Virgin Mary violates homeowners rules?

Wielding the powerful hammer of homeowners' association bylaws, the residents controlling the neighborhood of an 80-year-old Floridian have ordered her to remove a three-foot-tall statue of the Virgin Mary from her front yard.

For 20 years, the statue, which Agnes Bambu was given for her 60th birthday, has weathered the elements in both Pennsylvania and Florida, reports the Sarasota Herald-Tribune.

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But the homeowners' association at Mote Ranch, the community where Bambu lives with her son and daughter-in-law, is now telling her the statue must be moved out of sight.

"I don't think it's harming anyone," Bambu, almost in tears, told the paper. "She seems to protect everyone, look after everyone."

The statue sits near her garage behind some bushes.

The Mote Ranch covenant doesn't mention statues, the report states, but it does make two association committees "the ultimate deciding" bodies in what a person can do to his home and property.

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The covenant is "quite clear," association president Roger Hoffman told the Herald-Tribune.

Last month, Bambu and her family filed a "modification request" with the association, but it was denied. Their only options were to completely remove the statue or put it on the porch where it would not be visible from the street.

But the Bambus aren't budging – a stand that could cost them some money in fines.

"This is an abuse of power," Dianne Bambu, Agnes' daughter-in-law, told the Sarasota daily. "The bylaws of a deed-restricted community supersede your right as an American citizen."

The association claims it routinely orders residents to get rid of lawn ornaments, the paper reported. In one case, it asked a resident to move a large windmill out of view, and the homeowner complied. In another, a homeowner was required to remove two three-foot-tall cement lions from the front of the house.

The Bambus are discouraged and say they plan to move.

"It's not easy to be called a contributor to detriment," Agnes' son Anthony told the paper. "It makes us very uncomfortable."

Agnes Bambu reportedly has a dozen religious statues in her bedroom.

"She's the mother of God – that's how I feel," she said, according to the paper. "I'd feel a loss if she wasn't there."

Son Anthony says he will make it his "life mission" to get the state of Florida to regulate homeowners' associations.