GAINS & LOSSES

GAINS

DISTINGUISHED SCHOOL BUS DRIVER

Sally Miller, a newly retired Ocean View School District bus driver, was

named California’s School Bus Driver of the Year last week. Miller, 62,

said she considered the children on her route to be like her own

grandchildren. “For 25 years... to drive a big, yellow bus without ever

being involved in a collision is pretty remarkable,” says Denise Medina,

an officer with the California Highway Patrol, which gave Miller the

award.

LAGUNA BEACH TAP TEMPORARILY TURNED OFF

The Laguna Beach County Water District is holding off on plans to drill a

water extraction well on land near a Kmart parking lot in Fountain Valley

after residents and officials complained. Orange County Water District

officials say Laguna Beach does not have rights to the water, which the

Laguna district refutes. Fountain Valley officials say they will hold off

on giving Laguna the permits it needs to drill. If nothing else, by

putting the matter on hold, Laguna Beach has given both sides more time

to prepare their ammunition in this water war.

REAL ESTATE AGAINST HUNGER

May is the month Huntington Beach gave real estate brokers in its

Millennium Celebration calendar. And the agents have decided to help

fight hunger as their gift to the community. Realtors Attack Hunger is

hoping to raise 1 million pounds of food this month to feed the needy

through the Second Harvest Food Bank. “We want to give something back to

the community,” says Dean Zitko, president of Harbour Homes.

LOSSES

WATER QUALITY WARNINGS

A warning sign was posted for part of last week at Huntington State Beach

at Magnolia Street. Officials at the Orange County Health Care Agency

said the increase in ocean pollution levels was probably related to

recent rainstorms. Rain increases the amount of untreated waste water

that flows from our streets into storm drains and out to the ocean. Just

one more indicator of how what we do in our daily lives affects the

ecology.

What, no Regis?

A dispute between Time Warner and Disney left Huntington Beach and

Fountain Valley residents without KABC on Monday and part of Tuesday.

Disney, which owns the network, pulled ABCs signal in 11 markets across the country after talks between the two broke down. An agreement made

Tueday will keep ABC on the cable service until July 15 while both side

continue negotiations. In the meantime, viewers who wanted to watch the

conclusion of “Arabian Nights” or the first installment of “Celebrity Who

Wants to be a Millionaire” lost out.