Success

?Night Out? benefit for Boys & Girls Club One hundred women will come together to garner support for the Boys & Girls Club of Laguna Beach at a ?Girls Night Out? event from 6 to 9 p.m. Sept. 24 at the Wilson home, 100 Rockledge. The exclusive event for women will include fine food and beverages, shopping at silent and live auctions, pampering and gift bags, and will directly benefit the club?s enrichment programs to ensure no child is turned away from the club due to financial circumstances.

Mayor pro tem Verna Rollinger raised more than $9,000 at a June 16 fundraiser, according to a press release. The event, held at the home of Debbie Lewis, helped raise money to support her reelection to the Laguna Beach City Council. A light supper and silent auction was held. "What makes Laguna Beach such a special place? Why did we decide to come here or stay here to live?" Rollinger asked supporters. "Our Laguna is about taking care of each other, acting as responsible stewards of the beautiful environment we share, solving problems by working together, and respecting the diverse expressions and aspirations of each member of our community," Rollinger said at the event.

Goal one: win a CIF Southern Section championship. Check. Goal two: win a CIF Southern California Regional championship. Check. In a week's time, the Laguna Beach High boys' volleyball team accomplished the two goals it had aspired to at the beginning of the 2010 season. By winning a section and regional title, the boys' volleyball team became the second Laguna sports team in school history to win two postseason titles in the same school year. The boys' cross-country team first accomplished the feat in the fall by winning a CIF and State title.

With Dennis Madison's passing comes a sad reminder of the closing of his bookstore, Fahrenheit 451, two years ago. Recently Laguna Beach also lost the Different Drummer bookstore, and naturally it feels like we've done something wrong to let these treasures go. But perhaps these passings can be seen as an inevitable outcome of their success. Bookstores like these and the people who opened them are part of the reason the public can find controversial or non-mainstream publications more easily these days through mainstream outlets.

Tuesday was not only the kickoff of the school year, but also the implementation of a new program at Thurston Middle School called the Organizational Wheel. The 18-week program is specifically designed for sixth-grade students. Pupils work in six-week blocks, learning computer basics, organized notebook study and life skills, including self-esteem. Teachers Jason Babiar, Andy Crisp and Leslie Maus are each teaching a different component. "I'll be teaching organizational skills, focusing on one of the most important things -- trying to get organized," Babiar said.

While awards were presented to the winners of the 2008 Patriots Day Parade at Tivoli Too, volunteers were rewarded with lunch at City Hall. Parade officials handed out 27 awards, selected from the 93 entries that marched and rode through town under gray skies Saturday. ?It was a great success despite Mother Nature?s breath of cold air and a little spritzing just after the last entry passed the reviewing stand,? said Sandi Werthe, entry chairwoman. A slight decline in attendance was blamed on the gloomy weather, but more so on the conflict with Dana Point?

Mike Swanson Theresa Whitlock, then a paralegal, paid for her first date with the attorney she worked for, Bill O'Hare. They had a few drinks at Hotel Laguna, followed by a romantic dinner at Denny's. "I left my wallet at the office that night," Bill said. That was more than 20 years ago. Nowadays Bill and Theresa O'Hare don't have to worry about the check. As the managing partner of Snell and Wilmer in Irvine, representing the defendant sued by electronics giant Samsung for nearly $12 million, Bill earned a March 28 judgment of $5.7 million awarded to his client, San Clemente-based Advanced MP Technology, in a countersuit.

Local musician Jason Feddy came to the U.S. from his hometown of Yorkshire, England, more than a decade ago, after drug addiction severed his ties with record labels, halted his promising music career, and left him without even a couch to sleep on. ?I showed early promise, which I destroyed with self-absorption and drugs,? he said. ?That heroin is very more-ish you know ? kinda like pretzels. I had burned my bridges in the U.K., but my brother [who lived in Las Vegas] offered me a place to stay on the condition that I got sober.

It's been a busy, and successful, start to the month of May for the Laguna Beach High boys' tennis team. Laguna began its postseason journey Wednesday on its home court against Santa Maria. The Orange Coast League champion Breakers, the No. 4 seed in the CIF Southern Section Division 4 tournament, cruised to a 16-2 victory over the Saints (Los Padres League No. 3). Santa Maria had defeated Thacher (Condor League No. 3) in a wild-card match Tuesday to move on to the first-round match at Laguna.

Americans say "Bottoms up" when they hoist a few. The French toast is "A votre Sante. " When Italians raise a glass they say "Salute" or "Cin Cin," their version of a Brit's "Cheers. " In India it is "Tulleho," a combination the Raj "Talley Ho" and the colloquial Hindi word for drinking. My favorite: the Zulu "Ooogy Wawa. " The Rotary Club of Laguna Beach deserves every one of them for the successful Grapes for Grads fundraiser held on Sunday at Tivoli Too!, which showed off Laguna's community spirit to great advantage.

The mission statement for the Laguna Beach High softball team can be summed up for Victoria Batistelli in a single word: win. That's the course the first-year head coach of the Breakers is mapping out for her team. The Breakers tasted success last year under Coach Alan Ludloff. They finished in third place in the Orange Coast League, earned a bid to the CIF Southern Section playoffs, and posted a 15-8 record. The 15 wins set a school single-season record, and the team set 12 new program records.

Local middle school teachers have been getting together for a monthly book club, but they leave the romance novels at home. Instead, the staff focus on improving student learning. Thurston Middle School science teacher Ina Inouye Wu started a Staff Book Club two years ago as a professional development opportunity and the club has been meeting monthly to discuss a research-based book and share instructional methods and creative classroom strategies. "Our amazing staff continues to discover new ways to collaborate and share ideas," said Principal Jenny Salberg in a statement.

Laguna is filled with artists, but one art form seems to fly a little more under the radar - writing. Sure, "Savages" author Don Winslow is a household name now, thanks to the movie that hit theaters this past summer and his other books, but for other local authors such as Gil Thibault, a 72-year-old retiree, and Charles "Chuck" Martin, who runs an investment management firm, writing a book is a bit off the beaten path. Thibault wrote "I Am The World's Oldest-Known Living Tree," a nonfiction book about the Methuselah tree, a bristlecone pine in California that he said is close to 5,000 years old. He'll be discussing his book during a luncheon at the Laguna Beach Rotary Club meeting at the Aliso Creek Inn at noon Friday.

The second go-round for Don Davis as head coach of the Laguna Beach High girls' tennis team has the makings of success, just like his first season. But to do so, Davis must find replacements for his top two singles players from last season. Davis guided the Breakers to an undefeated Orange Coast League championship last fall, a season in which the Breakers reached the second round of the CIF Southern Section Division 1 playoffs. He has 10 players back from a year ago but must replace Lauren Michaels, last year's OCL singles champ and league MVP, and Claire Jaeger.

Year one is done and in the books. What, possibly, will the second season hold? After a record-setting season last fall, the Laguna Beach High football program turns its attention to the 2012 season which, believe it or not, is just a few weeks away from its starting point. Players have had a two-week respite between the end of summer ball, and the start of fall camp which opens Monday at Guyer Field. The Breakers begin their season Aug. 31 against Bolsa Grande. The summer session was a success for the Breakers who held four 7-on-7 passing competitions against six schools (JSerra, Lakeside, Estancia, Laguna Hills, Huntington Beach and Aliso Niguel)

Mayor pro tem Verna Rollinger raised more than $9,000 at a June 16 fundraiser, according to a press release. The event, held at the home of Debbie Lewis, helped raise money to support her reelection to the Laguna Beach City Council. A light supper and silent auction was held. "What makes Laguna Beach such a special place? Why did we decide to come here or stay here to live?" Rollinger asked supporters. "Our Laguna is about taking care of each other, acting as responsible stewards of the beautiful environment we share, solving problems by working together, and respecting the diverse expressions and aspirations of each member of our community," Rollinger said at the event.

Laguna welcomed summer with music and camaraderie with its sister city, Menton, France. The fifth annual Fête de la Musique was presented Saturday by the Laguna Beach Sister Cities Assn., mirroring an event held in Menton. Mayor Jane Egly and association President Karyn Philippsen welcomed the crowd at the opening ceremony on the cobblestones at Main Beach. Terri Gans , communications attaché to the French Consulate in Los Angeles, stood in for the consul, who was unable to attend.

Laguna College of Art & Design raised $200,000-plus to benefit student programs and scholarships at the 23rd annual Collector's Choice Fine Art Event and Auction earlier this month, according to a news release. The sold-out event celebrated the culmination of the 50th anniversary of the college with the theme "A Trip Down Memory Lane. " Guests dressed in white and gold to match the décor designed by Emmy-nominated set and production designer and college trustee Nelson Coates. Special guests included distinguished LCAD alumni, and friends of LCAD including world-renowned painter, sculptor, and drawer Richard MacDonald (Sissone)