REBUTTAL

The issue here is freedom and rights.

Samuel Horton (“Panther Palace should be free to be distasteful,” Aug.

5) states that Gordon Oliver’s rights are being violated. The First

Amendment, right to peacefully assemble. Oliver, by his own admission (or

boasting), hosts up to 150 clients at his so-called parties. All day on

Sunday people frolic in the backyard and sing karaoke so loud it can be

heard for blocks. His backyard has three immediate neighbors who share

the fence and occasionally people come over those fences (ask the police

who have been called numerous times by the frightened neighbors).

And a violation of the Fourth Amendment? The right to be secure in you

own house. Yes, Oliver has that right, but it is not the home of the 150

party-goers who would never want this operation or should I say

“assembly” in their neighborhoods. They come from all over and drive cars

which line our neighborhood two times a week -- every Friday and

Saturday.

Call it what it is, it’s clearly a business being operated out of a

residential neighborhood. This is what Oliver is being taken to court

over, not illegal activity.

If anyone’s rights are being violated here, it’s the neighbors, who

have been suffering with this for over 20 years!

At the Panther Palace you are charged $40 per person at the door (of

course it is called a donation to circumvent the law) and there is a list

of activities available for an extra fee. Figure it out. At $40 per

person, that’s $6,000 per night! Now that’s a lucrative business.

My freedom to a safe and quiet place to live, and that of many other

adults and children who live in this neighborhood, is being violated by

allowing this business to continue. I believe all the media attention the

Panther Palace has received has probably helped the business to grow and

proliferate to the extent it has. Hopefully, it will also be its

downfall. The city of Costa Mesa has finally taken the first step and

stepped up to the plate to protect its citizens in their neighborhood by

taking this matter to court. Someday soon I hope the people who live here

will get their peace and freedom back when the Panther Palace has finally

shut its doors.

CONNIE PAINE

Costa Mesa