LA HABRA : Acupressure Clinic Opens With City OK

Despite police objections, the City Council has allowed an acupressure clinic to open here.

Police recommended that the city deny an operating permit because of concern over the school that two of the clinic’s acupressure technicians attended. Authorities claimed that the school, Dong In College of Oriental Medicine in Los Angeles, sold diplomas to undercover detectives without requiring any study.

Council members, however, voted unanimously last week to give the business a permit that could be revoked if the two technicians do not pass an acupressure test.

The clinic’s attorney, Burton H. Ward, said no such test exists, but Police Chief Steven Staveley said he has found several government organizations that could administer the test. He expects to have the technicians take the test soon.

“This is a safety issue,” Staveley said. “We’re talking about people who are going to be manipulating your body--messing around with your back or your arms or your legs and we need to know that they, in fact, can do it.”

The clinic’s owner, Hae Lee, said that the two technicians attended 200 hours of training as stated in their certificates, and that she hopes to attract business to Lambert Accu, the only acupressure clinic in the city. The clinic opened on Monday.

Staveley said one acupressure clinic was closed last year because it served as a front for prostitution and another one was shut down nine months ago because it was operating illegally.