Ladder

Local tennis players have a new way of climbing up the ranks. A tennis ladder listing the area?s top players is now posted on the tennis courts across the street from Laguna Beach High on Park Avenue. Local artist and competitive tennis player John Rushing built the ladder, funded by Laguna Beach High girls? tennis Coach Jimmy Gleason. ?Unless you are No. 1, there is always someone you can challenge,? Rushing said. ?The main idea is just to get people to play, and not have any excuses not to play.

There goes a part of history,” exclaimed Laguna Presbyterian’s Worship Leader, Beth Pinney, as the enormous wooden ladder that led to the top of the tower constructed in 1927, was lowered by crane.  The historic church, located in the heart of Laguna Beach, is undergoing major reconstruction for earthquake safety, waterproofing, handicap accessibility, re-roofing, and interior restoration to its authentic  Spanish Colonial Style architecture.  A new similar bell tower covered in plaster, and an interior ladder, are made of steel.

Firefighters rappelled down a cliff to rescue three people trapped between the cove and the incoming tide Wednesday night at Tablerock Beach in South Laguna. Laguna Beach firefighters received a medical emergency call at 8:55 p.m. from Ti Amo Ristorante. Firefighters found a woman and two men in their early 20s, according to Deputy Fire Chief Jeff LaTendresse. The three adults were trapped at the bottom of a steep cliff. “When we got there and saw them, we saw that swimming was not an option and we saw that climbing down the cliff was not an option,” LaTendresse said.

BARBARA DIAMOND Kris Head will be pinned at 9 a.m., Monday in City Hall. Fire Chief Ken MacLeod will conduct the Badge Pinning Ceremony celebrating Head's promotion from fire captain to battalion chief. Head, 43, joined the Laguna Beach Fire Department in 1984 as a firefighter. He was one of the city's first paramedics. The city promoted him to permanent acting paramedic captain on June 2, 1988 and to full captain in March of 1989. "He has been a paramedic all that time," department administrative assistant department administrative assistant Carrie Joyce said.

The Laguna Beach High girls? golf team recorded its initial win of the 2007 season by defeating Tesoro, 251-260, in a nonleague match at San Clemente Municipal Golf Course. Junior Karina Shaw shot 43 to earn the match?s medalist honor. The Breakers opened their season Sept. 6 against Aliso Niguel and lost to the Wolverines, 224-267. In cross-country: Looking strong in its first run of the season, the Laguna?s boys? team finished in third-place a the Laguna Hills Invitational.

Six people were stranded late Sunday near Smithcliffs Road in North Laguna after huge waves covered the beach where they had been walking, Laguna Beach Police Sgt. Jason Kravetz said. The party started out in Crescent Bay and headed north. By the time they reached Emerald Bay, a gated community, the rising tide had made it impossible for them to turn back and retrace their steps, Kravetz said. Police were called at 9:50 p.m. by residents on Smithcliffs Road who reported people yelling for help.

DINING OUT The unmistakable aromas of delicious cooking are the first appealing note one encounters when approaching La Sirena Grill, the spacious cornerstone restaurant at Aliso Creek shopping center. When guests take their first bites of this delectable Mexican cuisine, the oohs and aahs that follow are final testimony to the busy lineup of hungry guests awaiting orders from the sizable display kitchen. The inspired creation of enterprising Scott Cortellessa, La Sirena Grill was originally conceived exactly four years ago on sleepy Mermaid Street Downtown.

I’ve been a public nuisance before — you might say I’m a public nuisance once every two weeks in this very publication — but this is the first time I’ve been officially notified of it. The Public Works Department sent me a letter Sept. 15 to inform me that vegetation overgrowth alongside our property was encroaching onto the public right-of-way, presenting a hazard to pedestrians and drivers, and that we had to trim it back by Oct. 21. They sent a photo, which showed only that the tips of the branches on our curbside ficus tree — or ficus-type tree, I don’t know what it is — might or might not touch the side or roof of a bus going by our house in the right-hand lane of Alta Laguna Boulevard.

High waves and a strong surge over the weekend resulted in a number of rescues in Laguna Beach, including one fisherman who nearly drowned after he was swept off of rocks at Crescent Bay beach Feb. 24. The waves were so strong they were reported breaking over the parking lot at Aliso Beach at 9:50 that night. The fisherman, a 54-year-old Arizona man, was pulled several hundred yards out to sea at 4:42 p.m. and was rescued by two body-boarders from Murrietta, according to police records.

Multiple reports came through Laguna Beach police last week regarding jewelry thefts. Sgt. Louise Callus said the crimes appear to be unrelated. The five reports came within three days - Dec. 29 to Dec. 31 - totaling a loss of more than $613,000. A woman reported Dec. 29 that $92,000 worth of jewelry was taken in the 600 block of Alta Vista. The jewelry was inside a bag inside a drawer in her home. She said she last saw it Dec. 2. On Dec. 29, a person reported that several pieces of jewelry had gone missing in the last year beginning in June in the 31000 block of Holly Drive.

Firefighters rappelled down a cliff to rescue three people trapped between the cove and the incoming tide Wednesday night at Tablerock Beach in South Laguna. Laguna Beach firefighters received a medical emergency call at 8:55 p.m. from Ti Amo Ristorante. Firefighters found a woman and two men in their early 20s, according to Deputy Fire Chief Jeff LaTendresse. The three adults were trapped at the bottom of a steep cliff. “When we got there and saw them, we saw that swimming was not an option and we saw that climbing down the cliff was not an option,” LaTendresse said.

There goes a part of history,” exclaimed Laguna Presbyterian’s Worship Leader, Beth Pinney, as the enormous wooden ladder that led to the top of the tower constructed in 1927, was lowered by crane.  The historic church, located in the heart of Laguna Beach, is undergoing major reconstruction for earthquake safety, waterproofing, handicap accessibility, re-roofing, and interior restoration to its authentic  Spanish Colonial Style architecture.  A new similar bell tower covered in plaster, and an interior ladder, are made of steel.

Local tennis players have a new way of climbing up the ranks. A tennis ladder listing the area?s top players is now posted on the tennis courts across the street from Laguna Beach High on Park Avenue. Local artist and competitive tennis player John Rushing built the ladder, funded by Laguna Beach High girls? tennis Coach Jimmy Gleason. ?Unless you are No. 1, there is always someone you can challenge,? Rushing said. ?The main idea is just to get people to play, and not have any excuses not to play.

BARBARA DIAMOND Kris Head will be pinned at 9 a.m., Monday in City Hall. Fire Chief Ken MacLeod will conduct the Badge Pinning Ceremony celebrating Head's promotion from fire captain to battalion chief. Head, 43, joined the Laguna Beach Fire Department in 1984 as a firefighter. He was one of the city's first paramedics. The city promoted him to permanent acting paramedic captain on June 2, 1988 and to full captain in March of 1989. "He has been a paramedic all that time," department administrative assistant department administrative assistant Carrie Joyce said.