Drizzt
July 5, 2003, 05:50 PM
'Give me liberty' - Fort Pierce style
By Kelly Wolfe, Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
Friday, July 4, 2003
FORT PIERCE -- Celebrating independence is a lot easier when you don't have to look at it every day.
After watching free-spirited Patrick Henry of 1123 Granada St. paint his home everything from flamingo pink to deepest black over the past 25 years, city officials recently took the relatively dramatic step of suing the man, asking him to clean up his place and conform to community standards or face a judge.
Drama, however, is what Henry does best. And he loves to take a stand. After all, he was named for the revolutionary who uttered, back in 1775, "Give me liberty or give me death."
Which is exactly how Henry feels about his home, his life and the way he wants to live it.
Consider: Flying a flag with 666 on it to keep Jehovah's Witnesses away, or offering "Fort Henry" -- with its windowless facade -- for sale for $1 million because a neighbor complained that the home was bringing property values down, or painting both of his Lincoln Continentals Barbie pink because, he said, pink cars attract pretty women on the jetty.
As far as Henry's concerned, this dispute is all a matter of perspective. He doesn't like what his neighbors have outside on their homes either.
"What bothers me is... it's perfectly all right for someone to have a Virgin Mary outside their house," he said.
He also doesn't like pool parties, lawn mowers and barking dogs because all of those things are too noisy; hence, his home's almost complete lack of windows and his property's giant fishponds where grass -- if he were any other homeowner -- would be.
Suit: 'The property is unsightly'
Named for the American revolutionary at his grandmother's suggestion, the 60-year-old Henry makes no bones about being different. He makes his money dealing in mortgages and can afford to live as he wants. He wants to be different. And that, he said, is not against the law.
But, the city says in its lawsuit, you can't be a nuisance. State law prohibits the establishment and maintenance of any building or place that tends to annoy the community. And when a dozen people attended a Nov. 18 meeting to talk about the house, city officials decided Henry's community was annoyed.
Granada Street residents, reached at home, declined to talk about their unusual neighbor. "I have to live here," one said.
The suit also says the property is just plain ugly and is bringing property values down in the rest of the neighborhood.
"The property is unsightly for various reasons, including that most of the windows in the dwelling have been closed in, said dwelling has been painted black, the grass and other landscaping on the property has died and/or been removed and replaced with sand and gravel."
City Commissioner Christine Coke, who lives down the street from Henry's now dark green house, said the city filed suit because Henry's home is not safe. She worries that without windows he couldn't escape a fire.
"We are not picking on him," she said. "We don't care if he is an atheist. We've lived through pink, we've lived through black and we're living through green now. I don't care what Mr. Henry does to his house as long as it's up to code. God forbid his house catches fire and he sues the city because his house was not up to code, and the city did nothing."
Code violations are not specified in the city's complaint. Both the city attorney, who filed the suit, and the director of the building department declined to comment, citing the open litigation.
In turn, Henry filed a complaint with the state Commission on Ethics in Tallahassee against Coke, saying she is using her position as a city official for personal gain.
Coke vehemently denied the charge and said the only person who stands to gain is Henry.
"The value of his property would go up," she said.
City Manager Dennis Beach said the city hopes a judge will tell Henry what he needs to do conform to state and local law, and "that will be the end of it."
But as far as Henry wrecking property values in the neighborhood, St. Lucie County Property Appraiser Jim Furst disagreed.
The house right next door to Henry sold in May for $235,000, according to county records. The owner paid $175,000 for it in 2001. That's a 34 percent increase, more than twice the county average of 14 percent, Furst said.
"That's a lot," he said.
From fishponds to figurines
Henry, meanwhile, is proud of his little nest.
From the outside, the home's most striking feature is a fishpond running the length of the house where lilies and cattails grow and healthy-looking goldfish glide around.
Inside, Henry has constructed what he calls a patio, basically a large room with a latticed roof. To let light in, Henry -- at 6-feet-2 -- easily pushes back panels in the ceiling to let yellow light shine through. Dozens of wind chimes tinkle with the breeze. And hanging plants curl, Rapunzel-like, toward the floor.
There are about six more large fishponds inside as well as an aviary Henry hopes to expand. Zebra finches, canaries and society finches flutter and chirp when company walks in.
When rainwater enters, Henry just lets it drain right back out.
"This is pressure-treated wood," he said, stomping on the floor. "We're walking on a dock."
There are unusual touches: Shelves lined with rows of ceramic figurines, mostly animals, cover every wall in the house. One shelf, however, is dedicated to a row of prim Victorian houses in ceramic. Along one wall, there are half a dozen television sets -- with about 18-inch screens -- and one 61-inch television in the middle.
Lawn mowers, loud dogs bug him
Here, Henry pops in a videotape showing hour after hour of neighbors talking -- he assumes about him -- dogs barking and people mowing lawns.
"Yap! Yap! Yap!" he mimics the dogs. "Now you see why I blocked up the windows?" he asked. "Do you think I'm disturbing the neighbors with my goldfish?"
Henry used to videotape Coke's pool parties -- where children squealed and screamed, bothering him -- until she called police.
The tape, according to Henry, proves that the neighborhood is too noisy and he needs his windowless abode to get away from it all. He also says a floppy heart valve makes it difficult for him to sleep and he is often awakened after just a few hours by barking dogs and lawn mowers.
It is not clear from the tapes if people are talking about him. Coke warned him that it was a federal offense to record people's conversations, so he doesn't do that.
Henry's case has been assigned to Circuit Judge Cynthia Angelos, but a trial date hasn't been set.
Henry doesn't have a lawyer. The ACLU declined to take his case. Documents he has filed himself call the city's charges "frivolous."
He has reasons, he said, for not following the norm.
"I don't like sheetrock," he said. "It hurts my sinuses and makes my eyes burn."
No one here wants to step on anyone's right to be an individual, Coke said. But sometimes you have to conform.
"Mr. Henry," the city commissioner said, "is not willing to follow the same set of rules that everyone else has to follow to live safely, be considerate of others and make his house abide by Florida codes."
http://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/content/auto/epaper/editions/friday/news_f340af68a445c1af0088.html
By Kelly Wolfe, Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
Friday, July 4, 2003
FORT PIERCE -- Celebrating independence is a lot easier when you don't have to look at it every day.
After watching free-spirited Patrick Henry of 1123 Granada St. paint his home everything from flamingo pink to deepest black over the past 25 years, city officials recently took the relatively dramatic step of suing the man, asking him to clean up his place and conform to community standards or face a judge.
Drama, however, is what Henry does best. And he loves to take a stand. After all, he was named for the revolutionary who uttered, back in 1775, "Give me liberty or give me death."
Which is exactly how Henry feels about his home, his life and the way he wants to live it.
Consider: Flying a flag with 666 on it to keep Jehovah's Witnesses away, or offering "Fort Henry" -- with its windowless facade -- for sale for $1 million because a neighbor complained that the home was bringing property values down, or painting both of his Lincoln Continentals Barbie pink because, he said, pink cars attract pretty women on the jetty.
As far as Henry's concerned, this dispute is all a matter of perspective. He doesn't like what his neighbors have outside on their homes either.
"What bothers me is... it's perfectly all right for someone to have a Virgin Mary outside their house," he said.
He also doesn't like pool parties, lawn mowers and barking dogs because all of those things are too noisy; hence, his home's almost complete lack of windows and his property's giant fishponds where grass -- if he were any other homeowner -- would be.
Suit: 'The property is unsightly'
Named for the American revolutionary at his grandmother's suggestion, the 60-year-old Henry makes no bones about being different. He makes his money dealing in mortgages and can afford to live as he wants. He wants to be different. And that, he said, is not against the law.
But, the city says in its lawsuit, you can't be a nuisance. State law prohibits the establishment and maintenance of any building or place that tends to annoy the community. And when a dozen people attended a Nov. 18 meeting to talk about the house, city officials decided Henry's community was annoyed.
Granada Street residents, reached at home, declined to talk about their unusual neighbor. "I have to live here," one said.
The suit also says the property is just plain ugly and is bringing property values down in the rest of the neighborhood.
"The property is unsightly for various reasons, including that most of the windows in the dwelling have been closed in, said dwelling has been painted black, the grass and other landscaping on the property has died and/or been removed and replaced with sand and gravel."
City Commissioner Christine Coke, who lives down the street from Henry's now dark green house, said the city filed suit because Henry's home is not safe. She worries that without windows he couldn't escape a fire.
"We are not picking on him," she said. "We don't care if he is an atheist. We've lived through pink, we've lived through black and we're living through green now. I don't care what Mr. Henry does to his house as long as it's up to code. God forbid his house catches fire and he sues the city because his house was not up to code, and the city did nothing."
Code violations are not specified in the city's complaint. Both the city attorney, who filed the suit, and the director of the building department declined to comment, citing the open litigation.
In turn, Henry filed a complaint with the state Commission on Ethics in Tallahassee against Coke, saying she is using her position as a city official for personal gain.
Coke vehemently denied the charge and said the only person who stands to gain is Henry.
"The value of his property would go up," she said.
City Manager Dennis Beach said the city hopes a judge will tell Henry what he needs to do conform to state and local law, and "that will be the end of it."
But as far as Henry wrecking property values in the neighborhood, St. Lucie County Property Appraiser Jim Furst disagreed.
The house right next door to Henry sold in May for $235,000, according to county records. The owner paid $175,000 for it in 2001. That's a 34 percent increase, more than twice the county average of 14 percent, Furst said.
"That's a lot," he said.
From fishponds to figurines
Henry, meanwhile, is proud of his little nest.
From the outside, the home's most striking feature is a fishpond running the length of the house where lilies and cattails grow and healthy-looking goldfish glide around.
Inside, Henry has constructed what he calls a patio, basically a large room with a latticed roof. To let light in, Henry -- at 6-feet-2 -- easily pushes back panels in the ceiling to let yellow light shine through. Dozens of wind chimes tinkle with the breeze. And hanging plants curl, Rapunzel-like, toward the floor.
There are about six more large fishponds inside as well as an aviary Henry hopes to expand. Zebra finches, canaries and society finches flutter and chirp when company walks in.
When rainwater enters, Henry just lets it drain right back out.
"This is pressure-treated wood," he said, stomping on the floor. "We're walking on a dock."
There are unusual touches: Shelves lined with rows of ceramic figurines, mostly animals, cover every wall in the house. One shelf, however, is dedicated to a row of prim Victorian houses in ceramic. Along one wall, there are half a dozen television sets -- with about 18-inch screens -- and one 61-inch television in the middle.
Lawn mowers, loud dogs bug him
Here, Henry pops in a videotape showing hour after hour of neighbors talking -- he assumes about him -- dogs barking and people mowing lawns.
"Yap! Yap! Yap!" he mimics the dogs. "Now you see why I blocked up the windows?" he asked. "Do you think I'm disturbing the neighbors with my goldfish?"
Henry used to videotape Coke's pool parties -- where children squealed and screamed, bothering him -- until she called police.
The tape, according to Henry, proves that the neighborhood is too noisy and he needs his windowless abode to get away from it all. He also says a floppy heart valve makes it difficult for him to sleep and he is often awakened after just a few hours by barking dogs and lawn mowers.
It is not clear from the tapes if people are talking about him. Coke warned him that it was a federal offense to record people's conversations, so he doesn't do that.
Henry's case has been assigned to Circuit Judge Cynthia Angelos, but a trial date hasn't been set.
Henry doesn't have a lawyer. The ACLU declined to take his case. Documents he has filed himself call the city's charges "frivolous."
He has reasons, he said, for not following the norm.
"I don't like sheetrock," he said. "It hurts my sinuses and makes my eyes burn."
No one here wants to step on anyone's right to be an individual, Coke said. But sometimes you have to conform.
"Mr. Henry," the city commissioner said, "is not willing to follow the same set of rules that everyone else has to follow to live safely, be considerate of others and make his house abide by Florida codes."
http://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/content/auto/epaper/editions/friday/news_f340af68a445c1af0088.html