PORT TOWNSEND — The owner of a 3,700-acre Discovery Bay-area shellfish and tree farm that has been used partly for homeland security training said he was honored to have law enforcement and military training exercises on the site.
Reed Gunstone, president of Discovery Bay Land Co., testified as a witness for Joe D’Amico, president of Security Services Northwest, on Thursday.
D’Amico is appealing a Jefferson County stop work order that has shut down his Fort Discovery Training Center.
The case has gone before Jefferson County Hearing Examiner Irv Berteig for a three-day hearing that is expected to wrap up testimony with public comments at 2 p.m. today.
Before Berteig on Thursday at Joseph F. Wheeler Theater in Fort Worden State Park, Gunstone called D’Amico a friend and neighbor.
Answering a question posed by Jefferson County-contracted Seattle attorney Mark Johnsen, Gunstone said money was not an issue in renting a home with business office space on about 20 acres for $650 a month — a lease that has not changed since his late father signed it in 1988.