Sect leader sued by 2 county employees

Lolita Harper

COSTA MESA -- Two county health department officers who over the past

few years have had numerous encounters with a Costa Mesa religious sect

have filed suit against the leader of the group and a former member,

alleging they were libeled in newspaper ads and newsletters.

Officers Karen Newe and Bruce Freeman of the Orange County Health Care

Agency claim the Piecemakers made public statements that caused them to

suffer “loss of their reputation, shame, mortification and hurt

feelings,” according to a lawsuit filed in October.

Marie Kolasinski, the outspoken leader of the Piecemakers, and Anne

Sorenson were named as defendants. Sorenson has since left the

Piecemakers and was unavailable for comment.

Newe and Freeman could not be reached Monday, and their attorney, John

Gulino, did not return repeated calls.

Howard Sutter, a spokesman for the health department where Newe and

Freeman work, said the agency was aware of the lawsuit but is not

directly involved.

The Piecemaker Country Store, at 1720 Adams Ave., has been fighting

court battles with the health department since 1992 and was on probation

for three years for past health-code violations. Regular, unannounced

inspections were part of the probationary terms, which led to a great

deal of anger by many members of the Piecemakers.

Kolasinski believed Newe and Freeman were harassing the members of her

group and blasted the two officers in her periodic newsletter and in an

advertisement that appeared in the Los Angeles Times Orange County

edition, she said.

In a Piecemakers newsletter from November 2000, Kolasinski called Newe

and Freeman “two rapists” who violated the group’s constitutional rights

by entering the store and citing them for code violations.

On Nov. 29, the Times ran the advertisement placed by the Piecemakers

that called officials from the health care agency “martian reptiles.”

Newe and Freeman claim their friends, family members, neighbors,

associates and employers read the publications that accused the two

officers of improper and immoral conduct, the lawsuit stated.

“I called them rapists because by the time they left here [after

investigations], we were totally undone,” Kolasinski said. “We don’t

mince words. We were so angry and upset and disillusioned as to what kind

of people govern this society.”

Phil Putman, the attorney representing Kolasinski and the Piecemakers,

chalks up the language to simple name calling. He said his client was

upset and letting off steam by using metaphors.

Putman said the language used by his clients in no way violates state

libel laws and could be considered, at most, legal harassment. Newe and

Freeman work for a public agency and perform a job that requires them to

deal with upset business owners, Putman said.

“They are public servants with a lousy job,” Putnam said. “They are

going to have to learn to endure a little name calling because people are

always going to be mad.”

Joseph Donahue, who represents Sorenson individually because she is no

longer a member of the Piecemakers, said the county officials should know

better than to take Kolasinski’s comments seriously.

He called the Piecemakers an eclectic and extreme group.

The Piecemakers, also known as the Body of Christ Fellowship, is a

group of about 30 people who live communally in six Mesa Verde homes.

They don’t believe in traditional family structure, instead viewing each

other as brothers and sisters, Kolasinski said. They reject marriage and

abstain from sex.

They also have a history of violating city health, building and fire

codes.

“To try and take anything seriously that the Piecemakers would say in

the pursuit of their ideologies would be very far reaching,” Donahue

said.

Newe and Freeman filed the lawsuits as individuals, not on behalf of

the health department.

The most recent litigation is part of an ongoing battle between the

Piecemakers and the two health department officers.

In October 2000, the Piecemakers filed a lawsuit against Newe and

Freeman alleging the duo conducted “unreasonable search and seizures” and

violated the Piecemakers’ civil rights.

That lawsuit was dropped after both sides reached a gentlemen’s

agreement, Donahue said.

* Lolita Harper covers Costa Mesa. She may be reached at (949)

574-4275 or by e-mail at o7 lolita.harper@latimes.comf7 .