Aquarium board members and security guards ordered the company's employees out of the building, and when they resisted, citing contractual obligations, aquarium officials called the contract "a piece of paper," a JV China employee said.
Maureen T. Liccione, the chairwoman of the Bay Shore-Brightwaters Summit Council, an organization of 40 business, civic and educational leaders, said the Brentwood offer came at the same time the aquarium board learned that the property it expected to buy for parking might not be available.
Tells about people taking pictures all along the walk leading from the Department of Docks building past the Aquarium, passengers boarding the Coney Island excursion boat were also carrying cameras.
Although Don Miller, a spokesman for the Long Island Aquarium, said the board had "no time frame on deciding whether to move," Mr. O'Connell said he understood the board would act this week.
"People will start asking, 'What are your results?' " Julie Packard, the director of the Monterey Bay Aquarium and a board member of her parents' foundation, the David and Lucile Packard Foundation, called the move toward auditing exciting.
The other six olms have been moved out of the aquarium, which is now boarded up, and some of the early eggs are showing signs of fetal development — the nubs of heads and backbones.
But Chiu Man, a Hong Kong-based businessman who identified himself as a founder, major investor and board member of the aquarium, said the aquarium was justified in all of its actions toward JV China according to his interpretation of the document.
In early October ,1997, the board members of the aquarium requested an independent evaluation of Keiko's health.
Several years ago, there were more tigers in private hands in Texas than in all the nation's accredited zoos, according to Palmer Krantz III, the chairman of the board at the Association of Zoos and Aquariums.
But if board members decide to move the aquarium, Mr. McGowan said, "they certainly owe an explanation to the people of Bay Shore".
In addition to its popularity, drawing about 2 million visitors annually, the aquarium has been profitable and financially solid, then-board chairman Ty Fahner said at the time of Beattie's retirement announcement.
