[Greetings to our visitors from The Washington Post.]
By Dan McDermott
Warren County Report
In the days since the Washington Post first reported that Tareq and Michaele Salahi were uninvited guests at Tuesday’s White House State Dinner, the Hume, VA winery they once called home has received several disturbing phone calls, according to the the winery’s tasting room manager.
Diane Weiss, who has worked at Oasis Winery since 2007, said the callers are dialing the wrong number. “If they want to vent to Tareq and Michaele, they need to call America’s Polo Cup. Tareq and Michaele have no affiliation with Oasis anymore,” she said.
Weiss said the winery had received about 7 abusive calls in the past few days. “Most are just nuisance calls. One said ‘You are terrorists who need to be removed from face of earth,'” she said.
Weiss said she has had to unplug the phones for periods of time and has plugged them back in periodically to check messages.
“Tareq and Michaele have not lived here since 2006. In Feb. 2008 the courts removed them from any affiliation with Oasis Winery,” she said.
Weiss said she hasn’t called police since the calls aren’t clearly threatening. “I know these are angry people. I understand that. But they don’t need to call us. I just don’t want some crackpot coming up here thinking Tareq and Michaele are part of Oasis Winery anymore. They don’t live here or work here or have anything to do with us,” she said.
Weiss said she plans to contact authorities if the calls get more threatening.
For now, Weiss said, she hopes to see more customers in to taste wine and fewer reporters.
Oasis Winery remains open for business on the weekends.
Secret Service agents visited the winery Friday morning in search of Tareq and Michaele Salahi.
They have declined to comment through their Facebook page.
Follow Dan on Twitter and Facebook.
Dan McDermott: editor@warrencountyreport.com
Not the first time the Obama White House has had gatecrashers.
See:
http://notionscapital.wordpress.com/2009/02/05/masked-raiders-infiltrate-white-house/
If they are not associated with the winery, why are their names featured prominently on the supposed official winery site?
http://www.oasiswine.com/
Michaele & Tareq Salahi send a big Cheers!
Grand Re-Opening of OASIS WINERY Slated for 2010
——
The link for the winery came from the America’s Polo Cup site, with Oasis Winery being a sponsor:
http://www.americaspolocup.com/officialpartners.php
Hi Tareq,
For others: Tareq and Corinne have been locked in a family feud for ownership of the Hume, VA winery and have competing websites. Corinne controls http://oasiswines.net while Tareq has http://www.oasiswine.com
Thanks, I just found that post. I’m NOT Tareq though, I was just pasting in what I saw on the website via the link I posted.
It can’t be both ways. It can’t be struggling for ownership AND not be associated. This article states “I just don’t want some crackpot coming up here thinking Tareq and Michaele are part of Oasis Winery anymore. They don’t live here or work here or have anything to do with us”
So which is it? Are they or aren’t they part of the winery? What do legal documents state? The link of http://oasiswines.net/ states “Owners Dirgham and Corinne Salahi”.
Think of it this way, I can’t start my own WCRNEWS site and make up whatever stories I want. Right? That would be a lie, fraud, and would make a mess of your genuine WCRNEWS site.
I couldn’t claim to support any cause using your name, I couldn’t make interviews about your business by saying it was mine. Something is wrong here. There just cannot be two sites representing the same business.
I’m working on a story now that will explain a lot of this. I agree it is very confusing.
The Salahi’s, Tareq and Michaela are obvious scammers. When I attended the America’s Polo Cup this year as their “Honorary Invited Guest” it was clear that they had no idea how to put on an event and something wasn’t right. They fluffed their way through it but I thought it was a true nightmare. Found out they just wanted me there to make their event look more legitimate, like most of the guests there.
These people are the shining example of perpetrating a fraud, much like Bernie Madoff. Look at Tareq’s Oasis website. He’s trying to sell everything including the vines, grapes and wine barrels that aren’t even his! Check out the ClubOasis link!
Word is, even if the Secret Service doesn’t get them, the long arm of the law has been trying to track these two down for other offenses for a while now.
Dan, sent you a mail that might help with your story, I have already posted a bunch of links elsewhere.
Craig, see if this sounds about right (I posted this elsewhere too), the quotations are me quoting someone else, and then responding:
“Looks like they were pals”…
That’s exactly how it’s supposed to appear. Hence all the name dropping and celebrity photos. It adds legitimacy to any claims they make, but it doesn’t make said claims legitimate.
Of course, having the money or organizing events will lead to contact with famous people. Having photos taken at events, especially as hosts or guests is something we’d all do. But what is done with those photos depends on the person.
One could create an entire story around a photo, and make it seem they were buddies with that person. But outside the event, on a specific date, what other photos exist?
If it’s a buddy, an old family friend, you’d expect a lot more photos to be around. You’d have dozens of verifiable photos for cheer leading or modeling. Legitimate architects, for example, show the magazines and dates that their plans were featured.
Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article/comments/view?f=/n/a/2009/11/29/national/w065910S75.DTL&plckFindCommentKey=CommentKey:9341993b-6ba6-42d3-a7ac-b8f7fa61a74a#CommentKey:9341993b-6ba6-42d3-a7ac-b8f7fa61a74a#ixzz0YOcB2rKo
And this:
“The only difference is that they belong to a different social class”
Not really. She’s a former cosmetics counter clerk from Nordstrom. His last apparent “job” was driving a limo.
A match made in heaven, whereby they both tired of doing for others, and decided to do for themselves, mimicking the people they usually served.
Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article/comments/view?f=/n/a/2009/11/30/national/w074135S90.DTL&plckFindCommentKey=CommentKey:fcceca97-3e3a-4a28-9676-2120735f6f74#CommentKey:fcceca97-3e3a-4a28-9676-2120735f6f74#ixzz0YOcPLBMG
One of the common signs of a scam is often said to be a large number of typographical errors. This is more commonly associated with spam email, but it also came to mind as I read through one amateurish punctuation error after the other on the Polo event website, especially in their press releases. Anyone who supposedly has access to the upper crust of society should also have access to a decently trained PR person and/or copy editor. They stink to high heaven and should be treated like radioactive waste.
I too noticed the grammar and spelling errors on their websites. Obviously, they did not hire a web designer either. The websites are quite amaturish and appear as if it was done by a high school student.
My observation is that these people have crossed the line from bad financial management to actual fraud. It will be no surprise if these two phony, narcissistic posers are prosecuted.
[…] is muddled even though their names are clearly on the website; the Warren County Report says that the couple are long disaffiliated with the winery. It's ok guys, they know Oprah- they must be nice […]