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Los Angeles Times
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- Politics
- Los Angeles Times
Punted from coaching after social media post blows up, Kluwe sues Huntington Beach Union High School District
Good morning. It's Wednesday, July 30. I'm Carol Cormaci, bringing you this week's TimesOC newsletter with a look at some of the latest local news and events from around the county. As I was wrapping up this week's edition I learned of the 8.7-magnitude earthquake in Russia and the subsequent tsunami watch, a precautionary alert, that went into effect for coastal California Tuesday night. I'm hoping everyone will be safe and dry, and that if you have loved ones in impacted regions that they, too have remained unharmed. One of the Orange County news stories that gained a lot of attention this week was the one my colleague Matt Szabo wrote about a former NFL punter who is suing Huntington Beach Union High School District. Chris Kluwe, an outspoken activist who was arrested at a Huntington Beach City Council meeting in the past for an act of civil disobedience, is the plaintiff. In the lawsuit filed Monday, he and his attorneys maintain that when the school district fired him from his job coaching freshman football in February over a social media post he made that was critical of the City Council, they violated his 1st and 14th Amendment rights. Kluwe took down the post, but of course once something's out there in the ether it never really disappears. A community member, Chris Epting, cropped the post before it had been taken down to make it look more threatening than intended, Kluwe contends, then distributed it. Epting is also named in the lawsuit. A little background for context: The night he was arrested in council chambers, Kluwe had been making a public comment about the plaque featured the controversial MAGA acrostic that the City Council approved to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Central Library. According to this week's news article, around that time Kluwe also posted on Bluesky, 'encouraging people to stop complaining to the library, and start complaining to the City Council. 'Stop [expletive] with the library,' the post read. 'That's what the City Council is doing. The library is great, as are the people who work there. Go [expletive] with the City Council. Find where they work, and blow *those* places up.' Kluwe says he didn't mean to actually encourage violent acts at council members' workplaces, but something more along the lines of blowing up their phones with complaints, but that last part was read as incendiary and the school district wasted no time in giving Kluwe his walking papers. 'With any level of investigation, the school district would have discovered that a group of politically-motivated MAGA loyalists had launched a campaign to 'cancel' Kluwe — i.e., to get him fired because his liberal politics and calls for him to run for City Council disgusted them,' the lawsuit alleges, in part. HBUSD officials, through a spokesperson, declined to comment on the suit. Kluwe, a Democrat, recently announced he would be running for election to represent District 72 the state Assembly. If he follows through on that campaign, he'll be pitted against one of his far right nemesis, none other than Gracey Van Der Mark, one of the self-described 'MAGA-nificent 7' on the City Council who made it her mission to get 'obscene' publications off the children's shelves at the public library and approved the 50th anniversary plaque that prominently features the MAGA acrostic. The formal procession for Fountain Valley Fire Chief Bill McQuaid to honor his life and service. His hearse drives past Fountain Valley City Hall on Tuesday. • If you were on the road between 11 a.m. and noon yesterday, you may have seen fire apparatuses from various fire departments staged on overpasses of the 5, the 55 and the 405 freeways. They were there to show their respects for Bill McQuaid, the Fountain Valley fire chief who died unexpectedly Friday at the age of 57 when he was on a bodyboarding trip to Huntington State Beach. The somber procession wound its way along the freeways as it transported McQuaid from the coroner's office, past Fountain Valley City Hall and to a mortuary. • A proposed Meritage Homes project that would bring a 142-unit housing development to the site of the old Trinity Broadcasting Network headquarters on Bear Street has passed muster with the Costa Mesa Planning Commission and will next be considered by the City Council, according to this Daily Pilot report. • You may have heard there's been an uptick of COVID this summer. The test positivity rate in Orange County is at 6.3% and increasing, the L.A. Times reports, but 'still below recent years for this time of the year,' according to Dr. Christopher Zimmerman, deputy medical director of the Orange County Health Care Agency. • Citing little in the way of results, a four-year pilot program to seed clouds in hopes of bringing more rainfall to the Santa Ana River Watershed that got underway in late 2023 was canceled this month. 'There was not strong evidence of a significant precipitation increase. If there was any success, it was very low, especially compared to other instances of cloud seeding in other regions,' Emily Fuentes, spokesperson for the Santa Ana Watershed Project Authority, explained. • Two members of the Orange City Council asked their colleagues last week to consider passing a resolution that would take a stance against the use of facial coverings by federal immigration agents rounding up undocumented immigrants. Councilmembers Arianna Barrios and Ana Gutierrez were unable to persuade the others to get on board with their idea. 'They don't have to listen to the city of Orange,' Councilmember Jon Dumitru said. 'In the end, it's a piece of paper that doesn't matter. Santa Ana [a declared sanctuary city] even backed away from passing a resolution like this.' • Seimone Jurjis, who has served as assistant city manager of Newport Beach for the past two years, will succeed City Manager Grace Leung when she retires in December, the City Council decided last week. Jurjis's salary will start at $363,000 annually, according to the Daily Pilot report. This change of City Hall leadership has raised some eyebrows in the community. Some residents objected to the appointment of the insider to the city manager post without opening the process up to applicants, while others decried the $455,000 payout the City Council recently approved for Leung. Craig Charron was sentenced Friday to 26 years to life for the murder of his estranged girlfriend, Laura Sardinha. • Craig Charron, who was convicted in the spring of fatally stabbing his estranged girlfriend, Laura Sardinha, in her Huntington Beach apartment almost five years ago, was sentenced Friday to 26 years to life in prison. According to the L.A. Times, Orange County Superior Court Judge Michael Cassidy called it a 'senseless and brutal' crime and gave Charron the maximum sentence allowed by law. • An Irvine man on Monday was charged with a racially motivated road rage incident that took place on San Canyon Avenue on the morning of July 22, City News Service reported. Robert Leon Tackett, 54, was charged with assault with a deadly weapon, violation of civil rights, assault with force likely to produce great bodily injury and inflicting injury on an elder adult, all felonies. Investigators asked anyone with relevant information about Tackett to contact them at rsteen@ Mike Trout runs after hitting a home run during the fifth inning of a baseball game against the Seattle Mariners on Sunday in Anaheim. It was his 1,000 RBI and 397th career home run. • It was an eventful weekend for the Angels. On Friday night, Angels outfielder Chris Taylor broke his left hand for the second time this season and is expected to be sidelined for at least six weeks. His teammate Mike Trout on Sunday hit a two-run homer in the fifth inning of a game against the Seattle Mariners to reach his 1,000 career RBI. It was his 397th career homer and 19th this season as the Angels beat the Seattle Mariners 4-1. And, although it wasn't one of the Angels hitting this milestone, the crowd on Saturday night witnessed Seattle's Cal Raleigh become the first player to hit 40 homers this season when the Mariners beat the Halos, 7-2. • Anaheim Ducks goalie Lukas Dostal signed a five-year contract on Thursday to remain with the team, according to an Associated Press story in the L.A. Times. 'Lukas has proven he is a No. 1 goaltender and we are so pleased to get this deal done,' Ducks general manager Pat Verbeek told the AP. • The North Irvine Beast Boys, comprised of players from different high schools, beat the Newport Beach Water Polo Club to win the 18-and-under gold medal match of the USA Water Polo Junior Olympics last week at the Woollett Aquatics Center in Irvine. On Sunday, the Saddleback-El Toro Water Polo Club Black also captured gold in the 18U girls division when it beat beat Regency, 8-5, and they made history in doing so, as they were the first girls club since the tournament began in 1989 to win three consecutive 18-under Platinum Division titles. Additional coverage of the competition can be found here. • A member of Palisades Tennis Club in Newport Beach, Cynthia Neiman, was recently elected to serve as the board president of the Southern California section of the United States Tennis Assn., the first female in its 138-year history to hold that position. The O'Brien family stand behind their 'Giant Fish' sculpture, which captured first place Saturday in the Balboa Island Family Sandcastle Contest. • A fair share of beachside brilliance was going on last Saturday when families competed in the annual Balboa Island Family Sandcastle Contest put on by a legendary local sandcastle expert, Chris Crosson, and the Balboa Island Improvement Assn. Artist Angel Acordagoitia paints the movie poster for 'Bride of Frankenstein' in the 'Rewind' exhibit at the O.C. Fair. • My colleague Andrew Turner was checking out some of the exhibits at the Orange County Fair last week when he came across 'Rewind: A VHS Revival.' A major component of the exhibit is the spotlight its curator, Joy Feuer, put on the artists and processes behind the creation of movie posters. You can read his in-depth feature story on 'Rewind.' Robyne Wood stands in the food pantry operated by the nonprofit Robyne's Nest. She plans to step back from the organization in January. • The founder of the Huntington Beach nonprofit Robyne's Nest, which assists at-risk and homeless high school students, has decided she will step back from her decade-long position at the helm the organization in January. Robyne Wood, who started it all with a food pantry for the teens, has been the catalyst for the nonprofit's growth, her admirers told the Daily Pilot. Today, in addition to the pantry, it operates a mental health and wellness program, a shared transitional living house for abandoned and neglected teens and a thrift shop that's open to the public. Co-owners Mike DeSanti and Joey Clark, from left, stand inside the new Board & Brew in downtown Laguna Beach. • A new Board & Brew sandwich shop opened up last week on Coast Highway at Ocean Avenue in downtown Laguna Beach, making it the 33rd location for the chain that opened its first eatery in Del Mar back in 1979. 'Infant Memory' by Jose M Loza, on display at the 41st Irvine Annual showcase of artworks at the Irvine Fine Arts Center. The juried show features artwork from local, regional, and national artists who works across a variety of visual media. • The 41st Irvine Annual, a juried art exhibition, features a range of mediums, including painting, sculpture, photography, mixed media and fiber that can be displayed on a wall, a new requirement this year. The show runs through Aug. 30 at the Irvine Fine Arts Center, 14321 Yale Ave. For more details visit A pile of wreckage is all that remains after a Motorhome Madness demolition derby at the O.C. fairgrounds. • There's still time to buy tickets for Motorhome Madness taking place at 7:30 tonight and tomorrow night in the Action Sports Arena at the Orange County Fair. Area mayors and first responders will be battling it out in a demolition derby for a good cause: all proceeds benefit Children's Hospital Orange County. Tickets include free same-day admission to the Fair . To purchase seats or donate directly to the cause, visit . Until next week, Carol We appreciate your help in making this the best newsletter it can be. Please send news tips, your memory of life in O.C. (photos welcome!) or comments to
Los Angeles Times
09-07-2025
- Los Angeles Times
Illegal fireworks at the hands of teen caused Rancho fire, invesitgators believe. Could embers reignite as temps rise?
Good morning. It's Wednesday, July 9. I'm Carol Cormaci, bringing you this week's TimesOC newsletter with a look at some of the latest local news and events from around the county. It's hard to believe since the images are still so clear in my mind, but it's been six months since January's devastating wildfires in Los Angeles County that took the lives of 30 people. Investigations continue into exact causes of both the Palisades and Eaton fires, but in the case of the former there was reportedly some evidence it may have been caused when a New Year's Eve fire dubbed the Lachman fire, possibly started by fireworks and thought to have been extinguished, was rekindled during the fierce winds that blasted through the Southland the first week of 2025. So it's not stretch to imagine today how Laguna Beach residents might be eyeing somewhat nervously the brush-covered terrain on their hillsides where a blaze dubbed the Rancho fire broke out just after 2 p.m. Monday near Rancho Laguna Road and Morningside Drive. Evacuation orders were swiftly issued along La Mirada Street, Katella Street, Summit Drive and Baja Street. Arch Beach Heights also received an evacuation warning. By nightfall, fire officials believed the blaze was well enough under control that those orders had been lifted. Our photographer, Don Leach, who was dispatched to document the fire with photos for our paper, told me in one of our phone calls Monday that it looked to him as though firefighters were doing a great job keeping the fire from getting out of hand. He spoke with some awe in his voice of the amount of fire retardant that was being dropped from Cal Fire planes. The Rancho fire grew to over 4 acres and, as of yesterday morning, was at 50% containment. The cause? A youth allegedly started it by using illegal fireworks. 'Laguna Beach police detectives took a 13-year-old boy into custody on suspicion of committing felony reckless burning of forest land,' the Daily Pilot reported. 'Video evidence was obtained showing an individual igniting a firework and fleeing the scene, police said.' Because there were no injuries and no immediate threat to structures, Orange County Juvenile Hall didn't accept the 13-year-old and he was released to the custody of his parents. Temps are expected to reach into the low 80s today and tomorrow in Laguna Beach, which could further dry vegetation on those picturesque hillsides and increase fire danger outside of the acreage already scorched by Monday's conflagration. But, provided the Rancho fire is completely extinguished soon and unexpected gusts of wind do not stir any hidden, lingering embers, Laguna Beach, which has been proactive in its fire mitigation plans may escape almost entirely unharmed this time around. If only Pacific Palisades could have been so lucky. • Heidi Plummer, vice president of the Orange County Women Lawyers Assn. and co-founder of the Newport Beach Bock & Plummer firm, is the woman I mentioned in an earlier newsletter who said she was walking in a park June 14 to clear her head following the funeral of a loved one when she was swept up in an ICE raid. My colleague Gabriel San Román interviewed Plummer and her attorney, Jesse Rivera, for this story published Sunday in the Daily Pilot/TimesOC. Rivera's description of the incident: 'Plummer, while peaceably walking in Centennial Park, was stopped, detained, handcuffed, arrested and transported to a federal facility in Santa Ana by individuals dressed in black military fatigues with the identification of ICE on their clothing. The vehicles were unmarked.' An ICE spokesperson, who asked not to be identified, told San Román via email that 'there is no record backing her claims.' • ICE activities may have been the reason behind a 25% dip in attendance this year at the annual Fish Fry held in Costa Mesa's Lions Park the last weekend in June. 'ICE was two blocks away at 19th and Newport, and we didn't know what they were gearing up for, but we were on the lookout,' Costa Mesa-Newport Harbor Lions President Cabot Harvey told the Daily Pilot. 'I spoke to several Latino families who told me the same thing — people were just too afraid to come.' • Area residents who want to preserve the Newport Beach Golf Course as is rather than allow a developer to go forward with a proposed surf lagoon project in the middle of it got together last Thursday for a rally. Benny Hallock, the chairman of the group Save Newport Beach Golf Course, told the Daily Pilot thousands of signatures have been collected in support of saving the popular 18-hole, 59-par executive course at 3100 Irvine Ave. But the Snug Harbor Surf Park project is continues to work its way through the approval stages, with public hearings expected in August and September. • Following up on a tip from a concerned member of the public, officers with Orange County Animal Control rescued at least 120 cats from a residence in the 2600 block of Balfour Avenue in Fullerton, according to this City News Service report. An Animal Control spokesperson said the cats didn't appear to have been mistreated, but that there were just too many of them in the home. Several were ill with some form of a contagious disease and will be treated, then put up for adoption. • Hundreds of people spending their Fourth of July holiday at Orange County beaches had to be rescued by lifeguards after they were caught up in monster rip currents. At Newport Beach, the tally of rescues hit 350 people Friday; at Huntington Beach the number reported the same day was pegged at 152. • Charges were pending as of Monday against a Buena Park homeowner who allegedly operated an illegal Fourth of July fireworks display that misfired at 9:45 p.m. Friday, fatally injuring 8-year-old Jasmine Nguyen of Anaheim, City News Service reported. • In the run-up to Independence Day, Costa Mesa police ran an operation that led to three arrests and the seizure of 1,339 pounds of illegal fireworks, drugs and a gun, the Daily Pilot reported. Suspects involved in the busts were detained for attempting to sell illegal fireworks online to officers who posed as customers and met the would-be sellers at locations around town. • A 21-year-old man from Orange, Nathan Ethan Avina, was arrested Sunday morning after he allegedly fatally struck a pedestrian at the intersection of Atlanta Avenue and Delaware Street in Huntington Beach at about 12:45 am. Sunday. Due to suspected impairment, police arrested Avina at the scene. • Brian Campbell, who was born in Newport Beach and grew up in Irvine, earned his second PGA Tour victory and just over $1.5 million Sunday in a sudden-death playoff at the John Deere Classic in Silvis, Ill. This week the 32-year-old is in Scotland, where the Genesis Scottish Open takes place tomorrow through Monday. • Benjamin Royer, a reporting intern for The Times, dives into a look at how well Angels interim manager Ray Montgomery is faring just three weeks into his current role. In his story, Royer also examines the managerial strategies of Montgomery, as compared to those of Ron Washington, who is out on medical leave from the top job. • One-time Angel Bobby Jenks, a two-time All-Star closer and World Series champion with the Chicago White Sox, died Friday in Portugal, where he was treated for a form of stomach cancer, the team announced Saturday. He was 44. • Seal Beach resident Pat Pattison recently learned one of the 30-minute episodes of his local TV show, 'Pat Pattison's Best of California,' has been nominated for a regional Emmy award. The show airs on Sunday mornings at 7:30 a.m. on MeTV station KAZA-TV Los Angeles. The nominated episode is 'Our World War II: California, Part 1,' which aired last November, according to this Daily Pilot feature story. • Fans of adult romance novels have a new Orange County bookstore that caters especially to them, the Daily Pilot reports, as Mystic Box Bookshop opened in downtown Huntington Beach on June 14. The business is operated by Kate Benito and her husband, Phil, who first established an online presence offering a bimonthly subscription service, where two hardcover books advertised as dark, mafia or forbidden are mailed out to subscribers. Their brick-and-mortar location is at 221 Main St., Huntington Beach and is open Tuesday through Friday from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m., and Saturdays and Sundays from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. • The Times reports Disneyland's Haunted Mansion will temporarily close beginning Aug. 11 so the ride can undergo its annual transformation into Haunted Mansion Holiday in time for the Halloween season, a makeover inspired by 'The Nightmare Before Christmas.' • The Anaheim Packing District is hosting its annual World Taste event featuring food samples from about 20 different vendors on from 5 to 9 p.m. on Wednesday, July 16. Anaheim Packing District at 440 S. Anaheim Blvd. For tickets and additional info, visit • Jazz saxophonist Eric Marienthal presents the Eric Marienthal and Friends concert to benefit the High Hopes Head Injury Program at 6 p.m. this Sunday, July 13. This year's featured guest is Boney James and the event will be held at the Hyatt Regency Newport Beach, 1107 Jamboree Road. VIP tickets are $175; general tickets are $75 and can be purchased here. • For the whole family: Phantom Projects Theatre will present its second annual summer all-youth musical, Seussical, Jr., from July 11 to 27. The production, featuring nearly 70 students between the ages of 8 and 18 from Los Angeles and Orange counties, is offered to the participating kids without charging any fees, tuition, or costume charges. Tickets to the musical can be purchased by calling (714) 690-2900 or visiting the Phantom Projects Theatre website. Until next week,Carol We appreciate your help in making this the best newsletter it can be. Please send news tips, your memory of life in O.C. (photos welcome!) or comments to
Los Angeles Times
02-07-2025
- General
- Los Angeles Times
Trudging across sand, impossible for many, can be made easier. Grants are now available via Coastkeeper
Good morning. It's Wednesday, July 2, which means the Fourth of July is upon us. I'm Carol Cormaci, bringing you this week's TimesOC newsletter with a look at some of the latest local news and events from around the county. If you currently live in O.C. and are still deciding how you might celebrate Independence Day, I invite you to scroll down to the Calendar section at the end of this week's newsletter. The local story that most resonated with me over the past several days was essentially a brief look at Orange County Coastkeeper's efforts toward easing the way for people with mobility challenges to make their way across spans of sand to reach the ocean. It's a personal issue for me, as I live with some annoyingly hyper-mobile joints that have propensity to dislocate with the slightest twist or turn, causing me to fall. They can make trudging across the beach for a dip in the beautiful blue Pacific not only embarrassing for me, but sometimes quite painful. The article, written by my colleague Matt Szabo, is about some $300,000 worth of grants funds the nonprofit O.C. Coastkeeper, working with the California State Coastal Conservancy, has announced were made available this year to help organizations purchase, maintain and promote beach accessibility equipment. Such equipment includes items like beach wheelchairs, walkers, mats and kayaks. It's the mats in particular that make my heart sing. They make it possible to walk across the sands in a safe way. The program started in May 2024 and distributed $100,000 during its first round of grants. Applicants can ask for up to $30,000 of funding at a time. Crystal Cove Conservancy was among those to receive a grant and the city of Newport Beach has applied for funds to replace one of its beach wheelchairs. 'I'm just loving doing this whole thing,' Genesee Ouyang, the education director at Orange County Coastkeeper, told Szabo. 'I've been talking about expanding our accessibility efforts since I started working at Coastkeeper, and the fact that this project came around was like destiny. It's really exciting, because this is definitely an issue that everyone agrees on. Literally, nobody that we've interacted with has been like, 'That's a dumb thing to fund.' Everyone is like, 'Wow, that's incredible, we need this.'' Ouyang said there is about $75,000 accounted for in the second round of founding, so $200,000 is not yet spoken for. There is no deadline to apply; the funds are available until they run out. To learn more about the beach and coast accessibility program or to apply for a grant, visit • Santa Ana elected officials are seeking a way out from what some are calling a continued 'occupation' by National Guard troops of the only sanctuary city in Orange County, according to this Daily Pilot/TimesOC story. Santa Ana Councilmember David Peñaloza wrote a letter to Rep. Young Kim, a Republican who represents the 40th congressional district, apprising her of the city's situation and urging her to work with Rep. Lou Correa, a Democrat whose 46th district includes Santa Ana, in demanding the removal of the troops. • In another story related to ICE operations, the L.A. Times reported in this article Monday that seven California Republican lawmakers, including Orange County Assemblywoman Diane Dixon (72nd District), on June 27 sent a letter to President Trump urging him to direct ICE and DHS to focus on targeting violent criminals instead of non-criminal migrants. 'Unfortunately, the recent ICE workplace raids on farms, at construction sites, and in restaurants and hotels, have led to unintended consequences that are harming the communities we represent and the businesses that employ our constituents,' they wrote in their letter. • The U.S. Justice Department last Wednesday sued O.C. Registrar of Voters Bob Page to access records on efforts to remove ineligible voters and accusing his office of failing to maintain an accurate voter list. The registrar identified over a five-year period 17 noncitizens who had registered to vote, Page told the DOJ. Those people either 'self-reported' that they were not citizens or were deemed ineligible, Page said. He sent the names, dates of birth and addresses of those 17 people to federal officials, but, following state law, redacted sensitive information such as Social Security and driver's license numbers. James Steinmann, a supervising deputy counsel for the county, said he asked DOJ officials the day before the suit was filed if it was possible to work around the disclosure of the private information but got no response. • Two Muslim women on Monday filed a federal lawsuit alleging O.C. sheriff's deputies forced them to remove their hijabs, thereby possibly exposing their heads to men, after they were arrested May 15, 2024 at a pro-Palestinian encampment on the UC Irvine campus. The suit, announced during a news conference yesterday, names the County of Orange, O.C. Sheriff Don Barnes and unnamed deputies as defendants. 'My hijab is the ultimate sign of my faith,' one of the plaintiffs said. 'This was an attack, not only on myself, but every Muslim woman on that day.' A sheriff's department spokesperson, Carrie Braun, told the Daily Pilot/TimesOC that the claims made during the news conference were 'misleading' and 'inaccurate.' • On a split, 3-2 vote, the Cypress City Council on June 23 approved a $98-million capital improvement program that also gave City Manager Peter Grant the authority to approve some public works projects without seeking council approval, as a pilot program. The council members who dissented expressed reservations related to the fact the council and the public would not be able to see all the details of the contracts Grant approves. • With Costa Mesa Police Chief Ron Lawrence retiring last Friday, Deputy Chief Joyce LaPointe was named his interim replacement, city officials announced. In 2020, LaPointe was sworn in as the CMPD's first female captain and in April 2023, she was promoted to deputy chief, also a first for the department. • The Seal Beach Police Department on June 23 held active shooter training at McGaugh Elementary School, bringing in officers and first responders from neighboring agencies, including the Orange County Fire Authority. Police Capt. Nick Nicholas told the Daily Pilot the deadliest mass shooting to date in the county, the October 12, 2011 Salon Meritage massacre in Seal Beach, was the impetus to stage such drills regularly. • Newport Beach has received a $170,000 grant from FEMA that will allow its police department to participate in the U.S. Department of Homeland Security's Operation Stonegarden, which aims to enhance cooperation between law enforcement agencies to raise the level of U.S. border and California coastline security. Small vessels known as panga boats, which are often used to smuggle migrants and narcotics into the United States, have been frequently seen off the coast in Newport Beach and Laguna Beach. • E-bikes are ubiquitous now, but not all youths who ride them are trained in safe practices. In Huntington Beach, which had 147 e-bike crashes reported in 2024, police recently addressed the issue by instituting a free, police-led student e-bike safety program. A special 70-minute course was launched last Wednesday. Officials said that the Huntington Beach Union High School District is reviewing the program for potential district-wide adoption this fall. If approved, it could become a mandatory requirement for students who ride e-bikes to school. • A self-proclaimed skinhead, Mission Viejo resident Tyson Theodore Mayfield, was convicted June 23 of berating and menacing a pregnant Black woman and threatening the life of her unborn child when he encountered her sitting on a bus bench in Fullerton seven years ago. Mayfield is due back in court Aug. 29 where faces a sentence of at least 38 years in prison. According to the L.A. Times report on the conviction, Mayfield in 2005 was convicted for felony assault with a deadly weapon and felony mayhem in 2008. He was also charged and convicted of a misdemeanor hate crime using a racial slur and punching a man in 2017. • A few crime-related items reported by City News Service over the past week: — Orange County sheriff's investigators yesterday asked for the public's help in finding a hit-and-run driver who allegedly struck down a pedestrian at 10 p.m. Friday at the intersection of La Cresta Drive and Silver Lantern Street in Dana Point. Anyone who might have helpful information is asked to call (949) 425-1860. — Deborah Masako Webb, 62, of Mission Viejo was arrested last week on suspicion of killing a motorcyclist in a collision at Trabuco Road and Via Victoria on the night of June 24. She was booked on suspicion of gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated. The victim was Anthony Balsamo, 32, also of Mission Viejo. — A man with a criminal history of setting fires was sentenced last week to four years in prison for igniting a small blaze on Williams Canyon Road in Silverado Canyon. Under a plea agreement, Jeremy Ryan Shaw, 45, was given credit for 524 days he'd already served behind bars. — Johnell Marquise Jackson, a 40-year-old Fullerton resident, was sentenced last Wednesday to 100 years to life in prison for shooting a man outside a store in Santa Ana over a dispute sparked by two vehicles touching bumpers in a Santa Ana parking lot on Feb. 18, 2024. • Kobee Minor, the last pick in the NFL draft this year, was feted last week as the the 50th Mr. Irrelevant, a longtime annual tradition in Newport Beach. Minor hails from a town 35 miles northwest of Dallas and, according to this Daily Pilot feature, had never before visited a beach. Minor played college football for the Texas Tech Red Raiders, the Indiana Hoosiers and the Memphis Tigers before the New England Patriots chose him in this year's draft, giving him the ticket to be honored locally as Mr. Irrelevant. • Professional golfer and Costa Mesa resident Jake Knapp broke the Detroit Golf Club record during the second round of the Rocket Classic tournament, just one day after two other players, Kevin Roy and Aldrich Potgieter set it during the first round. You can find the Detroit Free Press report on the feat here. (By the end of the third day 20-year-old Potgieter, the youngest player on the tour, emerged as tournament champ.) • Angels manager Ron Washington, 73, who stepped aside from his duties a little over a week ago to undisclosed health concerns, will remain on medical leave for the rest of the season, it was announced Friday. Bench coach Ray Montgomery was named interim manager. • The 89th annual Flight of Newport boat race, presented by the Commodores Club of the Newport Beach Chamber of Commerce with assistance from the Balboa Yacht Club, will take place on Sunday, July 13. There is no charge to enter the race. Each registered participant, who must provide their own boat, will receive a Flight of Newport T-shirt. For more information and to sign up, visit • Make-A-Wish Orange County and the Inland Empire will be the beneficiary of funds raised during the 5th annual Pickleball for Wishes Tournament set for Saturday, Aug. 2, from 2 to 7 p.m. at the Tennis and Pickleball Club at Newport Beach, 11 Newport Drive. Pickleball newbies can join a free beginner's clinic in the morning, followed by tournaments for advanced, intermediate and beginner players. Spectator tickets, team entries and corporate sponsor teams are available at • Roger's Gardens in Corona del Mar is planning its Hummingbird Summer showcase, which will open July 11 and run through Aug. 10, from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily. Shoppers can round up their purchase to the nearest dollar and Roger's Gardens has pledged to match the donation, with the proceeds going to the Sea and Sage Audubon Society, an Orange County chapter of the National Audubon Society. • As promised, here's a list that was curated by my colleague Sarah Mosqueda of some of the professional fireworks displays planned for Friday night. You can learn more information about each of them and additional activities here, on the Daily Pilot/TimesOC website.— Newport Dunes Waterfront Resort & Marina, 1131 Back Bay Drive, Newport Beach. Fireworks at 9 p.m.— Doheny State Beach, 25300 Dana Point Harbor Drive, Dana Point. Fireworks at 9 p.m.— The Great Park, 8000 Great Park Blvd., Irvine. Fireworks at 9 p.m. Also, the Pacific Symphony will perform music of Jimmy Buffett, the Beach Boys and more from 8 to 10:15 p.m. on the stage at Great Park Live. Tickets start at $44. For more details, email info@ or call the box office at (714) 755-5799.— Huntington Beach Pier, 325 Pacific Coast Highway, Huntington Beach. Fireworks at 9 p.m— Heisler Park, 361 Cliff Drive, Laguna Beach. Fireworks at 9 p.m.— Laguna Niguel Regional Park, 28241 La Paz Road, Laguna Niguel. Fireworks at 9 p.m.— Tustin 4th of July Celebration, 1171 El Camino Real, Tustin. Fireworks at 9 p.m.— Centennial Park, 3000 W. Edinger Ave., Santa Ana. Fireworks at 8:45 p.m. I'll leave you with this thought as the star-spangled weekend nears during this year of turmoil. It's attributed to Elmer Davis (1890-1958), an American journalist: 'This nation will remain the land of the free only so long as it is the home of the brave.' Wishing you and yours a happy and safe Fourth,Carol We appreciate your help in making this the best newsletter it can be. Please send news tips, your memory of life in O.C. (photos welcome!) or comments to
Los Angeles Times
25-06-2025
- Politics
- Los Angeles Times
Chilled by fear: ICE raids cast a pall over Orange County households, businesses
Good morning. It's Wednesday, June 25. I'm Carol Cormaci, bringing you this week's TimesOC newsletter with a look at some of the latest local news and events from around the county. The stories about Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids in Orange County keep coming. There are reports of restaurants and other businesses struggling, either due to having decimated staffs or a precipitous drop in customers — including Latino American citizens who are afraid to set foot outside their homes lest they be whisked into vans by masked men and taken to a detention center. If one of the goals of the Department of Homeland Security with the local ICE operation tactics is to sow fear, that mission has been accomplished, based on what TimesOC's Gabriel San Román reported from a day out in the field when he interviewed vendors at Anaheim Indoor Marketplace, day laborers on the street and a restaurateur in Santa Ana. At the marketplace, where many stands have been shuttered and remaining operators are worried they won't be able to pay rent, one vendor who asked not to be identified despite the fact they are a U.S. citizen, acknowledged the somber mood hovering in the air and the dearth of customers. 'Hopefully, things will get better soon,' the vendor told the reporter. 'But right now, it seems like [ICE] is approaching anyone who is Latino.' One incident that came to our attention last week is the experience of a Newport Beach attorney with a 'very American name,' as she said, who was walking in an O.C. park when she was detained by ICE agents, handcuffed and transported to a processing center. 'There was no warning, no rhyme or reason...,' the attorney told Douglas Sanders of the Daily Journal, who broke the story. '...Their goal was to get as many people as they could into their vans and go. Act fast, ask questions after the fact, and let the consequences be damned.' She said that about an hour and a half after she was hustled to the center she was told she could leave. She had to find her own way home, though. The L.A. Times reported that Narciso Barranco, an immigrant whose son Alejandro says had recently applied to become a U.S. citizen, was working outside of a Santa Ana IHOP on Saturday when he was violently detained by several masked federal agents. The encounter was documented on a video that went viral showing Barranco being taken down, pinned and punched over and over again by the agents after he'd tried unsuccessfully to run away from them. 'The younger Barranco told The Times on Sunday that his father was pepper sprayed and beaten, and that his shoulder was dislocated,' the paper reported. 'After speaking with him Sunday at about 6 p.m., Barranco said his father had not received medical treatment, food or water after more than 24 hours in a detention facility in Los Angeles.' There are, of course, two sides to the story. Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs Tricia McLaughlin of the Department of Homeland Security, alleged in a statement to The Times on Monday that the 48-year-old Barranco, whom she described as an 'illegal alien,' had 'swung a weed whacker directly at an agent's face and refused to comply with the agents' commands or requests to identify himself.' She also said the report of the dislocated shoulder was false. Alejandro Barranco, 25, is a veteran of the U.S. Marines and his two younger brothers, Emanuel and José Luis Barranco, are active-duty members. He said Marines who have been deployed to protect federal property and ICE personnel probably have mixed feelings about the state of affairs, according to The Times. 'I know they love their country, they want to serve their country, but I'm also sure that they love their parents and they love their family members who are undocumented. I'm pretty sure we're all pushing for the same thing,' he said, 'which is a change in our system.' • The former NFL kicker who in February was arrested for his act of civil disobedience during a Huntington Beach City Council meeting has decided he'll run for office. Activist Chris Kluwe, a Democrat, said last week he plans to campaign in the 2026 elections against current Councilmember Gracey Van Der Mark, one of the 'MAGA-nificent 7' (in Tony Strickland's words) members of the H.B. City Council, to represent Assembly District 72. The district includes the cities of Aliso Viejo, Huntington Beach, Laguna Beach, Laguna Hills, Laguna Woods, Lake Forest, Newport Beach and Seal Beach. • One of Van Der Mark's colleagues on the Huntington Beach City Council, Mayor Pat Burns, muttered an obscene epithet about a woman addressing the council during a meeting last week that was caught on a live microphone, generating an outcry. You can read about his latest gaffe and what led up to it in this Daily Pilot story. • Given the unpredictable state of local and national economy, the Costa Mesa City Council last week agreed with four employee unions to a one-year contract, rather than a longer term, that will provide a total of $3.5 million in salary and benefit increases to city employees. • Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing: At Home, a home goods retailer based in Texas that operates 260 stores in 40 states is shuttering several SoCal locations, including stores on El Camino Real in Tustin and on Harbor Boulevard in Costa Mesa as it tries to recover from a slowdown in sales and the effects of inflation and tariffs. Both Orange County locations are advertising a store closing sale on their websites. • Kwong 'Tony' Chun Sit, 53, an Irvine animal trainer, was arrested last Thursday night on suspicion of animal cruelty and destruction of evidence in connection with the death of 11 dogs belonging to his clients, including nine whose bodies were recovered by police. He and his co-defendant, Tingfeng Liu, 23, of Vista, were arraigned Monday. Both pleaded not guilty. • A large crowd surrounded and allegedly assaulted Santa Ana police officers who were trying to make an arrest of a man for drinking in public at around 2 a.m. Sunday. When the dust settled, five people were arrested and three officers were injured with cuts and abrasions, City News Service reported. The incident occurred on the 300 block of West Third Street, according to police. • Artist and filmmaker Daniel Winn spent more than a year creating two large bronze and stainless steel sculptures that were stolen from an Anaheim Hills warehouse the weekend of June 14-15 and later recovered from a trailer parked on an Anaheim driveway last Friday, The Times reports. The sculptures, 'Icarus Within' and 'Quantum Mechanics: Homme,' are valued at a combined $2.1 million and there was concern the thief (or thieves) might sell them for scrap. Anaheim police say the case is still under investigation. Four players from Newport Harbor High, past and present, helped the Team USA Junior National team earn a silver medal at the World Aquatics Under-20 World Championships in Croatia over the weekend. Team USA fell to Spain, 14-11, in the gold medal match on Saturday. Contributors for the U.S. included 2023 Sailors graduate Ben Liechty and 2024 alumnus Peter Castillo, both now at UCLA. Gavin Appeldorn, a 2024 graduate now at Princeton, and incoming Sailors senior Connor Ohl also contributed for Team USA. Ohl recently committed to Stanford. Costa Mesa native Landon Akerstrom, a Mater Dei graduate who now plays for UC San Diego, also helped the cause. • In other water polo news, the Fischer sisters of Laguna Beach, Makenzie and Aria, were feted Friday in a USA water polo national team retirement ceremony. The team's coach, Adam Krikorian, told the Daily Pilot that Makenzie Fischer, who was a water polo standout at Laguna Beach High as well as Stanford, 'could literally be the best player in the world.' Her younger sister, Aria, played on three CIF championship teams at Laguna Beach and the Stanford team that captured three NCAA titles. Their dad, Erich Fischer, who still coaches at Laguna Beach, was a two-time national champion in water polo at Stanford and an Olympian in 1992. • The Anaheim Ducks, who have not made it to the NHL playoffs for seven years, traded center Trevor Zegras to the Philadelphia Flyers on Monday for forward Ryan Poehling and the 45th overall pick in the upcoming draft, along with a fourth-round pick next season, the L.A. Times reports. • Petey the Surf Dog, a 6-year-old Westie, won the small dog competition at the 28th annual Purina Pure Plan Incredible Dog Challenge Western Regionals for the second straight year on Friday in Huntington Beach. Koa, an 11-year-old Labrador from Carlsbad, was also a repeat winner in the large dog competition at the event. • The life of the late Beach Boys co-founder Brian Wilson, who died June 11 at 82, was celebrated Saturday in Huntington Beach, where a paddle out ceremony was held in his memory. Dean Torrence of the surf -rock duo Jan and Dean was a featured speaker. He told the crowd that when he asked Wilson in 1963 if he could write a song for their use, he learned Wilson was working on two pieces that were contenders for the Beach Boys' next single, but they both sounded similar so he was willing to part with one. The songs were 'Surfin' U.S.A' and 'Surf City' and Wilson told Torrence he was leaning toward keeping 'Surfin' U.S.A' 'He said 'If you want the other song, you can finish it, I don't care,' so we took the song,' Torrence recalled. Eight weeks later, he said, 'Surf City' was the No. 1 song in the U.S. • O.C. resident Christine Mulholland has started a new podcast called 'What's Going On?' that seeks to expand environmental consciousness. The Daily Pilot caught up with Mulholland for this feature story about the entrepreneur, who said she can trace her interest in nature back to when she was 5 and convinced the neighbhood kids to help her round up earthworms that had been displaced by rains and put them back into the turf where they belonged. Mulholland in 2012 co-founded an environmental and wildlife conservation nonprofit called Generation Awakening. In 2018, she put on a 5K 'Race Against Extinction' locally that raised more than $40,000 to protect endangered species and their habitats. • The heroic efforts 100 years ago this month by famed Hawaiian swimmer and surfer Duke Kahanamoku and others who saved several lives when a fishing boat was toppled by waves in Corona del Mar were celebrated by Sherman Library & Gardens during a special fundraiser toward creating a bronze plaque commemorating the 'Great Rescue' of June 14, 1925. • Works by Korean American artist Wendy Park are showcased in a solo exhibition 'Of Our Own' now through through July 19 at Various Small Fires OC gallery, 119 N. Prospect Ave., Tustin. It's open to the public Wednesday through Saturday, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. • This is the month of the annual Wurst Fest at Old World Biergarten in Huntington Beach, where guests can enjoy bratwurst, soft pretzels, sauerkraut and German beers this Saturday and Sunday. Check out this list of exotic sausages also offered while supplies last: smoked alligator andouille, smoked elk sausage with bacon and cheddar, smoked venison sausage with port wine and potato, duck and bacon sausage with jalapeño pepper, rattlesnake and rabbit with jalapeño pepper, rabbit and pork with leeks and carrots, and venison sausage with merlot blueberries. Saturday's hours are noon to 10 p.m., Sunday from noon to 7 p.m. • Laguna Beach's storied Sawdust Art Festival opens this Friday and runs through Aug. 31. Now in its 59th year, the event will feature the works of more than 185 artists, live music and festival fun, according to organizers. There are special nights when Orange County residents with valid ID can enter at no charge. Visit the festival website to learn when residents of your city can take advantage of the offer. Scroll down the page to the 'Plan Your Visit' section to locate the schedule of dates and cities. Until next Wednesday,Carol We appreciate your help in making this the best newsletter it can be. Please send news tips, your memory of life in O.C. (photos welcome!) or comments to
Los Angeles Times
18-06-2025
- Politics
- Los Angeles Times
Turbulent times bring out O.C. protesters while sending others into hiding
Good morning. It's Wednesday, June 18. I'm Carol Cormaci, bringing you this week's TimesOC newsletter with a look at some of the latest local news and events from around the county. Perhaps in part bolstered by the knowledge there were plenty of like-minded people willing to join them, legions of Orange County residents turned out Saturday afternoon to take part in the nationwide 'No Kings' protest, a coordinated act of defiance timed to coincide with the day the President Trump-ordered military parade was taking place in Washington, D.C. to mark the Army's 250th anniversary and his 79th birthday. Daily Pilot reporter Andrew Turner, the only staffer working Saturday, was dispatched to cover the protest in Laguna Beach. He seemed a little taken aback by the magnitude of the effort when he was greeted by throngs packed along the South Coast Highway sidewalk in the heart of downtown. 'This is no small gathering,' was the understated text he sent me on his arrival, as if he'd expected maybe 50-60 souls demonstrating. Instead, there were more than 2,000 protesters armed with signs expressing their displeasure with the current administration. Similarly, our contributing freelance writer/photographer Susan Hoffman, a Newport Beach resident, was wondering to herself how she could possibly provide us with an estimated crowd size she encountered when she ventured out to Coast Highway and Jamboree Road on our behalf. 'There were way too many to count,' she told me later. Both described the local demonstrations as peaceful, consistent with media reports from around the nation. Susan's text to me Saturday afternoon, just after she sent Andrew her contribution to fold into this account of the coordinated proves that he was writing for us: 'I have to say the [Newport Beach protesters] were extremely positive, kind, very nice to talk to... the kind you want to know better.' In Huntington Beach, where the crowd was likely much larger, given the fact Surf City has more than twice the number of residents as does Newport and about seven or eight times the number of Laguna, things became a bit more competitive, shall we say, as there was a counter-protest in support of the president, The Times reported. Also, according to Huntington Beach police, a felon with active arrest warrants who was carrying a loaded handgun was taken into custody during the event. He had allegedly threatened to knock someone out in the middle of the street at about 3:30 p.m., a few blocks from the pier. The gun was discovered as they were making the arrest. The day of protest, planned more than a month ahead last week's ICE raids in Los Angeles and Orange counties, may have drawn more people than it otherwise might have, those who were disturbed by the pace of the actions and reports of how they were carried out, the federalization of the National Guard and the decision to bring out a show of even more force in the form of Marines. Indeed, according to the photos we saw, plenty of the protest signs carried references to all of the above. We've been keeping an eye on ICE activity in Orange County. One incident, which also happened to be reported by Andrew Turner, took place just over a week ago at a car wash in Fountain Valley. According to the manager there, without showing a warrant or a list of people they were hunting for, uniformed individuals, their faces covered, just walked in at 9:30 a.m. on a Monday, rustled up seven of the nine workers on site and hauled them off. 'They don't ask any questions,' the car wash manager said. 'They only grab, grab, grab the guys, take them to the van. They don't give you a chance to speak. They don't have a chance to say, 'Oh, let me see [if] I got my papers.' … They only grab the guys and take them. No questions. It's not fair.' Also last week, rumors spread that ICE agents were questioning workers and guests at Disneyland. Reporter Gabriel San Román looked into that for this story that appeared in Sunday's Daily Pilot/TimesOC. Officials with the amusement park and the city discounted those rumors. However, he reported, 'the city acknowledged cellphone videos of an SUV pursuing a man two miles down the street [from Disneyland] at Pearson Park the following morning was credible evidence of federal immigration enforcement.' Pearson Park, the reporter noted, is in a Latino neighborhood, which suggests racial profiling. He interviewed Anaheim Councilmember Natalie Rubalcava, who told him she 'saw the Pearson Park video on Instagram, got dressed and headed out to vet the claim. She spoke to a young Latino who recounted how federal agents dressed in black with their faces covered approached him and another man at the park.' 'They asked him for identification,' Rubalcava told San Román. 'When he told them he was born in the U.S., they told him 'prove it.'' Lucky for him, he had his Social Security card on him. San Román reports that Orange County Rapid Response Network's hotline has been receiving tips of ICE activities. 'Sandra De Anda, the group's network coordinator, emphasizes a 'salute' method for its team of volunteer ICE watchers to assess the 'size, action, location, uniform, time and equipment' details of a raid in confirming it,' according to his report. The Los Angeles Times reported Tuesday that immigrant-owned Mexican supermarket chains and food merchants, noticing customers' fears of being targeted by ICE agents, are standing up for them. That includes the popular Northgate, a company that had its very beginnings in Anaheim in 1980, as well as Vallarta Supermarkets. 'We're really afraid of what's happening, and just being able to at least give [customers] a smile,' Lizette Gomez, Vallarta's director of marketing, told the Times reporter about the chain's efforts to qualm fears. 'As long as we're there to at least give them some sort of hope — that it's really dark right now, but it'll hopefully be good at the end.' • The Zinn Education Project's #TeachTruth campaign made its way to the Laguna Beach farmers market on June 7 (the fifth annual organized Teach Truth Day of Action), according to this article by my colleague Andrew Turner. To explain the reason behind the campaign, the Project's website says, '...across the country, legislatures, the president, and corporate power are pushing laws and policies to criminalize teaching honestly about U.S. history and to restrict students' ability to ask questions and engage in critical thinking.' To counter such actions, people are asked to set up booths at public spaces to educate others 'about the chilling effect of these laws and how they threaten any chance of an informed and engaged democracy.' In Laguna, the reporter spoke to Heather Hanson, a European history teacher at Laguna Beach High whose informational table also offered farmers market patrons a look at some of the books that have been banned, including George Orwell's 'Animal Farm,' J.D. Salinger's 'The Catcher in the Rye,' and Kurt Vonnegut's 'Slaughterhouse-Five.' • Speaking of reading, library-related Measures A and B on the June 10 ballot put before Huntington Beach voters both passed. People in favor of bringing to a halt the City Council's intentions to set up a 21-member review board to approve children's books for the public library, Measure A, prevailed on a vote of 34,758 to 24,760. The second measure, which would require both the Huntington Beach City Council and a majority of Surf City voters to approve any outsourcing of library operations, won, 36,002 to 23,466. • Also included in the June 10 election was the race to fill a seat on the Newport-Mesa Unified school board that pitted the woman who had been appointed to the board on a 4-2 vote in January, Kirstin Walsh, against Andrea McElroy, whose supporters were behind a petition drive that overturned Walsh's appointment and forced an election. McElroy's GOP-backed campaign was successful; according to the county registrar she garnered 2,815 of the votes to Walsh's tally of 2,423. Anyone interested in watching YouTube video of the January meeting when McElroy, Walsh and one other candidate were interviewed can find it here. • The countdown has begun for this year's Orange County Fair, which gets underway July 18. Just in time for the big event, the OC Fair & Event Center's board has named a successor to the retiring Michele Richards, who served as CEO. James Canfield, who was most recently the general manager of an Alabama convention complex, will step into Richards' shoes on July 1. Canfield has held similar roles in Palm Springs, Pasadena and Long Beach. • Disbarred Newport Beach attorney Michael Avenatti, who gained fame representing adult film actress Stormy Daniels in her litigation against President Donald Trump, was sentenced Thursday to 95 months in federal prison for stealing millions of dollars from his former clients. It was a re-sentencing for Avenatti, who in 2022 been given 14 years, a ruling that was overturned by an appellate court. Avenatti was seeking 78 months, with 39 of those months having already been served. • More than 100 fire personnel battled a blaze on the 3500 block of Cadillac Avenue in Costa Mesa that was reported at 5:15 p.m. Sunday and left a structure that houses three businesses so heavily damaged it was red-tagged to prevent people from entering it. • After someone reported a leaf blower had been stolen from a gardener's truck, Huntington Beach police chased down and arrested a wanted felon, a 27-year-old Florida man, and his accomplice in the alleged theft on Friday. The search forced a shelter-in-place order at Dwyer Middle and Smith Elementary schools. • Carl and Alice Obert, 98 and 96-years-old, respectively, celebrated a remarkable 77 years of marriage earlier this month with cupcakes and Champagne. According to the Daily Pilot story about this milestone event in their lives, experts estimate that only about 1,000 couples in the United States at any given time have been married 75 years or longer. The Oberts, wed on June 5, 1948, still live in the Huntington Beach home they purchased in 1963. • The eclectic L.A.-based band Ozomatli, celebrating its 30th anniversary this year with a '30 Revolutions' tour, will be playing a free concert at Mile Square Park in Fountain Valley on Thursday at 6 p.m. to kick off the OC Parks Summer Concert Series. The band will return to Orange County on Aug. 3 for an OC Fair show at the Pacific Amphitheatre in Costa Mesa, along with X and Los Lobos. • Lions Park and Luke Davis Field in Costa Mesa will again be the venue for the 79th annual Fish Fry and Carnival put on by the Costa Mesa Newport Harbor Lions Club that starts the evening of Friday, June 27 and runs through Sunday, June 29. Guests can enjoy fish and chip dinners, carnival rides and games, blues and rock bands, a beer and wine garden, vendor booths and more. Admission is free; fish dinners are $15. Hours are 5 to 10 p.m. Friday; 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday. Until next Wednesday,Carol We appreciate your help in making this the best newsletter it can be. Please send news tips, your memory of life in O.C. (photos welcome!) or comments to
