HUNTINGTON BEACH : Photographer Will Make Waves in Court

Surf photographer Peter Schworer is heading for a courtroom confrontation with top city officials next month over his business of taking commercial pictures of people riding a make-believe surfboard on a replica of a big wave.

The city is prosecuting Schworer, 36, owner and president of the Mak’n Waves company, for allegedly operating his business without a special vending permit.

Schworer claims, however, that the Pierfest Committee, which organized a fund-raising event at the pier in August, asked him to operate his business in a parking lot next to the pier that weekend and the following Monday.

But city officials said the permit was good only through Sunday, when the pier festival ended, and that Schworer refused their requests to leave on Monday.

Finally, police impounded his photo prop and he had to pay $164 to recover it, he said.

The city attorney’s office also has charged him with a misdemeanor.

In response, Schworer had a friend serve six City Council members and two other top officials with subpoenas, ordering them to appear at his trial scheduled for Jan. 19 at West Orange County Municipal Court.

“They’re wasting my time; I’m going to waste their time,” Schworer said.

Community Services Director Ron Hagan, one of those subpoenaed, said he’s enforcing city policies to keep the beach from being cluttered with vendors and turned “into a side show.”

Deputy City Atty. William B. Sage said this week he intends to press on with the prosecution.

Sage said the subpoenas delivered at the council meeting were a form of harassment and that Schworer was “attempting to make a joke” of his differences with officials.

Schworer, who will act as his own attorney, said the trial is an example of city officials “wasting taxpayers’ money.”