Olympic torch lights up Newport-Mesa

Paul Clinton

NEWPORT-MESA -- This is the moment Fabie Combs has been waiting for

her entire life.

The 55-year-old Combs, who graduated from Corona del Mar High School,

was tapped to be one of about 39 Orange County runners to carry the

Olympic torch. She’ll cover one-fifth of a mile starting at Cliff and

Dover drives.

“It’s just a monumental thing to me,” Combs said. “It’s the pinnacle

of my life.”

Combs, who has counseled people with various handicaps and

life-threatening diseases, said she relishes the opportunity to represent

the symbolic ideals of the upcoming Winter Olympic Games.

The torch’s flame, which was ignited via sunlight in Athens, arrived

in the United States on Dec. 4 in Atlanta, the site of the last Summer

Olympics. The torch passed through Newport Beach at that time and in

1984, when Los Angeles hosted the summer games.

Before it reaches Salt Lake City on Feb. 8, the torch will have

traveled through 46 states on a 65-day trek. It is being carried by boat,

car, foot and train.

Wahoo’s Fish Taco founder Wing Lam, who opened his first restaurant in

Costa Mesa, will carry the torch along the route through Laguna Beach.

Lam said his friends have been kidding him by offering some

tounge-in-cheek advice.

“Everybody is telling me don’t trip and don’t drop the torch,” the

Newport Beach resident said. “Sometimes you’ve got to wonder who your

friends are.”

It is scheduled to enter Newport Beach at the southern end near

Pelican Point at 8:38 a.m. today in a city convoy. Two minutes later, the

torch will be transferred to runners who will carry it to City Hall.

Runner Richard “Rip” Stuetzel, 70, will hand-carry the torch to a

brief 15-minute ceremony at 9:48 a.m. on the City Hall steps. Stuetzel,

who lives in Villa Park, has raised funds to combat leukemia.

Mayor Tod Ridgeway is scheduled to join the proceedings, which will

include a tribute to Catherine Camperos Kotsikos, a former Olympic Queen

who marched in the Los Angeles Coliseum in 1932 with the Greek athletic

team.

The 88-year-old Kotsikos is the mother of Mary Manos, the principal of

Andersen Elementary School in Newport Beach. A group of about 40

third-graders from the school will join the event.

“We’ll just be a cheering section at the ceremony,” said teacher Jean

Shenk. “It gives them a sense of being part of something that’s going

on.”

Children from Harbor View School in Corona del Mar will also

participate in the celebration.

Manos said teachers won’t miss an opportunity to offer a valuable

lesson about Olympic ideals and the symbolic power of the torch.

The lesson would be especially poignant and resonant in light of the

Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and the country’s war on terrorism, she said.

“This torch is symbolic for world peace,” Manos said. “That’s the best

lesson we can teach.”

After leaving Newport Beach, the torch will head into Costa Mesa,

entering that city at about 10:40 a.m. Mayor Linda Dixon will accompany

the torch in a caravan to Newport Boulevard and East 19th Street to the

parking lot of Borders Books.

The torch will then head north on the Costa Mesa Freeway to Los

Angeles via car.

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

be reached at (949) 764-4330 or by e-mail ato7

paul.clinton@latimes.comf7 .

FYI

TORCH TIMES and LOCATIONS

8:38 a.m. -- Enters Newport Beach at Pelican Point

9:17 a.m. -- Heads right onto Dover Drive from West Coast Highway

9:48 a.m. -- A 15-minute ceremony at City Hall, 3300 Newport Blvd.

10:11 a.m. -- Heads right on 20th Street from 21st Street on Balboa

Peninsula

10:40 a.m. -- Enters Costa Mesa at Superior Avenue and Industrial Way