EDITORIAL

Another Labor Day weekend is here.

Sadly, while most 9-to-5ers look at this weekend as a welcome

three-day respite from daily toils, it’s really the very same weekend

that every school-age child, surfer and sunbather dreads.

That’s because it’s time to face it -- summer is simmering down to a

close.

And it seems like it hasn’t even had a chance to start.

Looking back, this Newport-Mesa summer has really been rather

uneventful. We seem to be living a charmed life.

While our countrymen across the nation have been suffering through

heat waves, floods and hurricanes, Mother Nature has smiled upon us this

year with mild weather and fair skies and lots of opportunities for

summer fun.

Rather than blistering heat, we’ve had cool summer breezes.

And the water, well, it’s been more than inviting.

The monster surf that usually comes thundering in from the southern

climes and turning Newport’s beaches, especially the Wedge, into a

frothing menace, has been fairly nonexistent.

Even the massive bacteria outbreak that contaminated the beaches to

the north and forced neighboring Huntington Beach to bring summer to an

early screeching close seemed to bypass Newport Beach.

Huntington’s pain even turned out to be Newport’s gain as beachgoers

flocked to these cleaner waters, paying huge dividends to local

shopkeepers.

So this weekend is no time to change things.

Labor Day has been notorious in the past as one of the worst weekends

of the year for drunk driving and accidents. Our message to you this

Labor Day weekend is follow the example of the weather -- have a cool and

mild one and savor those last few days of summer.