9-Year-Old’s Fort Runs Afoul of Evil Homeowners Association — Is It Fair?

When 9-year-old Nicholas Aarsvold found some discarded firewood, he decided it would be perfect to build a fort with. On his mother's instruction, he built the structure in front of their Austin, Texas, home, but in a spot that was mostly obstructed from the road. However that wasn't enough for the Summerwood Homeowners Association, who voted to fine Ramona Aarsvold unless she dismantled her son's handiwork down in the next 10 days.

Arasvold won't do it.

"That would be the wrong thing to do," Aarsvold explained. “I don’t want to punish Nicholas’s creativity or squelch his spirit.” She added that her boy began to cry when he learned he might have to take down the fort he had worked so hard on.

Some of her neighbors agree the fort should stay. "I didn't even notice it was there," argued Christa McManus. "There are signs in the yard that are more noticeable than that fort. So it's a bit ridiculous."

Other neighbors—who, stunningly, didn't want to be named—agree with the homeowners association, who also cited Aarsvold for not submitting a request for an architectural change.

We suppose this could be an opportunity for Aarsvold to teach her son a valuable lesson about nosy neighbors and annoying bureaucracies, but mostly we think it's just mean that they made him take down his fort.

[My Fox Austin]