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Puerite Hearings Bring Many Heated Exchanges ExchangesStephenson Stephenson Cites Probable Loss Of Employment State Revenue RevenueLOS LOS ANGELES Calif June 3 Punc ¬ tuated by many heated exchanges between counsel representing the proposed Veterans Park atPuente and counsel representing those opposed to the project the hearing on issuance of a building permit to the new race track continued all day yesterday and late into the night before the California Horse Racing Board BoardPrincipal Principal witnesses against the issaunce of a permit were Robert E King comp ¬ troller of the Log Angeles Turf Club oper ¬ ators of Santa Anita Park John C Stephenson representing all labor organi ¬ zations whose members are now employed at Santa Anita and Hollywood Park and Louis Merrill representing the 74 Califor ¬ nia nonprofit fairs that are members of the Western Fairs Association AssociationKing King had submitted an analysis of the probable effect of a new track that would share with Santa Anita and Hollywood the 100 days of racing now legalized in Los Angeles County His conclusion was that operation of a track would lead to a de ¬ cline in the quality of racing a loss of employment and a loss of 500000 in reve ¬ nue to the State of California even were the same amount of business done at three tracks as is now done at two twoCross Cross examination by opposing counsel was apparently directed at the amount of profits made by Santa Anita during its history and chairman Wright permitted a wide latitude1 in this direction The limits of this latitude were reached however when counsel embarked on a series of ques ¬ tions designed to show that the investment of part of the surplus of the Los Angeles Turf Club in the Lake Arrowhead project admittedly up to the present a losing ven ¬ ture was for purposes of tax evasion Chairman Wright ruled that this matter was within the purview of other govern ¬ mental agencies and was no concern of the Horse Racing Board BoardThe The crossexamination respecting Santa Anitas finances was still under way when the hearing recessed until today todayStephenson Stephenson asserted that taking racing days away from Santa Anita and Holly ¬ wood to give to a new park would result in loss of employment to upward of 550 men for the estimated 33 days the track would operate operateAsked Asked to justify his assumption he ex ¬ plained that a track with the proposed in ¬ vestment of 2350000 would not have the physical facilities to care for more than 700000 to 1000000 daily wagering and that such a plant could operate with 350 men as against the 850 now working at Hollywood HollywoodHe He also deplored the probability of low ¬ ering the quality of racing in this area When told by counsel that the new track proposed to offer minimum purses of 4000 Stephenson stated All I can say is that if that isyour idea I wouldnt want to be a stockholder in the company companyMerrill Merrill general manager of the Western Fairs Association gave it as his opinion that a new track would lessen the income to the State of California result in less distribution to the fairs and agricultural schools and colleges and thus do harm to the best interests of the states basic in ¬ dustries
