to exit his home to arrest him, but the chief added “We are running out of options before we have to escalate the matter.”
The heated back-and-forth between the city council and the chief continued earlier Sunday when Minneapolis City Council member Emily Koski released a statement questioning O’Hara and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey actions in the matter.
“Our Chief of Police is hiding behind excuses, and our Mayor…is just hiding.” said Koski in the statement.
Cities across Minnesota expanded voting hours and locations for the upcoming presidential election.
MINNEAPOLIS — Expanded early voting hours and locations are giving Minnesotans more opportunities to cast their ballots before the general election.
Over 1,000 people visited Minneapolis Elections & Voter Services over the weekend to make their voice heard.
“We have always voted as a family. We have this right as Americans to vote, and we wanted him to know right from the get-go that you’ve got to vote in every single election because this is our voice, this is our opportunity to really pick the future that we want based on the candidate that we vote for,” said Kelly Wallander.
Kelly and her husband, Claude, picked up their son Harrison from college, so they could all vote in the general election for the first time as a family.
“It’s interesting. It’s cool to see elections on TV, basically as long as I can remember, and now know that I’m a part of it and being able to vote with my parents is cool,” Harrison said.
“I like voting early just because exactly you miss the line and you get it in there,” Claude said.
Director of Elections and Voter Services for the City of Minneapolis Katie Smith said the past two days have been busy.
“We’ve had really solid turnout. We’ve had about 42,000 people who have already voted in this election,” she said.
She anticipates next weekend will be even busier.
“Every year we kind of looking at how many people we’re planning for and how many people are coming through. We try to always expand our service hours as we get closer and closer to the election,” she said.
Smith said they’ve also started using pop-up voting locations to reach more people.
“In 2023, there was a legislative change that allows for us to have sites around the city that are open for different lengths of time as well as different dates form our main site. We’ve really taken the opportunity to host some one-day early vote pop-ups… in some unique and really great spaces throughout the city,” Smith said.
Sunday’s pop-up was at the Capri Theater. Paige Gayle voted here along with her sister.
“I like early voting because it’s convenient, it’s fast and it’s quick,” she said. “I work on actual election day, so for me it was important to get out beforehand.”
Smith said offering more voting opportunities for people in Minneapolis is crucial to their work.
“It’s so important to be able to offer all of these voting methods so that people can find something that works really well for them and make their voting plan,” Smith said.
Voters tell KARE 11 one of the perks to early voting is little to no wait. Voting early also gives them peace of mind and is one less thing to do on election day.
“It’s so much more convenient. This way I don’t have to worry about it. I’ll still be working on election day, so I would have had to go in before or after work. Now, I don’t have to worry about it. I know my vote will be counted,” Macy Bauers said.
Bauers said she votes in every election and hopes more people take advantage of early voting in the coming days.
The two adults who were killed were both male, according to the department, which is investigating the shooting.
MINNEAPOLIS — Three people were shot, two of them fatally in a Minneapolis encampment on Sunday afternoon, according to the Minneapolis Police Department.
The shooting occurred on the 4400 block of Snelling Avenue shortly after 3 p.m., said the MPD.
The two adults who were killed were both male, according to the department, which is investigating the shooting.
A woman was also taken to the hospital after the shooting and is in critical condition, said the MPD.
This is a developing story and will be updated as more information becomes available.
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