BRIEFS

Canning Hunger, a nonprofit food relief organization, is repainting

residential house numbers. Work began Friday in the northeastern section

of Fountain Valley. Members will continue westward and then down

throughout the city. The repainting is expected to be done by January.

Caning Hunger is the only city-authorized curb-painting service

approved to do work within the city.

Information: (888) 354-3663.

Patzcuaro restaurant to celebrate opening

The Fountain Valley Business Assn. and Chamber of Commerce will

sponsor a ribbon-cutting at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday at Patzcuaro Mexican

Restaurant, 16121 Harbor Blvd. The event is free.

Information: (714) 668-0542.

Deadline for youth exchange is Friday

Friday is the deadline for high school students to apply for the

Sister City Youth Exchange, in which a handful a teens will be selected

as Ambassadors of Good Will.

The Sister City Assn. of Huntington Beach, a nonprofit organization

that works to provide understanding and friendships between people of

foreign nations, chooses eight students each year, four of which visit

Waitakere, New Zealand, and four will visit Anjo, Japan. Both trips last

two weeks, with students from Japan and New Zealand making similar visits

later in the year.

The exchange program is open to residents enrolled in the ninth

through 11th grades, or others who attend the Huntington Beach High

School District. Students must be between 14 and 17 years old, sister

city officials said, adding that chaperons for the students must also

apply by Friday.

Applicants will be evaluated on self-assurance, maturity, host

responsibility, and interest in learning about a foreign country and its

people.

Information: (714) 374-5397.

Central Library to host We Tell Stories

The Huntington Beach Central Library will celebrate Children’s Book

Week with a performance by the theater company We Tell Stories on

Wednesday.

The acting group will perform a production titled “Let Them Eat

Books,” which will include a number of classic stories, at 4 p.m. in the

Library Theater, 7111 Talbert Ave.

We Tell Stories is an interactive theater company that uses a large

trunk of costumes and props, in conjunction with audience participation,

to relate classic stories to children. Tickets are $3 per person and can

be purchased in advance.

Information: (714) 375-5107.

Fire Department honored for life safety education

The Residential Fire Safety Institute, a public interest group

dedicated to lowering the number of deaths caused by fires, has honored

the Huntington Beach Fire Department with a Life Safety Achievement Award

for 1999.

This is the fifth consecutive year the city’s Fire Department has

received the award in honor of its efforts in fire suppression and

prevention of residential fires.

While only 20% of all fires occur in the home, they cause 80% of all

fire deaths, officials said.

The city’s department was recognized for both its firefighting, as

well as educational programming to inform residents on how to

significantly reduce the loss of lives and property in a fire, officials

said.

City, police seek input on substation

Huntington Beach police and city officials want to hear from residents

about plans to establish a substation of the Huntington Beach Police

Department in the southeastern section of the city.

There are two police substations in Huntington Beach already -- one

Downtown and another in the Oak View area, police said.

Police spokeswoman Sgt. Janet Perez said residents in the southeast

Huntington Beach have requested the substation.

“We’re looking for a storefront-type area in a strip mall, with about

1,000 square feet or so,” she said.

Substations serve as information centers where residents can learn

more about the city’s police force and also as a place for officers to

write reports.

Substations increase officer presence in the city because they can

write their reports from the patrol area, Perez added.