Leisure World, Seal Beach had a 50th Anniversary celebration on two days, June 21 and 23, 2012. A Program and Souvenir Booklet with glossy pages was distributed to every apartment in Leisure World.
The title of the Booklet is: “Celebrating a Milestone.”
In the booklet are many advertisements along with commens from such notables as: United States President Obama, United States Senator Dianne Feinstein, United States Congressman, Rohrabacher, California Governor Edmund G. Brown Jr., California State Senator Harman and California State Assembly Member Jim Silva and Seal Beach Mayor Michael Levitt from Seal Beach District Five.
Also in the Booklet there is a “Timeline.” This Timeline starts on page 28 of the Booklet and continues for about 10 pages.
The Timeline begins with 1960 and mentions each year that was historic from 1962 until the present summer of 2012.
Much is stated in the Booklet about all of the Committees that are responsible for the publication and the 50th Anniversary Celebration Committee as well as Executive Director Dan Schaeffer’s comments and the staff that stepped forward and spent countless hours and especially Tom Barratt, president of Leisure World Historical Society.
However, there is NO mention of the historic event that took place in Aug. 16, 2004.
A complaint filed with the Superior Court of the State of California, County of Orange, Central Justice Center against 10 resident shareholder/members from three different Mutual Corporations in Leisure World by the Golden Rain Foundation Board members and the then-Golden Rain Foundation President Tom Barratt.
If there is a celebration of history, then all of the history MUST be provided. When I visited New England and learned about the Revolutionary War in 1775 and the shots heard “Round the World” And at the historic triangle in Virginia, (Jamestown, Colonial Williamsburg and Yorktown) much is learned about the Truth of history.
On the historic date of Aug. 16, 2004 and later the Court of Appeal of California, Fourth Appellate District, Division Three ruling on June 10, 2008 AND Certified for Publication that Golden Rain Foundation in an association. “The Court Correctly Found Leisure World, Seal Beach is a Common Interest Development” subject to the provisions of the Davis-Stirling Act.
Let it be known that if there is a celebrating history in a 50th Anniversary “Program and Souvenir Booklet” within the “Timeline” section then tell the truth about history. And all of the history.
Perhaps as mentioned by a recent judge, the shame is that all of the resident shareholder/members had to pay for this fiasco against their neighbors by the then-ruling Golden Rain Foundation Board members.
Carol Franz is a resident of Leisure World and was one of the 10 shareholders in the lawsuit described in this column.
