Need some advice/legal advice

[Slow Triathlete]

Hi Everyone,

I need your help. Trust me, I am not asking for money but rather advice and/or legal counsel.

For those of you who know me I do not ask for help often unless it is something that I believe in or it pisses me off greatly. This is a little of both. It will be a bit long but please read to the end.

I have attached 3 pictures of our house and yard. My wife and I have lived here for 8 years and know most of our neighbors. We eat dinner at each other's houses, gather in driveways, mow each other's lawns when people are on vacation.......really Leave it to Beaver type stuff. And we love it.

As of recently I was a member of the HOA (2 years) here in the neighborhood and acted as the President for the last 1.5 years. I could no longer serve due to demands from work and they placed a new president in (even though she has not been officially nominated yet). Her and the new board's goal is to clean up the neighborhood. Great.....Awesome......I fully supported it.

So I was a little surprised that I myself got a letter from the board for these two statutes:

1. No obnoxious or offensive conditions shall be allowed to exist upon any lot, nor shall anything be done thereon which may become an annoyance or nuisance to the neighborhood.
2. All improved lots must be properly maintained. In the event any lot owner fails to keep the premises free from weeds, underbrush or refuse piles, unsightly growth or unsightly objects or tools, after notification, the Board of Directors may correct the situation at the lot owner’s expense.

Now if you look at the pictures then this is the usual state of our yard and we are often complimented on it from our neighbors. It won't win any awards but I take care of it and improve it every year.

Can you guess what the "obnoxious or offensive condition" is? It's in all 3 pictures.

It is our flags. Really. No I'm not kidding.

I wrote them back and applauded them for trying to clean up the neighborhood but let them know that I did not think that flying a flag for my country and one for my wife's was offensive, let alone obnoxious. I also let them know that as being the former president I knew that there were no rules about how to fly flags in our neighborhood.

They came back and said that they needed to be on flag poles. Well......I have round columns and I'm not going to poke holes in my siding for future resale issues. And again, that is not stated anywhere in the rules and regulations for our neighborhood.

So now I'm stuck. Mad about having to take down our flags because they are "offensive and obnoxious" and also mad as being the grandson of a flight mechanic in the Air Force for WW II, son of a 30 year Marine , and the brother of a Navy submariner. I would have joined if it wasn't for my lungs.
Does anyone have any advice on this or legal precedence that I can stand on? Or do I have to just suck it up, take them down, and reconsider living in a neighborhood with an HOA?

PS.....................they do not have any written complaints either. Only "verbal" complaints from our neighbors for over 8 years who love the flags. Interesting.