My husband always wanted to own a Gift Store. That dream was fulfilled in 2000 when the Lord led us to Montrose and we opened Mountain Rose Gifts. I had first heard about Montrose in the late 90's while reading Victoria Magazine. Then writer in residence, Jan Karon, said Montrose was one of the inspirations for the beloved town of Mitford, home base for her New York Times Best Selling Mitford Series. A few years later Dale's 20 year career with Princess Marcella Borghese ended when the company was sold. Severance package in hand, we decided to find that town Montrose and check it out. As we walked the tree lined streets, jacarandas in full bloom, we happened upon a "For Lease" sign. Upon calling the number the very first person we were to meet was Jay Drayman, father of John.
He was a lovely man, a gentle man, and as we quickly discovered, from the same city as us, Baltimore, Maryland. Not only that, he lived in Pikesville, the same town where Dale went to high school! Amazing!
We put a lot of work into the store and were honored with the MVCCC Beautification Award. John Drayman entered our lives a year later walking into our store with a gift of Challah bread. Thus began a series of visits which resulted in Dale being appointed to the Montrose Shopping Park Board in 2001. From then until now he has faithfully served the shopping park in various capacities including president, treasurer, executive director, and business administrator. Starting in 1991 he has also faithfully pastored our church. In all of these leadership roles Dale has had a reputation for being dilgent and thorough in all that he does, seeking to do what is proper and right regardless of peer pressure. When it comes to tracking finances he is meticulous.
During the years of 2001-2010 we watched as the Montrose restaurant scene grew, John went on to become a Glendale City Councilman, and the great recession hit. We were part of that "inner circle" that was with John for his swearing in as Mayor of Glendale and 50th birthday dinner at the same time. John and Dale are both very smart with incredible memories for little known trivia and doing voice imitations. There were many good times and there were many challenging times when Dale and he went head to head. Dale, like his relative Wyatt Earp, wants things to be done rightly yet he is a humble man.
2010 was a stressful year as John got further and further behind submitting receipts from the Harvest Market which he developed and ran for the MSP from day one. Dale was distressed saying to me "something's not right". This in turn caused me worry which I prayed about. "Lord, show us the truth." None of us were market experts and we believed what we were told by John. We trusted him.
The Lord answered my prayer and and in 2011 John's longtime close friend Alyce Russell, then MSPA President, and Dale went to see Ron DePompa the Glendale Chief of Police. I have utmost respect for Alyce as she did not hesitate to do the right thing as hard as it was to do. Just imagine.
I am thankful to Scott Feldman, the President of the South Pasadena Chamber of Commerce, who we had first met when he asked Dale and me to speak to their chamber about Montrose and social media. He was the one the Lord led me to call in April of 2011 to get some inside info on market procedures. Unbeknownst to him at the time, it was his valuable input that helped us as a board learn some key things about how markets work and the fact that their market made money...lots of it!!!
I am thankful to Maureen Palacios who as board treasurer took it upon herself to surprise the market status quo and collect the money herself. That took guts. It was then that we discovered the proceeds were far higher than any of us knew.
I am thankful for my husband who kept meticulous financial records, saving everything for years, which took hours of Grand Jury time and greatly aided the detectives in their work. YES, there was plenty of evidence! The Grand Jury indicted him on 28 counts!!!
And I am so thankful to Ron DePompa and the Glendale police department who saw the merit in this case from day one and did a thorough job in their investigation.
I am thankful to L.A. District Attorney Susan Schwartz and her team that did a professional and thorough job also and to Judge Stephen Marcus who held the line and did not mince words. THANK YOU!
It has been a tough three years and I have not felt free to express my thoughts until now and even now I am careful with what I say. We were all under attack. There were a lot of misconceptions and bad publicity based on untruths, yet we could not speak so as not to jeopardize the investigation. Alas the ordeal is over, the truth has come out, and the Lord has been faithful! We pray that good would come out of this. The story is still being written.
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