Friday, July 7, 2006

WAR Uncovers HLS CPA Living in New York City

24 hours after the surprise announcement from the Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty campaign in which they revealed the hidden CPA firm that audits the financials of notorious animal abusers, Huntingdon Life Sciences, WAR has made a discovery of our own.

John Guttilla, Partner and Principal in Rotenberg, Meril, Solomon, Bertiger & Guttilla, PC is a native New Yorker that continues to call the City his home. In a prestigious Eastside location nestled between Maz Mescal Mexican cantina style restaurant and a Natural Food Market sits John and Peggy Ann Guttilla's apartment building.

Our crew of WAR activists arrived at the bustling location at the height of the dinner hour. The restaurant was packed and crowds were milling around on the sidewalk, waiting for their tables.

Initially, we were concerned because the narrow building doorway didn't afford us much room to protest without stretching across the front of the restaurant with it's crowded open air sidewalk dining. We approached the businesses on either side of the doorway to speak to the managers to explain the situation.

Maz Mescal's manager asked who we were protesting and was nonplussed to hear the name John Guttilla. She knew exactly who he was and told us that she could not accept the flyer we handed her as Peggy Ann works with building management and John Guttilla is the one who gets the rent check. Armed with the knowledge that the Guttilla's had a financial interest in the restaurant building, we unfurled our large colorful banner and began to chant loudly. Needless to say, all of the sidewalk café diners and the many waiting for tables got both an eyeful and an earful.

East 86 th Street is densely populated and with a nearby subway station has very high foot traffic. We ran out of flyers in the early stages of the protest. Although most passing by were openly supportive, several somewhat inebriated diners were less pleased with our vocal presence. Catcalls and jeers came from the open seating area and protesters worked hard to ignore the taunts and carried on despite the constant interruptions.

Police in both marked and unmarked vehicles arrived on the scene and curiously didn't say a word to protestors. Two burly looking plainclothes detectives stationed themselves at either side of the Guttilla doorway. After an hour of chanting and speak outs to explain why we were there, we wrapped up the demo with our customary refrain….”We'll be back”. We began to pack up our banner and posters when a voice rang out from the restaurant. Despite his dinner partners slapping at him and begging him to shut up, one patron bellowed…”Are you leaving?” and “Don't be quitters”….”Nobody likes a quitter”. After a brief exchange with the bleary eyed patron, we pulled out the banner and posters and had a second round.

For once, it was fun to watch the police admonish the buffoon. They swooped down on him, shushing him and told him not to speak as we had clearly been ready to leave when he drew us back with his taunts. He was embarrassed and his friends were obviously not happy with his performance.

The demo finally ended when we promised to be back at this location regularly until John Guttilla and his firm, Rotenberg, Meril, Solomon, Bertiger & Guttilla, PC cuts their ties to Huntingdon Life Sciences. The fact that this firm hid for almost two years behind a falsely named CPA and did their dirty business in secrecy and with stealth guarantees that they will hear our message over and over again. Shame on you John Guttilla. Shame on all of you at Rotenberg, Meril, Solomon, Bertiger & Guttilla, PC. The blood of the animals killed at HLS while you cooked their books is on your hands. How do you sleep at night?