Fighting a war over a 7-ft.-high portable basketball hoop has taken a costly toll in the Palisades Highlands. After 3-1/2 years of wrangling and litigation with the Summit Homeowners Association, Dave and Lynne Henney won a summary judgment in Superior Court on July 28 that allows their two boys to once again shoot baskets in the driveway of their home on upper Chastain Parkway. Moreover, at a hearing in Santa Monica on November 30, Superior Court Judge James A. Bascue ruled that the Summit Homeowners Association must reimburse $61,000 in legal fees to the Henneys. ‘I feel like having a Welcome Back! party for our hoop,’ Lynne Henney told the Palisadian-Post, which began covering the CC&R dispute when it still was just a skirmish in March 2002. ‘This has been a nightmarish case but we’re ecstatic that we ultimately won. We fought for the right of all children in our association to play basketball in the family driveway, and I’m thrilled our own children can play once again.’ Despite the victory, outdoor basketball hoops are still not allowed elsewhere in the Summit. The Henneys are now planning to resume their petition campaign to have the Summit board of directors change the CC&R’s regarding outdoor hoops. In the meantime, the Summit board has notified homeowner members that the monthly maintenance assessment will rise 9% on January l to $250. ‘The increase in the monthly fee is primarily the result of the litigation expenses incurred by the Association to date concerning a dispute with a homeowner over a CC&R violation,’ said Debbie Langford of DRL Management in a statement. Back in mid-2001, D.B. Henney, then 10, and his brother Trevor, 8, were playing in the basketball league at the Palisades Recreation Center and enjoyed shooting baskets at home with friends. Unfortunately, a next-door neighbor objected to the noise and complained to the Summit board. On June 13 that year, the board warned the Henneys that their basket was a violation of the association’s CC&R’s, specifically that ‘No basketball backboard or other sports apparatus shall be constructed nor maintained in the Properties…’ The letter added, ‘Please be advised that the basketball hoop must be removed immediately to avoid possible loss of privileges and/or fines.’ The Henneys responded in a letter that ‘although we are guilty of violating this ridiculous, un-American CC&R,’ it did not specifically prohibit portable basketball hoops, and they had found dozens of other homes within the Association with similar hoops. They requested that they be allowed to keep their hoop (a request the board denied), and they launched a petition campaign to overturn the CC&R, gathering approval from more than the required two-thirds of the 312 households. Eventually, the board sued the Henneys ‘to get an injunction preventing them from placing the hoop in a place not approved by the Board,’ said a recent statement from the board’s lawyer, Stanley Feldsott. The board also filed a Lis Pendens against the Henney home. ‘Before the lawsuit was filed, the Henneys offered in writing to submit the matter to binding arbitration,’ said their lawyer, Tim Norton. ‘Three times the Board and their attorneys rejected these offers, and in effect turned down an opportunity to save every homeowner the costs of the entire lawsuit. While the lawsuit was pending, the Henneys made multiple offers to pay money to the Summit to settle the case. The Board and its attorneys refused these offers.’ Meanwhile, ‘during numerous case management conferences with Judge James Bascue, the judge repeatedly warned the Summit lawyers about their case,’ Norton said. ‘He was deeply concerned over the fact that there were 35 other hoops used by other homeowners in the Summit who were not sued.’ Anxious to avoid a costly and lengthy trial, the Henneys filed a motion for summary judgment, and prevailed. On November 12, attorney Feldsott explained Judge Bascue’s decision in a letter to Summit homeowners. In part, he noted that Lynne Henney had ‘sent a letter directed to the Architectural Review Committee of the Association requesting written approval to retain the basketball hoop’ in their front driveway. ‘Within 45 days, the Henneys were advised in writing by the Board that their request for approval was denied.’ However, the Association’s CC&R’s provide that if the Architectural Review Committee does not respond to an application for architectural approval within 45 days, the request is deemed approved’and that’s what proved decisive. ‘The Board, in the absence of an Architectural Committee, denied the Henneys’ request for a hoop,’ Feldsott wrote, but Judge Bascue ruled ‘that the CC&Rs require the Architectural Review Committee to respond to the Henneys’ request and that the denial by the Board was not the equivalent of a denial by the Architectural Review Committee.’ Thus, the basketball hoop was deemed approved.

VIEWPOINT

‘I don’t belong to any organized political party … I’m a Democrat”Will Rogers By PEPPER EDMISTON Special to the Palisadian-Post Last Saturday, I lay on my couch feeling sorry for myself. No goals. No employment. Is ‘housewife’ a job when someone else cleans, the kids market and the husband cooks? Menopausal for life, with empty-nest syndrome looming large. So, sloth-like, yet anxiety-ridden, I lay. Around noon, the phone rang. ‘Hi. Joe Halper here from the Palisades Democratic Club. We have Michael Moore tomorrow from 4 to 6. Can he come to your house?’ ‘Sure.’ ‘Great. Sending out 600 e-mails. No idea about the size of the crowd. I have an event before and theater after. But you can handle it, right?’ ‘Sure.’ ‘Bye, now.’ Something to live for, at least through the weekend. E-mails mentioning free ‘vittles,’ a book-signing and a Democratic loyalty oath went out to family and friends. The house was cleaned, furniture was moved. I spent most of my energy re-arranging cookie jars. Should Santa Claus or Uncle Sam decorate the table where Michael would autograph his stuff? Hubby Joe and the younger boys came home from the USC football game. ‘Michael Moore’s coming tomorrow!’ I enthused. ‘Did we know about this before?’ asked Joe. ‘Not before lunch,’ I said. Sunday it stormed. Would rain keep away the faithful? Maybe, but 300 people showed up anyway. Michael Moore appeared in all his over-sized glory. Big man, big smile, big intellect. He stood in our entry hall and spoke for an hour. The house was stuffed with Democrats, on the floor, up the staircase, in every room and out in the rain. Folks laughed, clapped and booed. Michael is a showman and we loved his show. Moore reminded us that 57 million people voted for Kerry. We can win next time, if we run a rock star, like Clinton, or a real one, like Tom Hanks. Karl Rove says the public hates Hollywood and the Dems should keep their distance. Baloney, says Moore. First, why would Rove give us good advice? Second, everyone loves Hollywood! From Reagan to ‘Love Boat”s Gopher to our own Arnold the Barbarian, actors win. Even Bush’s Crawford ranch is a movie set, built a year before the 2000 election to cast Dubya as an ‘aw shucks’ cowboy. Moore suggested new rules for the D.N.C. Number 1: Eight strikes and you’re out. If you’ve tanked eight campaigns, like strategist Bob Shrum, you gotta hit the road. Number 2: The 70 million citizens eligible to vote who sat out 2004 are not all Evangelicals. We should woo them, not by becoming like the other party, but by being who we are. We’re for universal health care, a clean environment, better schools. Number 3: If folks want something else, they know where they can go. After an energetic Q and A, Michael moved to the dining room table to begin signing…oh, did I mention there were no books? This was due to the Costco Fiasco. Dear Katie, of Village Books, had less notice than we did. Late Saturday she learned Costco had 250 copies of ‘Will They Ever Trust Us Again?’ Michael’s compilation of soldiers’ letters from Iraq. On Sunday, Katie went to pick them up. Oops, the books were on a tippy-top rack that required a crane, which couldn’t be operated during business hours. Sorry. Still, the line snaked around the table and up the staircase. Michael stayed two more hours, posing for photos, being adorable and signing book plates which will be fastened on the books really soon. As a reward for our hospitality, Joe and I were invited to dinner at the Palm later that night. Bill Maher would be hosting the event honoring Michael. We’d love to come. Could my parents come, too? Sure. Could my kids? How many? Seven. Dead silence. How about one or two who really, really care? ‘Who could come’ translated into ‘Whom do you love the most, Mom?’ We worked it out (three came) and, of course, I love each and every child exactly the same. All in all, it was a great 24 hours. We rose to the occasion for a day, but Michael Moore has been at it for decades. The man is fearless. He hunts down the truth for all of our sakes. He is democracy’s greatest defender. Do you want to know what a real American hero looks like? Baggy pants, a double chin and a baseball cap. And, he was right there, in our entry hall, Sunday afternoon.

With a strong customer base already established from the old Bay Pharmacy, Pharmaca Integrative Pharmacy introduced its first store in Southern California last week with 300 visitors attending the grand opening. Pharmaca hopes to build on this customer base in developing an alternative and natural remedies clientele. Continuing to provide prescription services, Pharmaca also offers a variety of supplements and natural care items, as well as regular over-the-counter medicines. The chain, launched in 2000 in Boulder, Colorado, has focused its strategy on taking over independent pharmacies in locations with highly educated populations, but where wellness practices are accepted, such as in Boulder, Mill Valley and Santa Fe. To date, the company has 11 pharmacies in Colorado, California, New Mexico, Oregon and Washington. In trying to establish a new niche, Pharmaca’s challenge will be to encourage pharmacy customers with an illness mindset to learn about complementary and integrative medicine with a wellness mindset. Company founder and CEO Barry Perzow, who was on hand at last week’s grand opening, described the ideal customer. ‘My hope is that when you come in here and speak to one of our practitioners, you would learn something you didn’t know about how to take care of yourself, something that would influence your lifestyle.’ Along with medications, Pharmaca staff also dispense plenty of information to customers. For example, when a customer buys a regular prescription drug, he or she will also learn about natural products that counteract the medicine’s side effects. In addition, over-the-counter products are displayed alongside their homeopathic counterparts. For example, in the eye care section, the Bausch & Lomb eye care products are displayed with the all-natural Optique. On the cold remedy shelf, throat lozenges are displayed with the echinacea throat spray. Pharmaca does not advocate one approach over another but offers consumers appropriate professional advice employing pharmacists, herbalists, a homeopath, naturopath and esthetician. ‘Part of what we do is offer free consulting on topics such as diet, nutrition, herbal remedies, drug interaction and nutrient depletion,’ Perzow said. Pharmaca has created a space for health screenings and a Practitioner’s Kiosk equipped with computers and reference materials. Nina Yannoukos is the Palisades store’s homeopath. With a four-year degree and three years of pre-med training in her native South Africa, she will be available four days a week to consult with customers. ‘As a homeopathic doctor, I will try to delve deeper into a patient’s history,’ she said. ‘I will make a good evaluation of all their symptoms, including physical, environmental and spiritual to try to find one cause.’ In addition to Yannoukos, naturopathic doctor Lisa Fillis will be in the store four days a week. A naturopathic doctor is a certified primary care physician in California, who looks at a broad spectrum of therapies, including medical prescriptions, supplements, herbs, vitamins and homeopathy. An acupuncturist is also on staff, and store manager Mindy Taylor is an herbalist. Breaking away from Pharmaca’s model of a small (3,500-4,000 sq. ft.) store, emphasizing an intimate, personalized philosophy, the Palisades store is 9,600 sq. ft., which presented a challenge to founding partner Russell Precious, the store’s design consultant. Precious said that several things made the remodel tricky, including keeping the store open throughout the three-month construction. ‘The other challenge was the fact that the store has two entrances, which presented a sort of feng shui confusion.’ Customers who enter from the back, near Palisades Car Wash, will encounter Palisades Flowers, which is moving from its current location on Sunset. Customers entering from Sunset are greeted with a newspaper rack and magazine display, which includes a number of foreign magazines. The overall space is bright and open. Halogen track lights are positioned above the aisles and alcoves to keep merchandise displays well lighted. ‘We light the product, not the people,’ Precious said. The design team also created alcoves to define product categories, such as supplements, natural skin care, candles and aromatherapy. Consistent with the store’s philosophy of using natural and eco-friendly products, the store’s low-pile carpet is made from recycled materials, the special water-based latex paint is low in volatile organic compounds. Light-colored paint and shelving contribute to the sense of openness. Renovations also added a 1,000- sq.- ft. event and community room, along with a cosmetic and beauty boutique. Jo Ann Issenman, Pharmaca partner and category manager, edited down the bodycare lines to eight’all biodynamic and organic’in various price points. The facial treatment room will feature the Australia-based skin care product line from Jurlique. Right now, Pharmaca is the first and only place holder in this new healthcare niche in Los Angeles. The store is betting on aging baby boomers to provide a substantial customer base and is planning another store soon in Brentwood.

Guests at Momma Reiner’s ‘fudge factory’ are enticed through the entryway of her Palisades home and towards the sweet, chocolaty smell coming from her sunlit kitchen. There, the aproned Kimberly Reiner stands over an island counter dipping a long spoon into a large pot of hot fudge and dropping spoonfuls onto sheets of wax paper. Row by row, column after column, the meringue-shaped treats accumulate on the counter, each made with the artful swirl of Reiner’s hand. ‘I like the dipping part,’ Reiner says, smiling as she methodically finishes spooning out the batch of about 130 pieces of fudge. Reiner has been making the chocolate delicacy for family and friends during the winter holiday season since she was about 5 years old, first with her mother, then as an adult with her own family. Now, at the suggestion of friend and Palisadian business owner Patti Black, she’s selling her homemade fudge exclusively at Black Ink (873 Swarthmore) through Christmas. ‘Patti inspired me [to sell],’ says Reiner, who admits that while ‘multiple stores’ have expressed interest in carrying her fudge, she wanted ‘to do things right’ by introducing it at her friend’s shop in town. Reiner and Black were neighbors for years in the Las Casas/Grenola neighborhood, where Reiner still lives with her husband, Steve, and sons, Alex, 5-1/2, and Emmett, 21 months. Alex attends Calvary Christian School. ‘Kimberly’s been giving [the fudge] to me every Christmas and I’ve been telling her we should sell it,’ says Black, who’s been in the customized stationery business since 1998. ‘It’s selling great. People come in every day for samples [available at the counter].’ Reiner says that her business background helped her turn this new adventure into a viable venture. A graduate of Pepperdine Law School, she worked for five years as an immigration attorney in Los Angeles and Houston, Texas, where she and her husband moved after marrying in 1997. Originally from Beverly Hills, Reiner put her law career on hold when Alex was born. Her Texas friends gave her the name ‘Momma Reiner’ because she was the first among them to have a baby. When her husband’s job brought them them back to L.A. in late 1999, the same friends presented her with a white apron with the nickname embroidered on it. Even when Reiner was working as an attorney, she says she always made fudge for the holidays. ‘It’s innate; I can’t control it. I think it brings back [childhood] memories.’ She believes that the family fudge-making tradition began with her maternal grandmother, who used to make it with her daughter (Reiner’s mother, Terri Aidikoff). Each generation, however, has its own method, or touch. ‘[My mom] wings it more than I do,’ says Reiner, who keeps suggesting that they have a ‘fudge-off’ to see how their fudge tastes different. ‘I have to lay everything out perfectly; it’s like a rhythm.’ Part of what Reiner loves about the process is that it’s ‘relaxing and methodical,’ something she can do ‘in between carpool, after-school play dates and soccer.’ Her kids are the taste-testers once a batch has been made, which takes about an hour, not including the approximately four hours she allows for the fudge to sit. ‘I always knew I wanted to start a business,’ Reiner says. ‘It was either start a fudge business or go back to law, and that’s still on the back burner.’ The natural evolution of what she refers to as her ‘cottage industry’ is part of what she believes makes her fudge so special. ‘I think my label says it all: ‘Homemade in a little kitchen on a little street in a little village by the sea.” While she won’t reveal the ‘secret recipe,’ Reiner does say that the fudge has to boil at a high temperature and has to be the proper consistency before it’s shaped into pieces and set out to dry. At the present time, Reiner is only selling semisweet chocolate fudge ‘to keep it simple,’ but she’s already experimenting with a butterscotch recipe and plans to have three different chocolate combinations: nuts, coconut and Grand Marnier or Kahlua. The sweet treats are available for immediate purchase, in either a pint-sized box with between 11 and 15 pieces ($15) or a smaller box with three to four pieces ($5), and can be ordered for larger events. ‘It’s heartwarming and evokes the holiday spirit,’ Reiner says, explaining that each year, she and her son, Alex, drive around and drop fudge off at the homes of family and friends, with Alex acting as the elf. ‘I hope I don’t get too busy, so I can still continue the holiday tradition with my son.’ If the business grows too big for her kitchen, Reiner says she will move it to a commercial kitchen. ‘Ultimately, I’d like to have a store,’ she says. ‘As it gets bigger, it will become more structured, but now I’m just having fun.’ Contact: 454-2704 or ks.reiner@verizon.net.