HOA Headaches

I opened the letter from our HOA with trepidation. They were happy to inform me that they forgave $650 of my HOA fine. While I should have been happy, they cut the amount in half. $650 still remained.
The fines escalated over time, from oil on a driveway. I personally scoured it out with TSP, a broom and pressure washer. The tenant attempted to clean it up as well. Every time we failed, the fines they levied increased. A hundred dollars, two... until it reached thirteen hundred dollars.

Here's another couple of HOA nightmares. While buying some landscape rock at Parsons Rocks! (a little product placement there), a nice old lady mentioned getting a lot of grief from her HOA. Really? Yes, the CC&Rs (covenants, codes and restrictions) indicated that the victims- I mean, homeowners- were forbidden from chewing gum in common areas. She has dry mouth condition and chews gum all day. Had a doctor's report. Fought them tooth and nail. Now she's talking about getting a lawyer (shudder) to fight for her. Over chewing gum?

Finally, I met a customer, a landscaper, at MacDonald Ranch, a high end neighborhood, to measure his yard for rock quantities. Ah, what a magnificent house, high on a hill with a view of the Strip and mountains beyond.The house, only a year old, was undergoing a landscape remodel. I noticed paint marks on the driveway and asked the landscaper about them.

"The HOA determined that he had too much driveway and not enough landscaping. He fought them for a year on principle, but after paying eighty thousand dollars ($80,000, that's an eight with four zeroes after it) in fines, he decided to comply. And next year the fines would have increased to over two hundred thousand dollars." ($200,000, that's a two with five zeroes after it).
We have truly lost our minds.
I received another letter from the HOA indicating that while they forgave $650 of fines, there were added fees for management of the fines, late fees and document costs. Instead of $650, it was now $1,010.
I may lose my mind.