Featured Articles from the Coastline Pilot

It has been said that a stylish woman can make a garbage bag look like haute couture. So can artists. The Festival of Arts Runway Fashion Show featured designs created by festival exhibitors from recycled, reclaimed or re-used materials, including trash bags, competing for four $1,000 prizes and the People's Choice Award. "There was nothing trashy about this," said Pat Kollenda , a festival board member and fashionista. Ten entries were paraded down the runway to be judged by a panel of three judges and an audience of more than 1,500.

The Orange County Health Care Agency honored Laguna Beach firefighters and lifeguards Thursday for rescuing a man who collapsed while working out at Laguna Beach High School. The agency recognized lifeguards Scott Diederich and Casey Parlette and firefighters Thomas Padden, Scott Hammond, Patrick Cary, Chris Kent, Robert Abijay and Jeff White who rescued the man in December, Nicole Stanfield, the agency's public information officer, wrote in an email. Diederich and Parlette were with the man when he collapsed and immediately started CPR until firefighters arrived, according to the Laguna Beach city manager's report.

Lagunans' voices were heard loud and clear at a community skate park meeting Thursday night: no skate park at Moulton Meadows Park. About 200 residents, most from Arch Beach Heights, turned out early Thursday evening at Moulton Meadows Park to share input on an a proposed skate park at the site. By the end of the meeting, only 75 remained. They were in favor of a skate park, just not at the proposed site. Tension was thick at the meeting - one young man called a lady opposed to a Moulton Meadows skate park a “hater.” Councilman Steve Dicterow foreshadowed many neighborhood residents' sentiments in his opening statement, with members of the Tony Hawk Foundation alongside.

The following is from the May 7 City Council meeting. All council members were present. * PUBLIC COMMUNICATIONS The public is allowed to speak on any subject not on the agenda. Speakers generally are limited to three minutes, but the time can be adjusted by the council. •Kendra Ulrich of Washington, D.C., thanked the council on behalf of Friends of the Earth for showing leadership and passing a resolution expressing concern about the San Onofre nuclear reactors.

Two dogs jumped out of a car and bit a woman along South Coast Highway on Tuesday, Laguna Beach police said. At least one of the dogs bit a 54-year-old Laguna Beach woman's leg as she walked out of a business at 12:37 p.m. on the ocean side of South Coast Highway at Center Street, Sgt. Louise Callus wrote in an email. The woman fell and suffered abrasions, according to police. The two dogs, a 4-year-old Labrador-boxer mix and a 7-year-old Labrador-whippet mix, reportedly jumped out of a car that had its windows rolled all the way down, Callus said.

An Orange County jury has awarded a father $1.2 million in damages in a lawsuit against a landlord for neglecting the repair of a mold-infested house in Laguna Beach. Patrick Fetzer accused the lease owner of neglecting to eliminate the water intrusion in the home. According to Fetzer’s attorneys, the elevated moisture and water intrusion in the home caused mold to spread throughout the home at 255 Center St. According to the lawsuit, the mold caused Fetzer’s daughter, Lauren, to develop severe respiratory problems from 2006 to 2008.

I am a resident of a neighborhood adjacent to Arch Beach Heights. I attended the informational meeting regarding the proposed skate park at Moulton Meadows Park. While valid points were made by opponents of the skate park concept, some residents who spoke were perversely misinformed about what public skate parks are and who uses them — as well as the distinction between downhill speed skating and the type of skating that takes place in a typical skate park. Rather than pursuing that conversation or expressing my opinion about the feasibility of a skate park at Moulton Meadows, I primarily wanted to talk about how saddened and shocked I was by the lack of civility demonstrated by some of the opponents of the skate park concept and their complete unwillingness to listen to other points of view or to learn anything specific about the project.

The Laguna Beach High softball team took a turn at history Tuesday. The Breakers, who were opening the CIF Southern Section Division 5 playoffs at Thurston Middle School against No. 8-ranked Riverside Woodcrest Christian (Ambassador League No. 4), scored an 11-4 victory. The win gave the 2013 squad the distinction of becoming the first Laguna softball team to win a playoff game. The win came under first-year head coach Victoria Batistelli. "I am proud of my girls," Batistelli said.

A Palm Springs man pleaded not guilty Tuesday to three felony counts related to alleged thefts at a Laguna Beach grocery store. Jason Richard Paquin, 30, appeared in Orange County Superior Court to face charges that included two counts of second-degree burglary and one count of receiving stolen property, according to the court's website. A loss-prevention officer saw a man loading merchandise into a grocery cart and approached him at about 1:30 p.m. Sunday at the Albertsons on Coast Highway across from Montage Laguna Beach, Sgt. Louise Callus wrote in an email.

Moulton Meadows Park in Arch Beach Heights could serve as a good location for a skate park, according to a City Council subcommittee. Mayor Kelly Boyd and Councilman Steve Dicterow propose a 9,000 to 12,000 square foot skate park next to the existing soccer field and basketball and tennis courts. Boyd and Dicterow selected Moulton Meadows for its location and size, Boyd said. A community meeting to gain residents' input will take place near the basketball courts at 5:30 p.m. Thursday.

Another win, another record set by the Laguna Beach High baseball team. And so the Breakers season moves onward. Laguna started the final week of the regular season Tuesday playing Costa Mesa in the first of two games between the schools. The Breakers, who already have the Orange Coast League title in tow, coasted to a 9-0 home-field victory. The win was the 20th consecutive for the Breakers, a continuing school record, and the shutout was the eighth of the season, which also set a school record.

Kari Johnson said she couldn't have been more proud of her Laguna Beach High boys' and girls' swim teams after their performances last week at the CIF Southern Section Swimming and Diving Championships. The Laguna girls' team made another strong push for the Division 3 title but came up just short of winning the crown. The boys' team also was in the title hunt, and finished third in Division 3. The Southern Section finals were held May 9 at Riverside City College. The Laguna girls scored 191.5 team points, and finished only behind Crean Lutheran (250)

-- Barbara Diamond Once upon a time there was a little princess. Her name was Joan. Princess Joan's father died when she was two, but she still had her mother, Athalie, and her grandfather, the powerful King James II of Irvine. Joan lived with her mother in the adjoining kingdoms of Los Angeles and Pasadena. But among her favorite childhood memories are the visits with James II. She rode with the cowboys who herded the king's cattle. She watched his crops grow -- he liked to call himself a farmer.

Eve Plumb, known to folks around the world as Jan on "The Brady Bunch," is known in Laguna as a neighbor, owner of a historic house, former Design Review Board member and part of the make up crew for the Pageant of the Masters. She won't be seen here for a while — and she doesn't know long a while it will be. Plumb has a plum role in an off-Broadway production with no closing date. "We [she and husband Ken Pace] have rented out our house and taken an apartment in New York," Plumb said in a recent telephone conversation while standing on Fifth Avenue.