Article Courtesy of The TCPalm
By Eve Samples
Published August 31, 2009
STUART — So often, the kindness of the masses makes up for the extreme lack of it in a heartless few.
Two weeks after Bea and Ron Garza went public with the battle to keep their cat, Mitzy, to help with 87-year-old Bea’s dementia, the couple has received an outpouring of support.
Vero Beach lawyer Richard Brown volunteered to represent them in the fight against their condo association at Vista Pines in Stuart.
An anonymous Fort Pierce resident is working with Brown to set up a legal defense fund — and Brown will accept whatever money is deposited into the Seacoast National Bank account as payment in full. That account should be created in the next few days.
Meanwhile, people from around the state and the country have weighed in to say they’re behind the Garzas. Readers from as far as Las Vegas thought the association was being too callous — and I agree.
The association at Vista Pines has been pestering the Garzas for months, warning them to get rid of Mitzy, who they adopted from a shelter in November.
Its South Florida law firm, Becker & Poliakoff, sent the Garzars a letter earlier this month, warning that they had 48 hours to “remove the illegal cat.”
But Mitzy remains entrenched in the small condo, and the Garzas aren’t surrendering. Though they’ve received a few dirty looks — and a recent condo newsletter threatened that residents should turn in any neighbors with pets — most people have been encouraging.
“There’s really only very few who are just die-hard miserable people,” Ron said.
The Garzas have lived in Vista Pines for more than a decade. They got married 11 years ago at the condo clubhouse.
Still, the association is showing no sympathy for the longtime residents.
It refused to bend even after Bea’s psychiatrist, Dr. Frank Trovato of Stuart, provided an affidavit explaining that the feline helped Bea stay connected with reality. He said Mitzy could prolong her independence.
Becker & Poliakoff lawyer Marty Platts alleged the Garzas failed to prove that Bea’s dementia and depression impaired her everyday activities. Nor did they prove the cat alleviated the effects of her ailments, she said.
Brown spoke to Platts on Monday. He told her the Garzas aren’t violating the association rules for a simple reason: Mitzy is not a pet. She’s a service animal. Platts promised to speak to the association board and get back to him, he said.
He’s confident he can win this one for the Garzas.
If there’s one thing the Garzas’ story proves, it’s this: Few things rile people more than a power-hungry homeowners association. And few things rile associations more than “illegal” pets.
David Shapiro knows all too well. The retired teacher, who lives in South Palm Beach, spent $20,000 battling his association to keep his dog.
Shapiro’s battle involved two dogs at different times. In the first case, he argued he should be able to keep his dog because he purchased the condo before pets were prohibited. Later, he proved a second dog was medically necessary.
All the while, he was treated like a monster, he said.
“Frankly, if I came and told them I was a serial killer and a sex molester and a notorious drug dealer all in one, I would have been more accepted than if I told them I had a pet,” Shapiro said.
He ultimately won — and he hopes cases like his and the Garzas’ chip away at the rigidity of condo association rules.
“Hopefully with a little crack here and a little crack there, eventually this wall we have erected can come down, and we can start acting as human beings,” Shapiro said. “I don’t know what it is with these people. They come down here (to retire), and they lose their compassion.”
Here’s hoping the Vista Pines association finds its compassion.
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