Newport Beach

Two Laguna Beach Age Group Water Polo girls'  teams enjoyed success last weekend at the expense of teams from Newport Beach. A third age group team, the 10-and-Under squad, opened its season with an 8-8 tie against Corona del Mar. 14-and-Under Division Laguna 18, Newport 3 In a six-quarter match, Laguna rolled from the start to score a resounding victory. Coach Ethan Damato split his team into two squads for the match, with each playing every other quarter.

Thank you very much for your article (From Canyon to Cove, ?Homeless Burden Must Be Shared,? Feb. 27). Thank you very much for telling it like it is. It is unbelievable that the ACLU has the audacity to choose a Newport Beach law firm to represent them in this case against Laguna Beach policies. Did they close their eyes to the fact that Newport Beach has no programs for the homeless, nor are the homeless even allowed in Newport Beach? I have not read that the city of Newport Beach has been targeted by the ACLU for their anti-homeless regulations.

State law allows some group homes with six or fewer residents to be treated as single-family residences and limits local agencies' regulation of their locations and operations. Neighbors of some group homes in Laguna have expressed concerns about smoking, noise, trash, increased deliveries and additional traffic generated by the occupants, who are often recovering abusers of alcohol and drugs. In May, the Laguna Beach City Council asked staff to review efforts made by Newport Beach to regulate the facilities and on June 21 unanimously passed a resolution of certification of the amendments by the California Coastal Commission.

Motorists entering Laguna on North Coast Highway from Newport Beach were greeted by a DUI and driver's license checkpoint at McKnight Drive. Ten Laguna officers conducted the checkpoint with assistance from three officers from Newport Beach, said Sgt. Doris Higgins who coordinated the program. Several volunteers from MADD and Citizens in Patrol lent support to the officers. From 10 p.m. to 2 a.m. last Friday, 1,275 vehicles passed through the checkpoint.

Two people were seriously injured Thursday afternoon in a head-on collision on North Coast Highway near Emerald Bay in Laguna Beach. Traffic was tied up through the evening rush hour due to the incident, which closed northbound highway lanes from about 4 p.m. until 7:30 p.m. Newport Beach resident Mark Barker was driving southbound on North Coast Highway, and according to witnesses, hit a guard rail on the west shoulder before crossing over into...

In weekend round-robin competition, the Laguna Beach Water Polo Club's girls' eighth-grade-and-under team posted victories over Corona del Mar and Los Alamitos, before losing to Newport Beach. Laguna defeated Corona del Mar, 7-5, took care of Los Alamitos, 9-4, but fell, 6-5, to Newport Beach. Laguna Beach 7, Corona del Mar 5 Dylan Conroy posted three goals and Hanna Fait scored twice to lead Laguna in scoring. Single goals were scored by Annika Dries and Kacky Brown.

The Laguna Beach Age Group Water Polo girls' under-14 teams went 2-1-1 at last weekend's Speedo Cup qualifying tournament in Laguna Beach. Laguna competed in a bracket that included Newport Beach, Los Alamitos, TRAP, SoCal and OC Split. OC Split won the tournament and qualified to compete at the Speedo Cup finals scheduled for mid-November in St. Louis, Mo. Laguna Beach 2, Newport Beach 2 Laguna, which couldn't capitalize on some early scoring opportunities, finally crashed the scoreboard when Jesse Holechek drilled in a goal three minutes into the game.

In December, I will be retiring as city manager of Laguna Beach. Over the 31 years of my tenure, the city has progressed in numerous areas. For the next 10 weeks, I would like to share my perceptions of the city's most significant accomplishments during the past three decades. As in most "top ten" lists, we will start at the least important and gradually escalate to No. 1 — the most influential change in our community. No. 10 on the listing of city accomplishments over the last 30 years is the enactment of Senate Bill 23 in 1987.

The Laguna Beach Water Polo Club girls? 14-and-under team took fourth place at the Speedo Cup water polo tournament at Ann Arbor, Mich. The three-day event, which concluded Sunday, was held at the Canham Natatorium on the University of Michigan campus. Laguna fell one match shy of reaching the title game. In the third-place game, Laguna was edged, 5-4, by Newport Beach. The tournament final Sunday was an all-Southern California affair that saw Commerce win the title by defeating Santa Barbara, 10-5.

Mary Jean Patterson Mary Jean Patterson of Laguna Beach died Nov. 12. She was 88. Born July 12, 1916 in Grand Forks, North Dakota, Mrs. Patterson attended the University of North Dakota pledging the Delta Gamma sorority. She later taught elementary school in Michigan and Wisconsin. She moved to Laguna Beach in 1946. In 1951 she married Lt. Col. Robert Morris Patterson, but returned to Laguna to make their permanent home. Mrs. Patterson worked at Laguna Travel Service for almost 40 years.

One of the big perks of my job is the occasional opportunity to meet and interview people in the entertainment world that I've long admired. Among those with whom I've chatted are Mickey Rooney, Debbie Reynolds, Diane Keaton, Martin Milner and Mike Farrell, back when he trod the boards of the old Laguna Playhouse. But, as a writer, the chance to meet one's particular favorites in the field of literary craftsmanship is something special. I've had this experience on two occasions - interviewing Rod Serling and Dean Koontz for feature articles in the Daily Pilot, the Coastline Pilot's sister paper in Newport Beach.

The UC Irvine art school's role as an academic center on the West Coast for studying and experimenting with radical forms of creativity in the 1960s and '70s will be evident at October exhibitions in Laguna Beach, Newport Beach and at UCI. A roster of star UCI art program alums and teaching artists, who served on the faculty while riding that period's new wave of so-called conceptualism, will be part of three Orange County exhibitions. The Laguna Art Museum, the Orange County Museum of Art and the campus's University Arts Gallery all will present exhibitions showcasing or encompassing the works of artists noted for their contributions to the Southern California arts scene from 1945 to 1980.

Dead Humboldt squid washed up last week in Crystal Cove and other Orange County beaches. The site surprised beachgoers and surfers, but officials said it was a natural occurrence and not a cause for alarm. One startled bird-watcher emailed pictures of the squid at Crystal Cove to the Coastline Pilot. "Right away we could tell something interesting was happening because there were hundreds of gulls along the shore," John Heussenstamm wrote in an email. "Along with this there was a repulsive rancid odor filling the air and as it turned out there were hundreds of large dead squid piled up and lining the tideline.

State law allows some group homes with six or fewer residents to be treated as single-family residences and limits local agencies' regulation of their locations and operations. Neighbors of some group homes in Laguna have expressed concerns about smoking, noise, trash, increased deliveries and additional traffic generated by the occupants, who are often recovering abusers of alcohol and drugs. In May, the Laguna Beach City Council asked staff to review efforts made by Newport Beach to regulate the facilities and on June 21 unanimously passed a resolution of certification of the amendments by the California Coastal Commission.

"People would walk into my booth and they'd say, 'You call this art? This is just junk,'" James Koch says in "Sculptor of the Found Object. " The short documentary film based on artistic process of Koch, a regular at the Sawdust Art Festival, is showing during the Newport Beach Film Festival. However, to director Carole Zavala, his art — made from reclaimed items — was anything but junk. As Koch's neighbor in Laguna Beach, Zavala would hear about his process while drinking coffee on his front porch.

LAGUNA BEACH — There was pressing, crashing, storming and thunderous action at Laguna Beach High Friday. No, it wasn't about a weather report. Rather, it was a description of the Breakers' girls' water polo team. The No. 5-seeded Breakers (22-7) had their way and used a stifling defense to dismantle No. 4-seeded Newport Harbor (23-6). There wasn't much the Sailors could do, as Laguna Beach scored a 7-3 win in a CIF Southern Section Division I quarterfinal amid a steady downpour of rain.

Nearly one dozen containers for military warheads washed up on beaches in Laguna Beach and Newport Beach last week, according to the Orange County Sheriff Department. Cylinders marked with "warhead, 2.75 inch, practice" came ashore at Bluebird Beach, Shaw's Cove and Cress Street Beach on Nov. 24, Laguna Beach Police Sgt. Louise Callus said. Wooden boxes that the cylinders were evidently packed in also were found by people out for a morning stroll on the beach. The warheads were also found at locations in Newport Beach, according to the Sheriff's Department.

Parking fines in Laguna are going up by $3 to offset the state's new fee on the citations starting Dec. 7. This is the second time in two years that the city has increased its parking fines to cover state fee hikes, which will raise the state's take to $12.50 per citation. The changes to the local fine structure will still put Laguna below the average of affected cities selected by the city staff for comparison and the county and well below some of the cities. "We try to be reasonable," City Manager Ken Frank said.

In December, I will be retiring as city manager of Laguna Beach. Over the 31 years of my tenure, the city has progressed in numerous areas. For the next 10 weeks, I would like to share my perceptions of the city's most significant accomplishments during the past three decades. As in most "top ten" lists, we will start at the least important and gradually escalate to No. 1 — the most influential change in our community. No. 10 on the listing of city accomplishments over the last 30 years is the enactment of Senate Bill 23 in 1987.

Skateboarders and supporters of limits on the activity gave the Parking Traffic and Circulation Committee an earful last week, but neither side will know how well they pitched their cases for at least eight weeks. Testimony presented by speakers, who ranged in age from pre-teen to an octogenarian, at the July 22 meeting will be considered by a PTC subcommittee, which is scheduled to make recommendations at the Sept. 22 full committee hearing on what, if any, restrictions should be placed on trick skateboarding or its off-shoot, downhill speed boarding.