WEEK IN REVIEW

The 58th annual Lions Club Fish Fry was still in danger as last week

ended despite a two-hour brainstorming session between the club and Costa

Mesa’s Special Events Committee.

The club has not found a location for the annual event this year.

The Fish Fry has been held at Orange Coast College for the last two

years, but a dispute about whether the club or the college should handle

a lawsuit filed last year is keeping the event away.

Members of both the club and the Special Events Committee were

optimistic that the fish would still fry this year, even though they have

different ideas about the ideal location.

The Lions Club would like to have the event at Lions Park, the

historic home of the Fish Fry. The Specific Events Committee would prefer

to find a new location because of construction and other events already

booked for the site.

-- Jennifer Kho covers Costa Mesa. She may be reached at (949)

574-4275 or by e-mail at jennifer.kho@latimes.com.

Threat turns into quiet

It was a frightening week for many parents with children in

Newport-Mesa schools last week. Schools in both cities experienced scares

they would just as soon not repeat.

The Costa Mesa High School community spent the week in fear after two

girls found a bomb threat scrawled on a wall in the girls restroom on

Tuesday. The threat was for Friday the 13th.

Administrators called in the police and outside security to comb the

school Thursday night and keep watch Friday. Despite assertions that all

would be safe, many parents chose to keep their children home on Friday.

In Newport Beach early Thursday morning a 6-year-old girl got the

fright of her young life when she entered a school bathroom at 8:15 a.m.

to find a strange man lurking there.

School officials praised the girl’s proper training and quick

thinking, as it was the girl’s screams combined with her grandmother’s

presence that caused the man to flee.

Two teachers and a parent are also being commended for calling the

police and giving chase, helping officers to capture and arrest the man.

-- Danette Goulet covers education. She may be reached at (949)

574-4221 or by e-mail at danette.goulet@latimes.com.

Earning their keep

It was a busy week for firefighters, especially in Newport Beach.

Two fires that blazed in neighboring Corona del Mar streets shocked

several residents last week.

The first one, which happened early Monday morning, caused smoke and

heat damage to the top floor of a 1907 home. The second fire ravaged a

home in the Spyglass Hills area later that same morning, causing about

$180,000 in damages.

In Costa Mesa, a grease fire charred ducts in the kitchen of a popular

Taco Mesa restaurant, forcing it to close for the rest of the week. No

one was hurt in any of the fires.

In other news, Harbor Justice Center saw its first graduate from the

Drug Court program. Melissa Doss, a psychology major at Orange Coast

College, spent a year in a recovery home in Costa Mesa. She thanked Bob

Rivers, the Newport Beach officer, who arrested her in January 2000 for

possession of drugs and paraphernalia.-- Deepa Bharath covers cops and

courts. She may be reached at (949) 574-4226 or by e-mail at

deepa.bharath@latimes.com.

A vision for Newport Beach

It’ll be a while before residents will see any changes. But one

decision City Council members made at their meeting last week is likely

to have significant consequences for Newport Beach.

The city’s leaders voted last Tuesday to spend about $220,000 on a

so-called visioning process for the general plan update. What that means

is that city officials will spend several months listening to residents

about their feelings on Newport Beach’s future.

The program will include a citywide festival, neighborhood workshops,

telephone surveys and an advisory committee made up of a cross section of

the city’s interest groups.

Some, such as community activist Allan Beek, have rejected the idea as

a waste of money and urged the folks behind the dais to ask residents

about their views on other issues such as the proposed annexation of

Newport Coast.

Council members also expressed their support for the proposed takeover

of Corona del Mar’s East Coast Highway from Caltrans. That needs to

happen so that village leaders can go ahead with a remodeling project

that would turn the dilapidated stretch into a shopping and dining

destination.

Final approval for the highway transfer depends on the funds project

supporters can come up with to pay for the $12 million plan.

-- Mathis Winkler covers Newport Beach. He may be reached at (949)

574-4232 or by e-mail at mathis.winkler@latimes.com.

Big-time clean up

Environmentalists and lovers of Little Corona Beach had much to clap

their hands about last week.

On Friday, local agencies and residents got together to test a machine

they say will clean the dirty water that has been streaming into the

ocean.

The mobile runoff filtration equipment sucks the surface runoff from

the nearby gully and pumps it back twice as clean as drinking water, said

Joe Gannon, president of Clear Creek Systems, which supplies the

machines.

The filtration machine essentially is a bigger version of the water

purifiers used in homes. It needs to be, as about 100,000 gallons of

water flow through the area every day.

-- Paul Clinton covers the environment and John Wayne Airport. He may

be reached at (949) 764-4330 or by e-mail at paul.clinton@latimes.com.