‘Not being a good citizen’
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A week after Huntington Beach City Council candidate Gregg DeLong filed a claim alleging wrongdoing at the Huntington Central Park Equestrian Center, the center’s attorney and city officials have questioned his accusations, while a Superior Court judge has blocked the release of financial records that DeLong argued were public documents.
In addition, the two sides have drastically different accounts of an incident that took place at the center Dec. 29, in which police were called during a dispute between DeLong’s family and management.
DeLong filed a claim Jan. 4 against the city and center alleging that subcontractors at the center owe the city more than $1.5 million in revenue and that the center’s management has intimidated boarders and mistreated employees.
Soon afterward, attorney Michael Lanphere issued a response stating that DeLong’s claims were inaccurate and that many of his facts were based on “guess and speculation.” DeLong, he said, had violated center rules and regulations and been issued an eviction notice, which he refused to obey.
The center, Lanphere added, is in the process of filing a civil suit to obtain a court order for the eviction of the DeLongs. Center owner Mary Behrens did not return calls seeking comment.
“Mr. DeLong is breaching his agreement, and he is not being a good citizen,” Lanphere said.
DeLong’s claim states that he and his family contacted police Dec. 29 due to center management verbally and physically intimidating his family. According to the police report, officers responded to a call from a center manager, who had locked herself in an office with four employees because they were frightened of DeLong, who was reportedly upset about being evicted.
The manager told police DeLong was yelling at employees because they were filming him from the office, and a female employee said she was “in fear for her life.” DeLong, however, said the account was inaccurate, that he was not yelling or intimidating the staff and that his family had also contacted the police that day.
The management, he said in the police report, had been harassing him and his wife, telling him he could not instruct her because he was not a trainer and riding behind her on a golf cart.
“It’s the typical intimidation that comes from the center,” DeLong said.
Lanphere said the management’s account was accurate. In addition, he said, the center has made all due payments to the city, and all businesses on the site have licenses or are in the process of renewing them. City spokeswoman Laurie Payne confirmed that the subcontractors either have licenses or are getting them.
Two businesses that DeLong specifically cited as being unlicensed are Elvenstar Orange County and veterinarian Janice Posnikoff. Posnikoff is listed on the city’s website under her business’ name, not her own, and though Elvenstar is not listed, Payne confirmed that the trainer has a license.
DeLong said he did his research by checking the website and did not ask anyone at the city to check the businesses’ status. He said, though, that it was the city’s duty to have the information available online.
“The day I did my search, I did not find those, and the response I’m preparing back to the city is, this is the information on your website, which is supposed to be accurate,” DeLong said.
He also stood by his argument regarding the subcontractors’ lack of payments to the city, saying he had viewed the center’s rent receipts from the last several years. Not only do the receipts fail to list any subcontractors, but the amounts of money declared are too small to have the businesses’ revenues rolled into them, DeLong said.
DeLong tried to obtain the center’s annual operating statements from 2005 to 2009 through a public records request. A judge issued a temporary restraining order against the documents Monday, and a follow-up hearing to determine whether the documents will be permanently withheld is scheduled for Feb. 11.
A clause in the agreement between the city and center specifies that information obtained through audits or inspection of records will not be disclosed to anyone unless they are engaged in business with the city.
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