NEWPORT BEACH City Council finally decides on...

NEWPORT BEACH

City Council finally decides on Local Coastal Plan

At long last the Local Coastal Plan this week cleared its hurdles

at the city level and is headed to the California Coastal Commission

for further review.

The City Council voted to approve the plan marked forward motion

on an issue weighing on the city since Newport Beach missed the June

30, 2003 application deadline -- a misstep that has cost the city

$1,000 per month since.

Residents whose property falls inside the coastal boundaries must

deal with the California Coastal Commission when developing their

property. What the city has done with the proposed Local Coastal Plan

is define for itself -- taking into consideration suggestions from

the Coastal Commission, which will ultimately give the plan the

thumbs-up -- which properties should be subject to what type of

development guidelines.

Once a final Local Coastal Plan is formally adopted, the city can

handle that process, officials said.

* City officials held off on banning smoking on public beaches,

saying they will wait to reexamine the issue after summer. The

decision came on the heels of the Malibu City Council’s decision to

ban smoking on its beaches.

Council members agreed during a study session to put the ban on

hold to watch how other cities that have adopted such laws handle

enforcement during the busy summer season.

-- Lolita Harper

CRIME AND COURTS

Friends of alleged victim testify as rape case continues

The prosecution rested its case last week in the high-profile rape

case against three teenagers, and the defense opened with strong

testimony from former friends of the alleged victim.

Two of the girl’s former friends, who testified for the defense,

made statements that were in stark contrast to what the girl herself

said over the last week when she took the stand.

Greg Haidl, son of Orange County Assistant Sheriff Don Haidl, Kyle

Nachreiner and Keith Spann are accused of raping and sexually

assaulting the victim with various objects at the Haidls’ Corona del

Mar home.

-- Daily Pilot staff

EDUCATION

A new labor agreement for Newport-Mesa teachers

Newport-Mesa Unified School District trustees voted Tuesday night

to approve a labor agreement that will give teachers a pay raise of

more than 5% over two years and increase instructional time for

students.

The salary increases will start in the fall and take starting

salaries from $38,062 to $40,000 and add an additional $104 the

following year. Instructional minutes for first- through

third-graders will increase and schools will have the option of

providing full-day kindergarten.

* Orange Coast College granted the largest number of associate of

arts degrees in the school’s history at its 56th annual commencement

ceremony Thursday at the Pacific Amphitheater in Costa Mesa. The

school awarded 1,524 associate’s degrees and 491 certificates of

achievement in various areas of study. About 600 graduates came to

walk the stage and receive their degrees and certificates in the

blinding late afternoon sun before a crowd of thousands.

* Corona del Mar High School students reenacted an alcohol-related

crash, trial and memorial service as part of its Every 15 Minutes

program.

Named for a statistic that states someone is killed or seriously

injured by a drunken driver every 15 minutes, the program seeks to

educate and warn teenagers of the dangers involved. The presentation

came, coincidently, a week after two former students were killed and

one seriously injured in an alcohol-related crash near Estancia High

School.

* Harbor View Elementary School celebrated its 50th anniversary on

Thursday. Alumni, teachers and former Principal John Dean reminisced

and shared stories about the school. The school also unveiled a new

mosaic, called “Forever Young,” with tiles painted by 200 students.

* Students and administrators gathered on UC Irvine’s campus on

Thursday to denounce acts of hate and the destruction of a symbolic

wall built by Arab students.

The rally came a week after someone torched a cardboard wall built

by members of the school’s Society of Arab Students. The burning of

the wall, a replica of Israel’s controversial security barrier, is

being investigated as a hate crime.

-- Marisa O’Neil