End of the year events remembered

BARBARA DIAMOND

JULY

July 2: Inspired by “Roadtrip Nation,” a book written by Nathan

Gebhard and Mike Marriner of Laguna Beach, three recreation vehicles

full of students began a tour of colleges across the country to talk

to students about alternative career paths.

* Wayne and Faye Baglin announced they would not file a lawsuit

against the city relating to his trial on suspicion of violating

state conflict-of-interest laws, of which a jury found him not

guilty.

July 9: Assistant City Manager John Pietig conducted a tour of the

city’s maintenance yard and explained plans for the proposed facility

at Act V.

* Despite objections from residential neighbors, the City Council

approved redevelopment proposed by the new owner of the Pottery

Shack, with the proviso that the property be put on the city’s

historical register. “I better be able to recognize the Pottery Shack

when you are done, or I am gonna come after you,” then-Mayor Cheryl

Kinsman said. Councilmen Wayne Baglin and Steve Dicterow voted

against the proposal.

July 16: Andrew Urdiales, who confessed in 1997 to killing Laguna

Beach college student Robbin Brandley, then 23, in the parking lot of

Saddleback College, was awaiting a judge’s decision on whether he

would go to death row for three other killings in Illinois.

July 23: Festival of Arts members voted on changing its by-laws to

prevent licensing of the Pageant of the Masters.

* The California Coastal Commission voted 7 to 2 on July 15 to

continue its hearing on the proposed relocation of the city’s

maintenance yard to the Act V parking lot because of conflicting data

delivered by proponents and opponents of the project and the lack of

a parking study. Choosing a seat at the meeting was like deciding on

which side of the aisle to set a Hatfield-McCoy wedding. Councilwoman

Toni Iseman, an opponent of the project who sits on the commission,

dropped a bombshell when she announced that the tin shacks at the

current site would not be removed.

* The California Newspaper Publishers Assn. awarded first place to

the Coastline Pilot for page layout and design for weeklies and

second place for general excellence among papers of the same size.

July 30: Bill Bryan took the title at the 28th annual Victoria

Skimboards World Championship of Skimboarding, held July 24 and 25 at

Aliso Beach.

AUGUST

Aug. 6: John Laurence Whitaker, 57, was arrested in Oregon on

suspicion of murdering Patricia Ann Carpenter in 1983 in Laguna

Beach. Whitaker confessed to the murder, another cold case solved by

Det. Paul Litchenberg, who reopened the case in January, assisted by

records manager Dawn Garner.

Aug. 13: Tiana Bryant of San Clemente donated a kidney to Laguna

Beach resident Dan Stafford, 26. The transplant was done Aug. 3.

* Festival of Arts members voted overwhelmingly in favor of new

rules to prohibit licensing the Pageant of the Masters.

* Laguna Beach High School broke ground for its new football

field, to be covered in artificial turf, at an estimated cost of $1.6

million.

Aug. 20: The Day Worker Center on Laguna Canyon Road celebrated

five years of success. “In the beginning, we said we’d try it for

three months,” staff member Irma Ronses said. “Five years is proof

that it works.”

* Fire Department Captain Kris Head was promoted to battalion

chief.

Aug. 27: St. Ann’s Drive residents began to muster opposition to a

30-foot-high fence around the athletic field at Laguna Beach High

School. The school district said the fence would prevent batted balls

from banging into their windows. Residents said the windows wouldn’t

do them much good if the fence blocked all their views.

SEPTEMBER

Sept. 3: Laguna Beach Republican Frank Ricchiazzi went to New York

as a member of the California delegation to the Republican National

Convention. Ricchiazzi, co-chair of the Laguna Beach Republican Club,

is a founder of the Log Cabin Republicans, a group that represents

gays and lesbians in the Grand Old Party, even when it doesn’t

represent them.

Sept. 10: The Bammer family settled the suit filed against the

Brecht family, whose daughter was driving under the influence of

alcohol when the vehicle overturned, killing Jennifer Bammer. Nancy

Bammer said a good portion of the $168,000 settlement will go toward

a scholarship fund in her daughter’s name.

* A grand opening was held Sept. 4 at the Boys and Girls Club to

show off the new, 25,000-square-foot clubhouse, a project five years

in the making.

* The Laguna Beach Unified School District completed the

modernization of city schools at a cost of $57.1 million, funded by

local and state bonds, the city and the California Department of

Parks and Recreation.

Sept. 17: The City Council gave preliminary approval at the Sept.

14 meeting to a smoking ban on city beaches. The vote was 4-0, with

Councilman Steve Dicterow absent.

Sept. 24: “Laguna Beach: The Real Orange County” on MTV, starred

eight Laguna Beach students.

* The city couldn’t get the maintenance yard moved out of town,

and it appeared unlikely that it will be able to keep South Coast

Medical Center in town. A study presented to the City Council Sept.

21 by a hired consultant was not optimistic about the hospital

staying here.

OCTOBER

Oct. 1: The Laguna Beach Board of Education was still on the fence

about the fence around the baseball field. No vote was taken on a

compromise that pleased baseball supporters more than it did

neighbors of the high school campus.

* Haster Grove nursery went out of business.

* In less than a year, a Nyes Place family had a truck slam into

the front of their home and mud ooze into the back. The mudslide

caused by a broken water main forced Charles and Alysia Murray and

their 1-year-old son, Oliver, to evacuate.

Oct. 8: Construction of the controversial fence along the Laguna

Beach High School baseball field resumed Oct. 6. Neighbors and city

officials were still trying to figure out if there are legal means

for the city to intervene. The fence, or any construction on school

properties, did not go through design review. The City Council

instructed City Atty. Philip Kohn on Oct. 5 to research remedies.

Oct. 15: South Coast YMCA submitted an application to construct a

skateboard park on 35,000 square feet of the dog park in Laguna

Canyon.

* Flu clinics at South Coast Medical Center and the Laguna Beach

Senior Center were canceled when the county notified the hospital

officials that no vaccine was available.

* Sen. Barbara Boxer visited the Laguna Beach Democratic Club

Headquarters. About 300 Democrats crowded into the courtyard of the

defunct Pottery Shack to hear the petite Boxer urge voters to support

John Kerry.

Oct. 22: City Manager Ken Frank declined to sign off on the YMCA’s

application for a conditional-use permit to build the skateboard park

at Bark Park. He said he didn’t think he had the authority.

* Top of the World students bubbled with enthusiasm about the

recently completed improvements on the campus. Students blew bubbles

at the conclusion of a ceremony celebrating the end of the 2 1/2

-year project.

* A man who identified himself as Bong Rip passed out joints,

toked in broad daylight and thumbed his nose at marijuana laws by

orchestrating a public smoke-in Oct. 16 at Main Beach. More sedate

protests against marijuana laws were held farther south at Main

Beach.

Oct. 29: A popular nanny to Laguna Beach families died after she

was struck by an SUV while crossing South Coast Highway. Olimpia

Sastre Ordones, 27, was on her way to work when she was hit. Her

sister, 36, was injured in the accident.

* The Bluebird Park Rocket Ship was launched Oct. 27. Supporters

broke ground for the construction, funded jointly by a private/public

partnership. It cost $91,000

NOVEMBER

Nov. 5: Jane Egly was the top vote-getter in the City Council

election. Cheryl Kinsman came in second. Laura Parisi was reelected

city treasurer. Martha Anderson was elected city clerk.

* School board incumbents El Hathaway and Jan Vickers were

reelected.

* Former Laguna Beach teacher and Councilwoman Lida Lenney, a

leader in the battle to save Laguna Canyon from development, lost the

battle against leukemia. “She was our icon of the canyon,” Eleanor

Henry said. Lenney founded the Laguna Canyon Conservancy and took the

fight to the doorstep of Donald Bren, owner of the Irvine Co., which

had the rights to develop the outer canyon.

* A memorial fund was established for the family of nanny Olimpia

Sastre Ordones, who was killed in a traffic accident Oct. 27.

Nov. 12: Artists began readying booths for the 14th annual Sawdust

Festival Winter Fantasy that opened Nov. 20. More than 170 artists

and craftspeople participated.

Nov. 26: Montage Resort and Spa finally closed the deal with the

Esslinger Trust for the old Unocal Service Station site below Laguna

Terrace Mobile Home Park. The parcel will be used for employee

parking. Sierra Club representative Penny Elia said at the Nov. 16

meeting that the resort owners also had purchased buildings along the

adjoining parking strip.

DECEMBER

Dec. 3: Hospitality Night. Says it all. The tradition started in

1952. “It’s about family, community and is the epitome of the holiday

spirit,” Police Capt. Danell Adams said.

* A candlelight vigil was held Dec. 1 to commemorate World AIDS

Day. “I lost more than half of my friends before I hit 35,” said Ric

Uggen, a volunteer with AIDS Services Foundation. The Laguna Beach

Community Clinic offered free HIV testing during a day of

remembrance. Red ribbons with the names of those lost to AIDS were

fastened to trees downtown.

* Rep. Christopher Cox came through again -- this time sponsoring

a $900,000 grant to be combined with city revenue to renovate the

sewer system. This was the third grant Cox has procured for the city.

Dec. 10: Retiring City Clerk Verna Rollinger installed her

successor, Martha Anderson, at the Dec. 7 City Council meeting.

Anderson then installed winning Councilwomen Jane Egly and Cheryl

Kinsman and Treasurer Laura Parisi.

The council elected Elizabeth Pearson as mayor. Steve Dicterow was

elected mayor pro tem, presumably in line for the mayor job next

year, which was to have been his swan song. However, Dicterow said at

the meeting he has changed his mind and will run for a fourth term.

Dec. 17: El Toro Reuse Planning Authority called a special meeting

to consider threats to the will of the people who voted against a

commercial airport at the former U.S. Marine Corps Air Station. A

closed session was held to discuss possible litigation, but no action

was reported. The week before, the city of Fullerton had asked the

Department of Transportation to request a transfer of the base from

the U.S. Navy, which is scheduled to hold an auction of the property,

divided into four parcels, on Jan. 5. City Manager Ken Frank said Los

Angeles poses a bigger threat.

* The Planning Commission voted unanimously Dec. 15 to recommend

that the City Council approve proposed alterations to the Pottery

Shack, despite almost unanimous opposition by neighbors. First

scheduled to be heard Feb. 1, it is now set for the second council

meeting in February.

* BARBARA DIAMOND is a reporter for the Laguna Beach Coastline

Pilot. She may be reached at (949) 494-4321.