He says it all started with $220 in car damage.
Jones and his wife, Mary, hold a weekly Bible study at their home that sometimes attracts more than 20 people, with occasional parking issues. Once, a car belonging to a neighbor's visitor got dinged.
David Jones paid for the damage, but he thinks the incident spurred a complaint to the county.
A code enforcement officer warned the couple in April for holding a ?religious assembly? without a permit. The action became an international incident when it was reported last week on the Web site worldnetdaily.com.
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Chandra Wallar, the county's general manager of land use and environment, said the county has re-examined the situation and decided that the Joneses don't need a permit after all.
Religious assembly, under the county land-use code, is defined as ?religious services involving public assembly such as customarily occurs in synagogues, temples, and churches.?
Wallar said that definition, which doesn't spell out specific thresholds on when a religious gathering becomes a religious assembly, probably needs to be clarified and that more training may be warranted for code enforcement officers.
She said the county was not targeting the Joneses because they were exercising their religion, but rather it was trying to address parking and traffic issues.
?We've advised the pastor he has the authority to continue to hold his meetings just as he's held them,? Wallar said. ?My hope is we will be able to resolve the traffic concerns.?
Wallar said the person who filed the complaint alleged that Bible study was drawing 30 to 40 cars.
In an interview yesterday, the pastor said at most, there are six additional cars on Bible study day. Jones, pastor of South Bay Community Church in National City, said he has visitors park in a lot that he owns beside his house.
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?Even though the county is saying it's about traffic and parking, it's a fake issue. It's a fabricated issue,? Broyles said.
According to Broyles, the code enforcement officer asked a series of pointed questions during her visit with the Joneses ? questions such as, ?Do you sing?? ?Do you say 'amen?' ? ?Do you say 'praise the Lord?' ?
Wallar said the county is investigating what questions were asked and in what context. She said a code enforcement officer does have to ask questions about how a place is being used to determine what land-use codes are applicable.
?Our county simply does not tolerate our employee straying outside what the appropriate questions are,? Wallar said.
Ekard, the top county executive, emphasized in his statement that he would get to the bottom of the matter.
?Should I find that county staff at any level acted in a heavy-handed way; did anything inappropriate under the circumstances; or that a change or revision to our processes and procedures is warranted, I will take appropriate action immediately,? he said.
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