NEWPORT BEACH Family, friends remember Ritz restaurateur...

NEWPORT BEACH

Family, friends remember Ritz restaurateur Prager

A crowd of 700 friends, employees and business associates gathered

at the Four Seasons Hotel to bid farewell to restaurateur Hans

Prager, who died on Jan. 17, at age 74, following a heart attack and

stroke.

Born in Germany, Prager started his restaurant career in the

kitchen after coming to America. He worked for years in the Newport

Beach culinary community, opening the highly successful Ritz

restaurant at the Newport Pier in 1977 and later moving it to Fashion

Island. Those who knew Prager remembered his dedication to his work

and his generosity in giving to charity.

* Residents who want to sound off at City Council meetings on

consent calendar items will still have five minutes to do so. Council

members on Tuesday voted down a plan to limit these talks to three

minutes, but they voted to rearrange the order of agenda items.

* Clergy and community members who give invocations at council

meetings will be ask not to use Jesus’ name or other language that

constitutes “sectarian prayer.” The council voted to change its

policy on invocations after the state Supreme Court declined to hear

an appeal of a Burbank case in which a prayer in Jesus’ name was

ruled unconstitutional.

* Horse owners and city officials will work together on ways to

keep horse manure out of waterways. Members of the Back Bay

Equestrians will work on a proposal to step up their Adopt-A-Trail

program to provide regular cleaning of the trails. In return, city

officials may decide to take down warning signs that some equestrians

say are offensive.

-- June Casagrande