Gains & Losses

GAINS

FIT AS A FIFTH- (OR SEVENTH-) GRADER

Annual tests show area fifth- and seventh-graders are in good physical

shape compared to others around the state. Results of the recently

released 1999 spring Fitnessgram have students in the Fountain Valley and

Ocean View school districts performing better than the state average.

Children in the Huntington Beach City School District did better in 1999

than in 1998. The Fitnessgram assesses cardiovascular endurance, body fat

percentage, abdominal strength and overall endurance.

FARMERS MARKET AT PIER PLAZA

The Huntington Beach City Council agreed last week to keep the farmers

market and craft fair at Pier Plaza, where it was relocated in January

from Downtown streets. The move has increased sales and attendance at the

weekly outdoor event. The farmers market is held Fridays from noon to

sunset.

A WISH COME TRUE

Derek Tao, 5, has spent much of his life in hospitals undergoing

treatment for a brain tumor that has reoccurred twice. But recently, the

Fountain Valley resident got to take a break from it all. The Make-A-Wish

Foundation granted three of his wishes -- sending him on a train trip to

San Juan Capistrano, getting the California Highway Patrol to chauffeur

him around town and sending him on a trip to Disney World. “This just

goes to show that sometimes life sucks, but there are still good people

and things to look forward to,” said Candice Tao, his mother.

LOSSES

INFRASTRUCTURE REPAIRS OUT OF FOCUS

Convincing Huntington Beach residents to spend $1.3 billion over the next

20 years to fix everything from sewers to sidewalks will be tough, the

city’s Infrastructure Advisory Committee discovered last week. The

results of a focus group study commissioned by the board shows that

residents don’t believe more money is needed to fund the city’s aging

streets and storm drains, which they think are in fine shape. “We have a

much deeper problem than we anticipated,” said Chauncey Alexander, a

member of the advisory committee.

SOUNDING OFF ON AIRPLANE NOISE

Residents living by the beach are angrily buzzing about the noise from

airplanes flying banners along the coast. There are no limits on how many

times a plane can fly over a specific area or how many can be out there,

according to the Federal Aviation Administration. And the city says it

has no proof the planes are breaking the law. But residents are still not

happy with the noise. “You’re so mad you want to pull out your gun and

blow them out of the sky,” said resident Charlotte Melson.

HE WAS THE FIRST

Donald Keller, the Independent’s founding editor, died last month after a

brief illness. The 70-year-old journalist started the newspaper in 1964

for Ridder Newspapers, which later became Knight Ridder. He left it in

1967 to start the Action Line column for the now-defunct Orange County

Evening News. Keller went on to work for a number of Northern California

papers, including the Contra Costa Times and the San Jose Mercury News,

from which he retired in 1989.