READER’S EDITORIAL: SETTING THE RECORD STRAIGHT

By Paul Gonya

Editor’s note: In an article on Alpine Planning Group Member George Barnett’s resignation, Mr. Barnett stated that he considered his greatest accomplishment to be getting two developers off the planning group's board: http://www.eastcountymagazine.org/node/7330 . He did not identify those planners by name.(Mr. Barnett later rescinded his resignation: http://www.eastcountymagazine.org/node/7362). Now one of the individuals he referenced, Paul Gonya, claims that his circumstances were portrayed inaccurately by Mr. Barnett. Mr. Gonya states that it's not true that he was found guilty in a civil trial. While true, he did plead guilty in a criminal (not civil) trial to grand theft embezzlement charges, as the Alpine Sun and Union-Tribune reported: http://www.thealpinesun.com/archive%202009/May%207/as%20inside.html and http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2009/may/01/bn01plea18624/?metro. A settlement was reached in a civil trial: 

October 9, 2011 (Alpine)--Mr. Barnett’s statement regarding “two former Alpine Planning Group members being found guilty in a civil trial involving fraud and embezzlement” is emphatically untrue. More important, Mr. Barnett fails to mention that the defendants in the case filed a cross complaint for fraud and misappropriation of funds against the plaintiffs when the business partnership fell apart in 2006.

The official Brief filed in the civil case clearly cites the issues related to a “nasty  breakdown of a partnership between a large building corporation and the smaller Alpine builder which resembles a divorce more than a civil case” The important fact and deliberate misstatement relates to the settlement of the civil case as most business cases are settled.

The “former Alpine Planning Group members” were not “found guilty of fraud and embezzlement in the civil case” as stated by Mr. Barnett. The larger corporation was disappointed in the profit margins being realized on the Stage Coach Ranch project. They did not realized the impact the Multiple Species Conservation Plan (MSCP) had on the project and sought to recover lost profits by interpreting conditions of the partnership contract not intended in the original agreement.

The cost of the litigation on the smaller Alpine development company devastated their individual financials and respective companies. Therefore, meeting the settlement terms required the sale of one Defendant’s Lake Arrowhead vacation home and the other individual not being able to make the full settlement payment. That partial default resulted in the large development company presenting the case to the District Attorney’s office to seek enforcement of the unpaid settlement under the threat of criminal prosecution.

Again the defendants were faced with an estimated half million dollars in combined attorney fees to defend the case or accept a plea bargain. To complicate the situation one of the defendants was engaged in a brutal divorce battle where his wife froze all of his assets including any funds that might be used to defend against the criminal case that mirrored the civil case.

Hence the acceptance of the plea bargain.

Given these facts, if Mr. Barnett’s “greatest achievement” was ”to work to have” these “individuals removed from the Alpine Planning Group” then he takes credit for circumstances that he had no influence over.

As for these individuals “ leaving Alpine” Mr. Barnett again takes credit for decisions made by a loving father of seven daughters who sought employment opportunities elsewhere. Likewise the other individuals decision to move to his ranch in Oklahoma was hardly a result of anything to do with Mr. Barnett.

Most disturbing is the article and the reality of the situation in the lost to the Alpine’ community of its largest contributor to literally every civic endeavor from the community center, the library, multiple youth activities, donation of the home of the Historical Society, the Kiwanis Club, Youth Olympics, playground equipment and many more. It would be very revealing to determine how many Alpine residents and youth would share Mr. Barnett believe that the community is better off without these benevolent individuals.