If you’re looking for peace on Earth this Christmas, don’t check for it in Pagosa Springs, Colorado, where a great war has sprung from a homeowner hanging a wreath shaped like a peace sign on her front door. The brazen audacity of the gesture is causing a rift from which the Loma Linda Homeowners Association may never recover.

According to the association president and American patriot Bob Kearns, neighbours have complained about Lisa Jensen’s peace wreath. Kearns says some see it as a statement on the invasion of Iraq. Others believe it is a symbol of Satan. Kearns issued Jensen a letter telling her to remove the wreath or be fined $25 a day. The rulebook drawn up to govern life in Loma Linda states that the architectural control committee has final say on the matter, but when they dismissed Kearns’ concerns over the peace sign, he fired them.

For her part, Jensen says she will not take down the wreath until Christmas is over. “Peace is way bigger than not being at war,” Jensen said. “This is a spiritual thing.”

» Scott Saxon