Featured Articles from the Coastline Pilot

Laguna Beach residents all believe they are art critics, which is why the real experts on the city's Arts Commission are in a no-win situation. Loved or hated, every piece of public art in Laguna gets judged - every single day. And now, the commission has two more members joining the fray. David Emmes and Suzanne Mellor were added recently by the last City Council, making it a nine-member commission. The extra members, however, are not working artists. Both are professional board members of various groups.

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.

A Laguna Beach clothing designer died of natural causes, according to the Orange County coroner. Jonas Gregory Bevacqua, 33, was found dead in his Laguna Beach home May 30 by his father and fiancé. Bevacqua was suffering from pneumonia and myocarditis — or inflammation of the heart — according to the coroner. Bevacqua was the co-founder of the Irvine-based streetwear brand Lifted Research Group, commonly known as LRG. At the time of his death, noted celebrities, family, friends and his company took to the Web to send their condolences.

Jake Dalke and Cole Kesler will step onto the court one final time Saturday as high school teammates. The two seniors, key players in the Laguna Beach boys' basketball program, are among 15 players who make up the South roster for the 2013 Orange Coast Optimist Orange County North/South High School Basketball Games. The All-Star games, for senior players, will be played for the 48th time. The girls' game starts at 5 p.m., followed by the boys' game at 7 p.m., both at Concordia University in Irvine.

Thirteen-year-old twins Kyle and Benjamin Sharp's musical seeds were clearly visible at age 3. The brothers, who both have tan skin, brown hair and braces, are seventh graders at Thurston Middle School. They like golf and football, but music takes center stage in their lives, with the duo, known as Sharp Turn Ahead, performing pretty regularly. Kyle and Benjamin also came out with their first CD, a compilation of three studio-recorded cover songs and their first original, "California Ain't that Far. " The song tells the story of the boys' move from Austin, Texas, to Laguna Beach four years ago with their parents, Carla [mother]

-- 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.

During a nine-month stretch when Laguna Beach High athletics attained unparalleled success in different avenues of competition, Haley Putnam and Drake Martinez have been selected to carry the banner for the 2012-13 school year. Putnam was named the female recipient, and Martinez the male counterpart, of the school's Athlete of the Year honor. The two, both seniors who will graduate in two weeks, were honored, as well as several other Breakers, during the school's annual All Sports Booster Club banquet Tuesday at Tivoli Terrace in Laguna Beach.

Laguna Beach had more employees making salaries of $100,000-or-more per capita than any other Orange County city in calendar year 2009, but none were deemed to be overcompensated by the Orange County Grand Jury. A Grand Jury report issued Monday that compared salaries and benefits paid in county cities questioned whether a town of about 23,000 really needs 22 top officials and upper-level employees, not including emergency personnel to run Laguna. The report also gave the city low transparency grades Feb. 1 for making it difficult for the public to find out who makes how much for doing which jobs, but steps were taken this week to make the information more accessible, City Manager John Pietig said.

When we need a roof over our heads, we get desperate. Con men know this. We know this, yet we still fall for the Craigslist scam. It's happening every day in the Laguna Beach rental housing market. People are trying to sell their home, but scam artists take over. They copy the readily available online housing information and post a rental ad instead on Craigslist at a fraction of the price - sometimes not low enough to raise red flags. "It happens on a daily basis," said Danielle Purcell, owner of Team Laguna.

Laguna Beach should be celebrated as a music colony - especially for world-class reggae - as much as an art colony. It started back in the late '70s, when Laguna native Eric "Redz" Morton was 21 and gigging as the bassist in a L.A. Latin jazz band called La Luce. Unfortunately, this was the horrendous period of pop culture known as the disco era, and fabulously textured Latin jazz wasn't the music to eat 'ludes and snort coke to. Disco was decidedly not a path Redz was willing to follow (anyone who knows the rootsy Redz can't picture him in sequins and platform shoes)

Fire control in Laguna was a hot topic at the June 4 meeting of the City Council. The City Council directed department staff to develop a priority list of "hot spots" in the city that might need more defensible space — the reduction or elimination of vegetation around structures to reduce the fire danger. The council also directed the city planning staff to explore a defensible space ordinance. "The No. 1 job of the city is safety," said Councilman Robert Whalen. "It has been 20 years since the (October 1993)

Weston Barnes turned in an outstanding season on the volleyball court. Jackson Rees and Steven Harrison both did the same on the baseball diamond. On Tuesday, the three were rewarded for their play by being named All-CIF Southern Section in their respective sports. Barnes was named to the CIF Southern Section Division 2 boys' volleyball team. Both Rees (first team) and Harrison (second team) were named All-CIF Southern Section Division 4 in baseball. * All-CIF Boys Volleyball Barnes encountered plenty of success at Laguna.

The Laguna Beach Scholarship Foundation hosted ceremonies before the 2013 Honors Convocation on Friday for the donors of millions of dollars given over the years to graduating seniors. This year alone, $323,000 was awarded to 107 students. Donors and presenters were recognized at a dinner in the Laguna Beach High School quad before the convocation in the school's Artists' Theater. "This is about you," said foundation President Kerry Rubel. "There would be no awards ceremony without you. "The scholarships we give tonight, through your generosity, recognize the potential in these students and give them opportunities they might not otherwise have," he said.

Woman located after missing from beach A woman was located at a hospital days after her fiancee reported she disappeared near Main Beach on Saturday. The woman's name could not be published because police are still investigating the possibility that the she may have been sexually assaulted, Sgt. Darin Lenyi said. The woman's fiancee, 29-year-old Brian Andrews of Covina , told police on Wednesday the woman, a 36-year-old Covina resident, was in a hospital, Lenyi said.