“We’ve been given the opportunity to support...

“We’ve been given the opportunity to support a great institution of

Orange County. It’s great our land can be used and we wish the YMCA

the best as they move forward with development of their new center.”

-- Henry Segerstrom, head of the Segerstrom family, which was

honored at a fundraiser for its work with the YMCA of Orange County.

“We’ll do anything to help them. It breaks my heart to see so many

men deployed, while their wives are at home and trying to do

everything. It’s not easy. Some of these battalions have single dads

trying to do everything by themselves.”

-- Joy Wynkoop, a Newport Beach resident who is backing “Operation

Gratitude,” which is collecting nonperishable food items, toys, baby

formula and diapers through Dec. 16 to help support Camp Pendleton’s

36,000 troops and their 18,000 dependents over the holidays.

Donations are being accepted 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. today at the corner of

Goldenrod Avenue and Pacific Coast Highway in Newport Beach.

“They recently sold the boat in the middle of November. They had

talked to family about that time, either right before or after the

sale. No one talked to them since, and family members thought that

was out of the ordinary.”

-- Steve Shulman, Newport Beach Police sergeant, on a couple that

went missing after they sold the 50-foot yacht in Newport Harbor they

had been calling home.

“We have really made an effort in the last few years to increase

physical fitness levels. P.E. teachers throughout the district have

met together as a group and planned their curriculum using national

fitness standards.”

-- Peggy Anatol, the Newport-Mesa Unified School District’s

director of assessment, on results from a state fitness test that 30%

of students passed.