More hats thrown into the School Board...

More hats thrown into the School Board ring

School Board races got a little more crowded, as three new

candidates have taken out petitions to run for office.

Huntington Beach contractor Michael Haskin entered the race for a

seat on the Ocean View School District’s board. Two seats remain open

on the board, and incumbent Barbara Boskovich, Libertarian activist

Norm Westwell, planning commissioner Tom Livengood and attorney

Debbie Cotton have already entered the race.

Haskin, who is running in his first race, said he thinks his

construction background could be an asset to the district, though he

wants to help out any way he can.

“I’m just kind of a willing pair of hands,” he said.

Two candidates entered the race to serve on the Huntington Beach

Union High School District’s board. University student Mark Marshall

Ahrens and UC Irvine administrator Vivian Kirkpatrick-Pilger. Both

candidates live in Westminster.

Ahrens attends the University of Southern California and is the

son of Judy Ahrens, a member of the Westminster School District, who

along with two other board members, opposed state guidelines and

pushed through a conservative definition of “gender” in that

district’s anti-discrimination policy. The policy was hashed out in a

highly publicized confrontation with the state Department of

Education.

Kirkpatrick-Pilger has worked at UC Irvine for 24 years, and said

that she wants to use her university connections to build bridges

between the campus and local high schools.

Local student gets inside look at justice system

Huntington Beach High School student Ryan Chairez was one of a

handful of Orange County high school students selected to spend a

week on the inside of the criminal justice system.

About 20 students were accepted into the course, the Summer Youth

Education Conference, which is offered by the District Attorney’s

office. The program began with a meeting with Dist. Atty. Tony

Rackauckas, and continued with a look at law enforcement. The

students are scheduled to finish the program Friday with a mock

trial, said Linda Le, community liaison for the District Attorney’s

office.

“Toward the end they will do a mock trial and meet counselors,”

she said.

The course started on Monday when the students met a gang

investigations officer in the Westminster Police Department before a

tour of the Santa Ana Police Department that included a chance to

meet the SWAT team, Le said.

Also on the group’s agenda was a visit to the Orange County

Sheriff’s training facility and bomb squad, a meeting with a public

defender and a stop at the Orange County Coroner’s office.

Chairez, who said he is considering a career as an attorney, was

impressed by the scope of the justice system.

“I learned how many different kinds of specialties there are, how

many departments,” he said.