WEEK IN REVIEW

At first it was just rumor and talk. But this week residents learned

the truth about the future of the Christmas Boat Parade.

And that future is two changes: five days instead of seven and a

trimmed route, cutting off the tip of the Balboa Peninsula and the end of

a channel between Lido Isle and Lido Peninsula.

Newport Harbor Chamber of Commerce officials sent letters out

detailing the changes -- those letters were set to begin arriving in

mailboxes Saturday.

Which means already there’s a good chance there are homes in Newport

Beach filled with frustrated folk.

Parking woes

To add to the pain of returning to school in 80 degree weather, only

miles away from the beach, Orange Coast College students were faced with

parking problems, long lines for books and overcrowded classrooms.

Officials said enrollment at the college is up 11.2% from last year,

with a total of 22,507 so far. The number is expected to rise 3 to 4%

when fall registration deadlines are reached.

With added students comes more demand for parking, books and classes,

officials said.

One student said he had to sit on the floor in one of his classes

because there weren’t enough desks.

“And this wasn’t a class I was trying to add or anything. It was a

class I was registered for,” said 20-year-old Chad Brandel.

Many returning students noticed more people on campus and complained

about long lines for everything from the bookstore to the bathroom, but

the biggest complaint was about parking.

Parking between the hours of 9 a.m. and 1 p.m. was deemed impossible,

students said.

Wetland victory

Assemblyman John Campbell (R-Irvine) got his first taste of

legislative success Friday, when Gov. Gray Davis signed his first bill

into law.

The freshman legislator and car dealer was elected to his seat in

November.

Assembly Bill 810 will pave the way for patches of man-made wetlands

in the watershed feeding into Upper Newport Bay. The bill gives the

Irvine Ranch Water District the power to acquire land to install the

wetlands.

The wetlands would filter polluted urban runoff, cleaning up water

before it enters San Diego Creek and Back Bay.

Confined and jailed

A 41-year-old Newport Beach woman was sentenced Thursday to six years

in prison after she pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter for killing

her husband by running him over with their car last year.

A Superior Court judge declined probation or a reduced jail sentence

for Leslie Van Houten, who on Feb. 2, 2000 knocked her husband Kenneth

Jerome off his bicycle and drove their purple Geo Storm over him twice.

That same day they had an argument about who was to take the car.

She had pleaded not guilty to the murder charge last year. But in

June, she took a plea offer from the Orange County district attorney and

pleaded guilty to the voluntary manslaughter charge.

Van Houten’s attorney, William Kelley, said she had suffered for 17

years by living with Jerome, who he called “a chronic abuser.”

Van Houten will likely end up spending about four years in prison as

the judge gave her credit for 660 days she has already spent in jail.

In other court news, Dennis Rodman’s arraignment on two misdemeanor

charges relating to his allegedly loud birthday party in May was put off

from Wednesday to Sept. 17, but not before attorneys from both sides

settled some issues relating to discovery.

Also, a preliminary hearing was postponed this week in the case of

Ramadan Dokovic, the Downey man accused of publicly shooting and killing

Newport Beach’s Miroslav Maric in May. The hearing was delayed to Sept.

25.

Don’t park here

It’s getting harder and harder to find a park to play in.

Costa Mesans trying to put together a game of softball or soccer are

running into difficult as the city facing a crunch of free time at its 27

parks.

The growth of organized youth sports is partly to blame, officials

say. But adults are responsible, as well, since they’ve begun trying to

recapture their youth as not just weekend warriors, but weeknight ones.

-- Daily Pilot staff. To contact the newsroom, call (949) 642-5680 or

by e-mail at o7 dailypilot@latimes.comf7 .