ENVIRONMENT Costa Mesa studying the effect of...

ENVIRONMENT

Costa Mesa studying the effect of its urban runoff

* A firm hired by the city of Costa Mesa began a study last week

of the city’s 109 storm drain outlets to see how much urban runoff is

getting into storm sewers. The study also will provide information to

the Regional Water Quality Control Board, which suspects a few

specific Costa Mesa drains as possible sources of bacteria that has

been detected in the mouth of the Santa Ana River and could have

caused beach closures at Huntington Beach. Findings on the storm

drain testing are expected in November.

* A county project to dredge and remove vegetation in San Diego

Creek was halted Wednesday when work permits from the Army Corps of

Engineers expired.

* Preliminary results of a study of fish from the Newport Bay

showed they contain two contaminants that could cause cancer and

other health risks to humans. The information was released Thursday

by the Orange County Health Care Agency after it was alerted by the

Regional Water Quality Control Board, which commissioned the study.

-- Alicia Robinson

NEWPORT BEACH

Greenlight councilman

backs away from group

City Councilman John Heffernan, the city’s first Greenlight

councilman, announced he was distancing himself from the Greenlight

group. Heffernan said he disapproved of a lawsuit the group had filed

against the city and a flier it had distributed.

* With the bitterness of the El Toro battles slowly fading into

the past, Newport Beach leaders want to extend an olive branch to

former foes on the Irvine City Council. Council members will consider

whether to ask their Irvine counterparts to join a committee to

discuss traffic, development and public safety.

* A battle of the boat shows closed its first chapter as a judge

ordered an injunction against the Newport Dunes and the Southern

California Marina Assn. to stop them from using the name “Newport

Beach Boat Show.”

The name is too similar to the Newport Boat Show, which local

promoter Duncan McIntosh held at the Dunes for 10 years.

* A battle is taking place on Balboa between a local merchant and

a resident who likes to feed the pigeons behind the Fun Zone. Hunter

Stroman, manager of Marina WaterSports, worries the droppings create

a health risk. Martin Zofchak, the “Pigeon Master of Balboa,” said he

would keep feeding the birds.

-- June Casagrande

COSTA MESA

Skate park wins approval of city’s recreation commission

* The long-awaited skate park is one step closer to reality after

the Parks and Recreation Commission approved a design for the

facility that will be located at TeWinkle Park. The design chosen is

compatible with the park’s layout and preserves a good deal of open

space.

* A Costa Mesa man was honored Thursday for his heroic lifesaving

efforts last year. Orange County Sheriff’s Deputy Christopher Corn

and a colleague from the Harbor Patrol in Newport Beach received

Medals for Lifesaving for trying to save a woman in distress off the

Seal Beach pier.

Newport Harbor High School alumnus Steven Armand also received a

Medal for Lifesaving for trying to save a man who hung himself.

-- Deirdre Newman

PUBLIC SAFETY

Videotape in teens’ sex case to be ruled on this week

* Attorneys in the case of three teenagers accused of raping a

16-year-old girl finished a tedious round of hearings last week

about the authenticity of a videotape that captured the sexual

encounter.

Gregory Haidl, 18 -- the son of high-raking Orange County

Sheriff’s Department official Don Haidl -- Kyle Nachreiner and Keith

Spann, both 19, are accused of raping an unconscious 16-year-old girl in July 2002. All three have pleaded not guilty to 24 felony counts.

Judge Francisco Briseno did not make a ruling Monday and instead said

he would review the transcripts of the two-week hearing and issue a

written ruling this week.

* A star witness for the defense team of James Lee Crummel has

given his defense lawyers some grief this week by recanting

statements the lawyers are hoping to get admitted to Crummel’s trial,

which starts Monday. Crummel was arrested in Newport Beach in 1997,

accused of murdering 13-year-old Costa Mesa resident Jamie Lee

Trotter.

The witness, James Munro, allegedly told five people, over a

22-year period, that William Bonin, the infamous “Freeway Killer,”

killed Trotter.

The judge will decide Monday whether Munro’s statements can still

be admitted as evidence.

-- Deirdre Newman

* The Costa Mesa Police Department is coming into the age of

technology by implementing a new computer system.

After using the same computer system for 24 years, the department

employed the first phase of a technology overhaul that will increase

communication, officials said.

-- Lolita Harper