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Best Western could quit chamber of commerce over newspaper ad 2003-08-13 by
BRIAN GAWLEY PORT ANGELES -- Best Western Olympic Lodge owner Tod McClaskey Jr. may quit the Port Angeles Chamber of Commerce over a recent newspaper advertisement asking him to stop further legal action against the proposed Oak Street hotel and conference center. ``I'm pretty disappointed,'' McClaskey said Tuesday. ``I'm a chamber member and obviously they don't want to protect me as a chamber member. I guess I should ask for the chamber fees back.'' McClaskey said he thinks the chamber has overstepped its boundaries. ``I just think the chamber should stay out of it, it's a legal matter. It should be left for the court to decide,'' he said. McClaskey said it's ``really sad'' because he offered to pay for a feasibility study of the conference center proposal, but now the chamber is trying to ``blackball us without the facts.'' Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Russ Veenema said Tuesday that McClaskey had not contacted him regarding withdrawing from the organization. The chamber's board of directors bought the ad in Sunday editions of the Peninsula Daily News. It names Tod McClaskey Jr.; Chris and Carolyn Muir; and Paul Hoque, MD, who have sued to stop the project. The Muirs and Hoque are concerned about the effect the conference center might have on their views of Port Angeles Harbor. The ad says the Oak Street hotel and conference center project should be allowed to succeed or fail in the open market, without continued litigation. |