Weeks in Review

Amanda Arthur, the Newport Beach resident who was in a coma for 11

weeks after a car accident five years ago, has called on the community to

support 4-year-old Leilani Gutierrez. The Costa Mesa toddler is in a coma

after a car accident.

City Council members adopted a zero-tolerance for trash attitude by

supporting a plan to ask the state water quality board to list some local

water bodies as “water-quality impaired.”

Two members of the board of the Newport Beach Film Festival have

resigned amid concerns about the board’s financial and administrative

practices. Carlo Villarino and Yves Rene Siegler stepped down, with

Villarino saying in an e-mail he was worried that practices left board

members open to personal liability.

A city lobbyist is fighting a South Bay Assemblyman’s transportation

bill, alleging that it could mean expansion at John Wayne Airport. The

bill seeks to ensure that each county shoulders its fair share of the

burden for future demand for flights.

Ten men thought to be from China came ashore at about 3 a.m. Thursday,

possibly as illegal immigrants. Local law enforcement agencies rounded up

the men, who were put in the custody of the Immigration and

Naturalization Service.

* June Casagrande covers Newport Beach. She may be reached at (949)

574-4232 or by e-mail at o7 june.casagrande@latimes.comf7 .

OCC graduates its 54th class

Orange Coast College handed out 1,370 associate arts degrees on

Thursday at its 54th commencement ceremony.

Newport-Mesa Unified School District trustee Wendy Leece is calling

for a letter-writing campaign to convince Gov. Gray Davis to reinstate

cash awards for schools that meet their Academic Performance Index Goals.

Leece said it’s unfair that the money was taken out of the budget,

despite the state’s financial woes.

* Deirdre Newman covers education. She may be reached at (949)

574-4221 or by e-mail at o7 deirdre.newman@latimes.comf7 .

Fast-food murder trial commences

The trial for a 42-year-old Downey man who is accused of shooting a

Newport Beach man to death a year ago began last week.

Ramadan Dokovic is accused of shooting Miroslav Maric, 49, on May 18,

2001, in the parking lot of a Jack in the Box restaurant at the

intersection of 17th Street and Tustin Avenue in Costa Mesa.

The prosecution maintains Dokovic shot Maric because Maric refused to

lead him to Dokovic’s nephew who had stolen Rolex watches in his

possession. Prosecutor Matt Murphy said he wanted to get the watches for

a Costa Mesa jeweler, who claimed the watches were his and had promised

Dokovic $20,000 in return.

Public Defender Dolores Yost argued Dokovic and Maric were involved in

a struggle for the gun and that Dokovic fired the gun to save his own

life. The prosecution presented many witnesses last week who gave graphic

accounts of the incident.

Several people who were outside or at an adjoining strip mall said

they saw the shooting that took place on that busy Friday afternoon.

The trial will continue Tuesday at the Orange County Superior Court in

Santa Ana.

* Deepa Bharath covers public safety and courts. She may be reached at

(949) 574-4226 or by e-mail at o7 deepa.bharath@latimes.comf7 .

Council ponders 19th Street zoning issue

City Council members agreed to reopen the zoning debate regarding a

small strip of 19th Street last week after Mayor Linda Dixon told them

they didn’t fully understand the issue.

The council voted 4 to 1 to rehear the issue, which questions whether

the zoning of a portion of the busy street should be redesignated for

residential use -- a designation it had more than 25 years ago.

Councilman Gary Monahan dissented.

On May 6, council members postponed any decisions about the zoning of

the portion of West 19th Street until the council, acting as the city’s

Redevelopment Agency, has a chance to examine it.

Dixon requested the council reconsider its previous postponement and

examine the area again. She questioned whether the public and council

fully understood the issue, particularly which businesses in the 19th

Street area would remain legal if the zoning changed, a staff report

shows.

Monahan refused to vote for a rehearing because he said the council

had already made its decision.

“We already voted on this issue three weeks ago,” Monahan said. “Once

again, we’ve changed our minds. I felt the vote was taken then, and we

should stick to our decision.”

* Lolita Harper covers Costa Mesa. She may be reached at (949)

574-4275 or by e-mail at o7 lolita.harper@latimes.comf7 .

Cox greets doctor released from Israel

Rep. Chris Cox welcomed home a doctor who was released last week from

an Israeli prison and discussed with him ways to improve the government’s

procedure regarding Americans detained overseas.

Cox met with Anaheim doctor Riad Abdelkarim, who was taken by Israeli

officials while he was on a medical relief mission in the West Bank

providing care to Palestinians. Abdelkarim was released Sunday -- after

two weeks in prison -- and landed at John Wayne Airport on Monday

afternoon. The doctor was never formally charged with any crime.

Cox represents Abdelkarim, who lives in Orange Hills.

After spending some heartfelt hours with his family, Abdelkarim came

to the Republican’s Newport Beach office to thank him for his efforts and

encourage the politician to look into cases of other innocent Americans

being held overseas.

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

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