Community & Clubs -- Jim de Boom
FOUNDATION DINNER: Some 400 people attended the Grants to Teachers
Awards dinner, sponsored by the Newport-Mesa Schools Foundation, which
saw the presentation of $270,000 in grants to teachers by foundation
board member Scott Paulson and the presentation of Teacher of Excellence
Awards by three members of the Newport-Mesa Federation of Teachers.
Norm Loats, foundation president and a 42-year veteran of education
himself, acknowledged the dedicated teachers, administrators and
volunteers in attendance and presented a special apple award to
entertainer Jim Roberts for his years of service to the school community.
Roberts noted that of his five children, three are educators and the
other two are married to educators. Also in attendance were Newport-Mesa
Unified School District’s Supt. Robert Barbot, the seven school board
members and many of the grant donors.
Fifty-eight community volunteers had the tough job of reviewing 261
applications for grants from teachers from 28 schools. In total, 104
grants were awarded, ranging from several hundred dollars to more than
$9,000.
Grants given by the foundation are sponsored by a number of businesses
and families, including the Automobile Club of Southern California; Kevin
and Teresa Blackledge; Boeing Charitable Trust; Perry Cain; California
Federal Bank; John and Donna Crean; the Daily Pilot; James T. Ferrell
Memorial; Fletcher Jones Motorcars; Mark Victor and Patricia J. Hansen;
Harbor Boulevard of Cars; the Robert Haskell Family; Hoag Hospital; Grace
Maruyama; National University; Newport Rib Co.; Newport-Mesa Unified
School District Employees, Pacific Life Foundation; Albert and Frankie
Perelstein; Reader’s Digest; Sons of the American Legion; Union Bank of
California; Ware Disposal; Westcliff Medical Laboratories; the Jeff
Wilcox family; the School Shop; and C.J. Segerstrom and Sons.
An anonymous donor provided cash awards of $2,500 to each of the
Teachers Excellence Award recipients from the 29 schools in the district,
said Linda Mook, president of the Newport-Mesa Federation of Teachers.
“This event and the awards are all made possible by volunteers,” Loats
said. “We need more volunteer board members who want to serve on a
winning team, a team that has raised and given away over $2.5 million in
teacher grants in recent years.”
More information on the school foundation may be obtained by calling
Loats at (949) 760-0387.
SEARCH FOR TALENT: You want to sing, dance or blow your
horn? Well, if you’re between the ages of 6 and 18, you may enter the
Search for Talent contest presented by the Exchange Club of Newport
Harbor. Awards will be made to the winners in each age division, with a
chance to go on to the next level. This will all take place March 15 at
Oasis in Corona del Mar. For entry forms and more information, call Deane
Bottorf at (949) 673-8701. The deadline is March 8.
MORE ON JOHN WAYNE AIRPORT: William Detoy’s letter to the
editor concerning my comments on the potential expansion of John Wayne
Airport needs some response.
Detoy says, “We have been told definitively by the Airport Working
Group that there is no room to add a single runway at JWA.” Unfortunately
the working group does not have control over John Wayne expansion plans.
The county of Orange has the ability (and a plan) to add runways and
terminal space by securing the property north of the present airport to
Redhill Avenue, south of the present airport to MacArthur Boulevard and
west to University Drive. The current runway would be extended over
Bristol Street (the county owns the Newport Beach Golf Course property),
just as the runway was extended over Sepulveda at Los Angeles
International.
Detoy says pressure to make John Wayne operate 24 hours “won’t come
from agencies promoting Measure W.” As long as Irvine and South County
cities keep building homes, adding business and industry, the demand for
increased air transportation will continue beyond what has been offered
in the new settlement agreement.
As Detoy points out, “the airlines have shown no interest in curfews
at El Toro” and I might add, at John Wayne Airport either. If they had
their choice, they would have John Wayne operate 24 hours a day.
Detoy says there is no factual information to support any of those
three claims when I wrote, “El Toro would provide lower air fares, more
destination and less effects on its neighbors.” Try to get to Tucson from
John Wayne for a 9 a.m. meeting, and you have to leave the day before or
catch a flight out of LAX. Because of competition, I can get to
Minneapolis for 40% less by flying out of Los Angeles than John Wayne,
even booking with the same carrier. Southwest Airlines special fares
cover all of California’s airports, except John Wayne Airport -- lack of
competition. El Toro is a 5,000-acre-plus airport, John Wayne is 550
acres. The nearest home in Irvine to El Toro would be the equivalent of
being on the Balboa Peninsula from JWA, where the noise problem is little
to none!
Detoy’s letter was all I needed to cinch the sending of my donation to
the Airport Working Group PAC. I hope you will send one too. Mail your
check to P.O. Box 936, Tustin, CA 92781-0936.
SERVICE CLUB MEETINGS THIS WEEK:
MONDAY
6 p.m.: Harbor Mesa Lions Club will meet at Zubies Restaurant
TUESDAY
7:30 a.m.: The 40-member Newport Beach Sunrise Rotary Club will meet
at Five Crowns Restaurant for a program by University High School
Principal Diana Shmetzer.
6:30 p.m.: The Costa Mesa-Newport Harbor Lions Club, the Fish Fry
Club, will meet at the Costa Mesa Golf and Country Club for a student
speaker contest.
WEDNESDAY
7:15 a.m.: The 20-member South Coast Metro Rotary Club will meet at
the Center Club (o7 www.southcoastmetrorotary.orgf7 ), and the Newport
Harbor Kiwanis Club will meet at the University Athletic Club.
Noon: The 35-member Exchange Club of the Orange Coast will meet at the
Center for the Prevention of Child Abuse for a check presentation.
6 p.m.: The 60-member Rotary Club of Newport-Balboa will meet at the
Bahia Corinthian Yacht Club for a program by the Okazaki Youth Exchange
participants (o7 www.newportbalboa.orgf7 ).
THURSDAY
7 p.m.: The 20-plus member Costa Mesa-Orange Coast Breakfast Lions
Club will meet at Mimi’s Cafe for a program by Hank Panian on the Youth
Achievers Program.
Noon: The 50-member Costa Mesa Kiwanis Club will meet at the Holiday
Inn, the Newport Beach-Corona del Mar Kiwanis Club will meet at the Bahia
Corinthian Yacht Club to hear Melissa Banning discuss the Children’s
Museum, the 80-member Exchange Club of Newport Harbor will meet at the
Newport Harbor Nautical Museum to hear me give a talk titled “A New Era
for Service Clubs” (o7 www.nhexchangeclub.comf7 ), and the 100-member
Newport-Irvine Rotary Club will meet at the Irvine Marriott for the
annual Youth Speech and Singing Contests (o7 www.nirotary.orgf7 ).
* COMMUNITY & CLUBS is published Saturdays in the Daily Pilot. Send
your service club’s meeting information by fax to (949) 660-8667; e-mail
to jdeboom@aol.com or by mail to 2082 S.E. Bristol St., Suite 201,
Newport Beach, CA 92660-1740.
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