End to probation possible for Piecemakers

Jennifer Kho

COSTA MESA -- The Piecemakers Country Store and the Orange County

Health Care Agency are at a temporary stalemate this week, both poised to

strike at each other during upcoming court hearings.

The Piecemakers’ store is scheduled to be taken off probation Monday

for past health code violations, but the store management’s refusal to

allow an inspection at a craft fair Saturday might result in a health

department challenge at the probation hearing.

“We view this as a serious occurrence, but a judge may not,” said Pat

Markley, a health department spokeswoman. “We don’t know whether a judge

will view [the refusal] as a violation of the probation. At this point,

I’m not sure what the next step will be. We’re reviewing our options, but

it’s up to a judge to decide how to view the occurrence.”

The Piecemakers Country Store, a Mesa Verde business at 1720 Adams

Ave., has been fighting court battles with the health department since

1992, Markley said.

The store, which has been on probation for at least 10 months for past

health code violations, is subject to regular, unannounced inspections as

part of the probation terms.

Marie Kolasinski, the store’s owner, said her refusal to allow the

inspection stemmed from an incident at a craft fair in October.

The Piecemakers have filed a lawsuit against two of the officials who

conducted the inspection at the fair, claiming they harassed the vendors

and violated the Piecemakers’ civil rights. The first court hearing for

that case is scheduled in March.

“We need to start getting our country back from these hoodlums,”

Kolasinski said. “Anyone who takes away someone’s livelihood is working

against the state Constitution, and they were ready to shut us down. I

don’t care if they put me in jail. We need to stop fear of them, for one

thing. I want my constitutional rights back. They are trying to shut

America down.”

The Piecemakers said the officials would have been allowed to inspect

at Saturday’s crafts fair if they had signed a legal document promising

to uphold the Constitution.

“They see things like that and know they’re not doing it, so they

won’t sign it,” Kolasinski said.

But Markley said it is against county policy to sign anything unless

county legal counsel determines it is acceptable.

“Something like that is not something food inspectors would be able to

sign on the spot,” she said. “Our county counsel would have to be

involved. And it was not acceptable to us to be required to sign a

document to conduct a facility inspection. We have not been asked to sign

anything at any of the other Orange County food facilities in our normal

course of conducting food inspections. This is certainly an extremely

unusual -- even unheard of -- requirement on their part.”

Tension between the Piecemakers and the health department escalated in

September, when the department found additional health code violations

and both parties accused the other of hostile treatment.

A Superior Court judge decided against extending the Piecemakers’

probation at a court hearing later that month, however, saying the

violations were minor.