July 3, 2014 issue. Note the first paragraph. Click to enlarge.
July 10, 2014 edition
In last week’s July 3 Coaster, they said unequivocally that the CMA wants to take over the JSAC property and that is because the JSAC had violated a prior lease agreement. (see the first paragraph above.) However, in that Coaster article they did not interview anyone from the CMA. They based their facts on what the JSAC officials had to say and on what a letter said from the CMA lawyer to Herb Herbst at the JSAC.
Since then, the COO of the Camp Meeting, JP Gradone, has refuted the truth of those allegations, and we posted that denial a few days ago on Blogfinger. Gradone contacted the Coaster and requested that they publish a clarification, which appeared in a headline article in today’s edition (July 10, 2014)
We spoke to JP Gradone last evening. He stood firm on what he said two days ago: i.e., the CMA has no intent to take over the JSAC property and they did not accuse the JSAC of violating an agreement. He said that the lawyer for the CMA had gone overboard when he made those assertions in his letter to JSAC and that no one from the CMA had seen the letter before it went out. H e also said that the CMA board had not even discussed having an interest in the old Neptune High school.
Gradone said that the CMA lawyer was supposed to be sending a letter to the JSAC to clarify “loose ends” regarding real estate issues. He said that the CMA does not even have a land lease agreement with the JSAC.
So it appears that the new facts of life in this situation are what the CMA says they are. Perhaps Herb Herbst and his lawyer should have talked personally to the CMA before flying off the handle. On the other side, the CMA was slow in providing their point of view after this story first surfaced.
Paul Goldfinger, Editor @Blogfinger