EDUCATION City Council OKs Newport Coast Elementary...

EDUCATION

City Council OKs Newport Coast Elementary loop road

An access road at Newport Coast Elementary School that came under

fire by neighboring residents got the go-ahead at Tuesday’s City

Council meeting and is scheduled for completion before school starts

in the fall.

Some parents expressed their relief that the road will be built

and, hopefully, ease traffic snarls around the school. Nearby

residents, however, worried how the road would affect them and

blasted city officials for not giving them notice of the project.

* New school buses in Newport-Mesa and throughout the state will

soon need to have three-point restraint systems in them.

New school buses that carry fewer than 20 passengers will have to

have the lap and shoulder belts starting Thursday and new full-size

school buses must have belts starting on July 1, 2005. The

Newport-Mesa Unified School District plans to replace all of its 65

buses in the years to come.

-- Marisa O’Neil

COSTA MESA

Council approves budget without increases

The Costa Mesa City Council narrowly passed a $110-million budget

for the 2004-05 fiscal year Monday. The budget was enacted on a 3 to

2 vote with Councilmen Allan Mansoor and Chris Steel dissenting. The

budget was balanced without any increases in taxes or fees.

* The second reading of a special-events law proved controversial

on Monday when two council members suggested changing the wording of

the law, which the council first approved on June 7. Council members

Libby Cowan and Steel, and the majority of residents who spoke,

thought it was unfair to exempt churches from the new law. But there

was not enough support on the council to change that exemption. The

law is “content-neutral,” meaning permits will no longer be issued

based on the type of speech involved with the event.

* Nine organizations that applied to sell fireworks will not be

able to do so this Fourth of July because they do not meet the new

requirements. The council tightened up the criteria for selling

fireworks in May. Twenty-eight organizations will be selling

fireworks next month.

* South Coast Plaza’s 12th annual Food and Wine Festival attracted

gourmet establishments from all over the county Thursday evening.

This year’s festival featured more than 30 wineries, focusing mainly

on those from the Central Coast. The festival benefits Costa Mesa’s

Someone Cares Soup Kitchen and Second Harvest Food Bank of Orange

County.

* About 1,000 SBC customers got back their phone service Tuesday,

about three days after a contractor reportedly accidentally drilled

through an underground telephone cable. Those affected live in the

“state streets” and Mesa Verde areas of Costa Mesa.

PUBLIC SAFETY AND COURTS

Jurors in gang-rape trial begin deliberations

Jurors began deliberations Wednesday afternoon in a high-profile

case involving three teenagers accused of gang-raping an unconscious

16-year-old girl.

Prosecutors say Greg Haidl, son of Orange County Assistant Sheriff

Don Haidl, Kyle Nachreiner and Keith Spann sexually assaulted the

girl, identified during the trial only as Jane Doe, with various

objects as she lay on a pool table in the assistant sheriff’s Corona

del Mar home.

The teenagers face 24 felony counts. If convicted, they could face

up to 55 years and four months in state prison.

About seven hours into deliberations, jurors asked Judge Francisco

Briseno if they should proceed to deliberate on other counts if they

can’t reach a verdict on the first count, court officials said.

Earlier in the day, they had asked to see portions of the

videotape, the court papers show. At about 1:25 p.m., they asked the

question: “If we are unable to reach a verdict on count No. 1, are we

to continue to other counts or do we stop?”

The first count is rape by intoxication. Briseno instructed the

jury to proceed with the other counts, officials said.