Wade responds to Albuagh’s ‘good-old friend’ characterization
Jessica Wade, the owner of JandJ Performing Arts, responded to Lassen County District 4 Supervisor Aaron Albaugh’s comments regarding parents from her organization working the gates at August’s Hidden Woods Festival.
Wade appeared during public comment at the Lassen County Board of Supervisors Tuesday, Nov. 12 meeting to let Albaugh know how she felt about his allegations.
Seniors Angel Hammon, right, and Courtney Beckman, left, pose with JandJ Performing Arts owner Jessica Wade back in 2016. Beckman and Hammon are competitive dancers as well as Susanville City Kickettes. Beckman’s solos placed in the top 10 overall all season, and she ranked seventh on the national circuit. She also won judge’s awards for her overall performance elegance. Hammon competed as a hip-hop dancer and in the competitive category, taking home all elite gold placements. Both of these ladies graduated from Lassen High School in the top 25 in their class.“You guys had a discussion about my relationship with the fair last meeting you had,” Wade said. “I’m sure you can read about it if you forgot what you said because it was taken down and publicized all over.
“We’ve been working for the fair for like 25 years, just so you know. We’ve never had a contract with them, ever. You can go look it up for 25 years. This is multiple fair managers who have done that. We did work for the Hidden Woods Festival, and we had an invoice that you guys needed to pay us for the work that we did, and you had a little bit of an issue with that.
“And that’s OK, because you should have an issue with where your money’s going, but it’s the way that you spoke about a business in Susanville and the way you addressed the situation with it … ”
Newton then read Albaugh’s comments reported in lassennews.com, “‘I have a real problem with this, and I’m going to be voting no on it. There was no contract. This amount is excessive to me, in my opinion, and if it was for a less amount, possibly, but we’re going way over and above what normally happens there at those fair gates, and I think this is just a good old friendship deal to appease somebody’s friend …’
“Just so you know, that’s not how I work,” Wade continued, “and I have been in this county for 35 years. I have done tons of work for this county for free labor, for paid labor, you can look up all my stuff. So, for you to even remotely have so much naivete to say that this was a friendship deal, is actually extremely disrespectful, and I’m not going to ask for an apology from you because I think it will speak actually louder if you don’t apologize because, — I think I’m probably very riled up — I’ve been a young woman in the business world now for a long time. I’ve had to deal with a lot of different things from a lot of people, so I just hope as you move on as county supervisors that you get to know us a little bit better.
“This isn’t like two years. I’ve haven’t owned this business for two years. I’ve owned this business for 25 years. Right? I have 250 students in and out of my business every single week, and those types of jobs are done not for profit. They’re all given back to the students so that they can go and compete and buy their costumes. We have students who need that. So, these types of things are all for that. Again, you can go check it. It’s all public record.
“Next time, don’t take things so lightly that are really imposing something that’s extremely offensive. I’d just like to leave you with that. I appreciate all the work that you do. I hope you get to know us a little bit better, and maybe come out and see one of the 500 shows we do every single year. We were at the Veterans Day Parade yesterday after we spent the entire weekend in Reno competing, winning first place, getting all the things. We wrapped up the Veterans Day Parade walking in our heels — little kids, my 5-year-olds — in the pouring rain. For our community, right?
“That’s what we do. Thank you so much for listening, and I hope it changes.”
“Thank you,” Albaugh said.
