POLITICS Schwarzenegger terminates car at Mesa campaign...

POLITICS

Schwarzenegger terminates

car at Mesa campaign stop

A campaign rally that felt more like a rock concert blasted

through the fairgrounds Thursday. Fans and volunteers supporting

Arnold Schwarzenegger in the recall effort converged on a parking lot

to hear the movie star turned gubernatorial candidate talk for about

five minutes. They also got to see a car explode when a wrecking ball

dropped on it to symbolize how Schwarzenegger feels about the “car

tax.”

* DEIRDRE NEWMAN covers Costa Mesa and may be reached at (949)

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

PUBLIC SAFETY AND COURTS

AYSO director arrested

for alleged embezzlement

Police arrested a 55-year-old Costa Mesa man Wednesday on

suspicion of embezzling more than $100,000 over two years from the

local youth soccer league, officials said.

Former AYSO Regional Commissioner Anthony Leon Anish turned

himself in at the Newport Beach Police Department after a warrant was

issued for his arrest on Tuesday.

Anish pleaded not guilty to the charges Wednesday afternoon. He is

out on a $50,000 bail. He is also facing a civil lawsuit filed by the

AYSO in June that seeks general damages to collect the amount that he

allegedly spent for his own purposes.

Anish’s next court hearing in the criminal case is scheduled for

Oct. 27 at the Harbor Justice Center.

* A 41-year-old Newport Beach man arrested Tuesday afternoon

after he had escaped from an Orange County jail earlier that day has

been charged with three felonies and one misdemeanor, officials said.

Mark Thomas Georgantas was arraigned Thursday afternoon at Harbor

Justice Center and charged with one felony count each of escape,

unlawful taking of a vehicle and evading officials while driving

recklessly. He was also charged with one count of misdemeanor

hit-and-run, she said.

Another inmate, 24-year-old James William Costilow of Riverside,

who escaped with Georgantas, remains at large. A warrant has been

issued for his arrest. If convicted, Georgantas faces four years and

four months in prison as well as a state prison sentence for

violating probation on a prior felony.

* DEEPA BHARATH covers public safety and courts. She may be

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

NEWPORT BEACH

Overwatering crackdown

floated by city officials

A measure to put a stop to lawn overwatering could come to the

City Council next month. The proposal is being put forth by the

city’s water quality committee as part of an ongoing obligation to

meet stringent new standards for controlling urban runoff.

* The Big Canyon Reservoir is empty as workers clean and repair it

and prepare the city’s main reservoir for a huge plastic cover to be

installed. The cover will cost about $5 million and will include

nearly $1 million in federal funds. City officials hope to get up to

$1.5 million more from the federal government to further defray the

city’s cost.

* The race to fill Gary Proctor’s vacant council seat was off to a

slow start last week when, halfway into the two-week window to apply,

no one had yet filed an application. Steve Rosansky, who ran against

Proctor in 2000, said he plans to apply. The other candidate in that

election, Dennis Lahey, said he was considering it. The council will

choose Proctor’s successor from qualified residents of West Newport’s

council District 2.

EDUCATION

Foundation’s battle to buy KOCE continues

KOCE-TV president Mel Rogers said that the station’s Foundation

still intends to submit a bid to buy the station from Coastline

Community College, even though a joint bid with Los Angeles-based

KCET-TV fell apart.

KCET announced Monday that they did not have time to work with the

Orange County station to put together the $10-million bid proposed to

keep the station’s public broadcasting format. The district is set to

decide what to do with the station at an Oct. 15 meeting.

Currently, four Christian broadcasters, including Costa Mesa-based

Trinity Broadcasting Network, are in the running with KOCE. The

highest bids are for $25 million.

* Vanguard University, a private, Christian college in Costa Mesa,

reported record enrollment this semester.

The school’s enrollment rose 7% to 2,051 students in a variety of

30 undergraduate and four graduate degree programs. A spokesperson

attributed the growth with high retention rates and tighter

admissions at community and state colleges.

* MARISA O’NEIL covers education and may be reached at (949)

574-4268 or by e-mail at marisa.oneil@latimes.com.