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Owner of now-defunct park says city of Alamogordo ignored similar problems for years.
Man Bok Won, also known as David Won, the owner of Mountain View Trailer Park, was ordered Tuesday to pay $1,190 in fines and court fees after being found guilty in Alamogordo Municipal Court in connection with health hazards at the park, the Alamogordo Daily News reported. Won was found guilty on Feb. 26 of failing to obtain a building permit before performing plumbing work; failing to abate a health hazard after being notified; maintaining a structure unfit for human habitation; and maintaining premises injurious to public health and/or having premises with a cesspool that became a public-health menace, the Daily News reported. He was given a fine and a suspended 30-day jail sentence in Municipal Court, which was upheld Tuesday by state District Judge Jerry Ritter, the paper said. "The jail time was suspended (in Municipal Court) as a way of encouraging Mr. Won to fix the problems, but that did not occur," said Rebecca Ehler, legal adviser to the Alamogordo Department of Public Safety. "His truculent refusal shows that he does not feel he had to comply with the law. The raw sewage is a serious hazard for children and pets." But Ehler told the judge she agreed that the lack of jail time was appropriate because Won has since abandoned the property, the paper reported. The city of Alamogordo pulled the trailer park's water meter in 2006, and the business failed because the tenants no longer had water, said Won's attorney Miguel Garcia. The trailer park is now in foreclosure, Garcia said. Before the city of Alamogordo filed charges, Won filed suit against the city in late 2006, claiming his civil rights had been violated, according to the Daily News. The city won a partial summary judgement in the suit last year, and Won has said he ran out of money to continue his civil rights claims, which had ended up in U.S. District Court, the paper reported. "That park has been there nearly 60 years," Won told the Daily News in an earlier interview. "These problems were there long before I owned it. I feel like I am being singled out and blamed for something that was going on long before I ever came to Alamogordo. I do not believe that any of the previous owners of the trailer park had charges brought against them by the city."
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