VFW Post Rejects Order to Move Out : Santa Clarita: Veterans are defiant in refusing to obey city, which says group has been operating without a permit for 20 years.

The old soldiers are digging in, saying all they want is to be left in peace.

All their neighbors want is peace and quiet.

But a fragile truce in the war over a veterans’ bar and meeting hall in Santa Clarita disintegrated Wednesday when the former soldiers refused to obey a city order requiring them to immediately shut down Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 6885 for violating a camping ban.

“We will leave when they have a court order, and not before,” said Lou Hunt, 62, the post’s quartermaster, as a handful of equally defiant vets gathered around the bar Wednesday nodded their heads in agreement.

“Most of us fought in World War II and Korea, and we’re too old to give up now.”

In the meantime, a sign on the front door of the post states: “We’re Open Please Patronize.” Another asks members to donate money for legal fees.

The courts will be the next battleground in the conflict over the bar and meeting hall, which residents have long claimed causes a nuisance in the residential neighborhood because of loud parties and overnight camping.

“If they continue to operate, we’ll take legal action,” warned Santa Clarita City Atty. Carl Newton.

The yearlong battle over Post 6885 has been difficult for Santa Clarita--dubbed the most patriotic city in the country by Cable News Network because the council raised more than 200 flags and allocated $40,000 for a veterans memorial during Operation Desert Storm.

Ignoring appeals to patriotism, council members earlier this year ordered the post to close, saying it had been operating without a permit for nearly 20 years and was incompatible with the surrounding affluent neighborhood of small ranches worth $400,000 to $4 million.

The city gave the veterans until next Jan. 28 c to close the post after the VFW agreed to immediately ban camping, stop selling alcohol by Oct. 28 and no longer rent out the hall for weddings and parties.

But the council rescinded that order Tuesday night and unanimously ordered the post to close because of reports that the veterans had violated the agreement and allowed camping on the site.

“It’s a land-use issue that just happens to involve veterans,” Councilman George Pederson said. “We gave them a chance, and they didn’t keep their word.”

The veterans concede that twice this summer they allowed several inebriated members to sleep it off in the parking lot in RVs. But their attorney, Gary Symonds, contends that the veterans should never have agreed to the camping ban, and he plans to seek a Superior Court injunction against the closure order.

If the veterans have to shut down the post early, they will have difficulty purchasing new quarters because they will be forced to sell the two-acre parcel on Sand Canyon Road for much less than the $495,000 asking price, Symonds said.

“Some people are hoping they can just go in and buy it for nothing,” Symonds said.

Nearby residents are unsympathetic to the veterans’ plight. Campers have been seen defecating and urinating in the unpaved parking lot of the post, among other annoyances, said homeowner Dick Christiansen.

“Our position is they should go someplace where the usage is more compatible with the neighborhood,” he said.