WEEK IN REVIEW

South County has begun efforts to take the airport fight to the ballot

box.

The El Toro Reuse Planning Authority, the nine South County cities

trying to stop Orange County’s airport plan for the closed El Toro Marine

base, unveiled last week its long-anticipated ballot measure that calls

for a park instead of an airport.

The initiative, set to appear on the March 2002 county ballot, would

nullify 1994’s Measure A, which established aviation as the base’s

primary nonmilitary use.

Irvine Mayor Larry Agran and other South County leaders also presented

a tentative plan to pay for the park by using the base’s existing

housing, warehouse space and agricultural lands to generate $25 million a

year.

Newport Beach officials said the park is “a chimera, an empty shell”

because it couldn’t generate enough revenue to pay for environmental

cleanup expenses.

-- 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.

To everything, tour, tour, tour

They ooh, they ahh, they wear funny baby blue booties.

They are the more than 1,000 community members who tromp through those

homes we’d all like to live in to raise money for Newport Harbor High

School.

That’s right, if you weren’t one of the 1,200 participants Tuesday,

you missed the Newport Harbor High School Home and Garden Tour. It is the

school’s four-year tradition that brought in more than $60,000 for

students this year.

But the rest of the schools should not feel left out of the monetary

loop. Because thanks to the 150 teachers who write grants each year, all

29 schools now have money for additional programs.

The Newport-Mesa Schools Foundation awarded 173 grants totaling more

than $400,000 Thursday night at a banquet at the Hyatt Newporter.

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

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

A bird without wing

Granted, last week’s shooting at Newport Harbor didn’t take the life

of a person. But residents were still outraged by the incident, which led

to the death of a great blue heron.

Rick Jones, who lives on East Edgewater Avenue, found the bird walking

on his dock last Sunday. An X-ray of the heron’s wing later revealed that

an air rifle pellet had shattered a bone. Since this could not be fixed,

the bird, which is protected by federal and state law, had to be put to

sleep.

Breeding plumage and a brooding patch, where plumage had thinned

because the bird had been sitting on eggs or new babies, showed that her

death must have left young ones behind.

A volunteer for the Wetlands Wildlife Care Center in Huntington Beach

checked Bay Island, where the heron was likely nesting, for the orphaned

babies. She didn’t find any.

And David Beek, who operates the Balboa Island marine fuel dock, has

put up a $200 reward for information leading to the gunman’s arrest.

Anyone convicted of killing a great blue heron can face up to six

months in prison and a $15,000 fine.

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

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

Razor blades continue to befuddle

The week was a mixed bag. It had a bit of everything -- jumpers,

drunks and thieves who stole paintings from kids.

But mostly it continued to be about playgrounds. Newport Beach Police

got reports of glass fragments on playground equipment and benches in two

of the city parks. Over the weekend, a police volunteer found a

triangular piece of glass wedged between the slats of a park bench at

Cliff Drive Park. More fragments were found on the slide and in the sand

at Buffalo Hills Park on Wednesday, bring the number of such incidents in

recent weeks to almost 10.

Newport Beach Lifeguards rescued two men who took a 25-foot plunge off

Newport Pier. They got caught in a rip current shortly after the jump and

hung on to the pier pilings. One man was arrested for being under the

influence of alcohol and another was cited.

Police also arrested a Long Beach man Tuesday for stealing a 60-foot

powerboat docked at Newport Harbor. The man stole the boat and drove it

around the harbor, slamming against the docks, seawall and a sailboat. He

is being held in Orange County Jail with bail set at $10,000.

Seven children studying art at Sher’s Gallery lost their works after

the gallery was burgled over the weekend. The loss was estimated at

$10,000. Several of the works were original and were the students’ first

paintings on canvas.

-- Deepa Bharath covers cops and courts. She may be reached at (949)

574-4226 or by e-mail at deepa.bharath@latimes.com.

The morning the lights went out

With apologies, it was a dark and windy morning Thursday in Costa

Mesa.

Nearly 4,000 homes were left without power starting around 9 a.m. when

metallic balloons got blown into power lines. Luckily, the lights weren’t

out for long, just 20 or 30 minutes most places.

Affected communities included those areas north of 18th Street, south

of Adams Avenue, east of Brookhurst Street and west of Harbor Boulevard.

Education suffered a bit at the Waldorf School of Orange County, a

private institution on Canyon Drive. Because it was close to the tangled

lines, students and teachers managed without power for three hours.

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

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