Stories that changed Laguna

Laguna mourns Mark and Max

1 Laguna Beach High School students Mark Tiner, 17, and Max

Sadler, 16, were killed in a car accident in Dana Point on May 28,

leaving their families, friends and the entire community in mourning.

The police report said the accident occurred at 8:30 p.m. on Coast

Highway at Ritz-Carlton Drive. Mark was pronounced dead at the scene

and Max was taken to Mission Hospital Regional Medical Center where

he died at 1:45 a.m. May 29, with his parents by his side.

Max was to turn 17 the next day, and Mark just had his 17th

birthday.

Orange County Sheriff’s Department spokesman said no drugs or

alcohol were involved.

A memorial at the scene of the accident was immediately erected,

with hundreds of bouquets of flowers, surf gear, mementos of the

boys’ passions such as a guitar, championship trophies, team jerseys,

pictures and notes and other keepsakes.

A memorial for Max and Mark was held at 3 p.m. June 4 at Laguna

Presbyterian Church, with lines out the door of people who wanted to

pay their respects.

Later, a paddle out tribute at Aliso Beach took place at 7 a.m.

June 11 to honor Max and Mark.

-- Suzie Harrison

Laguna-based reality show in season No. 2

2 MTV launched what it called its first “reality drama” on Sept.

28: “Laguna Beach: The Real Orange County.”

The series followed eight Laguna Beach High School students; two

were juniors -- Kristin Cavalleri and Talan Torriero. The other six

were seniors -- Stephen Coletti; Trey Phillips; Lauren Conrad, or LC;

Morgan Olsen; Lauren Bosworth, or Lo, her nickname; and Christina

Schuller.

“The idea for this was to capture the life of real kids, in a real

environment, telling their stories in the visual language of

narrative dramas instead of documentary,” MTV Executive Producer Tony

DiSanto said.

Filming began in February and wrapped in August. Initially board

members of the Unified School District gave MTV consent to film on

campus until a backlash from parents helped the board change its

mind.

“We followed them from the middle of school to prom, graduation

and summer -- and going off to college, except the two juniors,”

DiSanto said. “It literally took thousands of hours, with two to

three cameras on the kids each time we did a shoot, and that would

last all day.”

The first season ran 11 episodes, with the season finale on Dec.

7. It was a huge hit and season two is being filmed currently with

some new characters added.

-- Suzie Harrison

City yard relocation continues to divide

3 Relocation of the city’s maintenance yard to Laguna Canyon

continues to divide the council.

Proponents and opponents of the proposed relocation of the city

maintenance yard couldn’t even agree on how to proceed with a public

workshop scheduled for Nov. 20, and the workshop was canceled.

Opponents of the project, who had requested the workshop,

suggested delaying or supported canceling it rather than proceeding

with it as proposed. They did not want the meeting limited to the

same presentations made by them and by city staff at the California

Coastal Commission project appeal hearing -- each side taking about

15 minutes, not counting public comment.

The appeal is still pending, and no date is set to resume the

continued hearing.

“I thought the workshop was supposed to be for the public to hear

what was presented at the coastal commission,” then-Councilwoman

Elizabeth Pearson said.

Pearson and Councilwoman Toni Iseman were appointed by the council

to seek a compromise solution. Pearson favors relocation. Iseman

opposed it.

Relocation opponents lost a voice on the council when Wayne Baglin

was defeated for reelection.

However, they lost no ground, with the election of Jane Egly, a

board member of Laguna Greenbelt Inc., which opposes the project.

The proposal to relocate the yard to Act V has bounced around for

about a decade, with little give on either side. Opposition is to the

proposed site on the fringe of the greenbelt, not to relocation.

Almost everyone favors a more aesthetically pleasing layout on the

highly visible corner next to City Hall, dubbed the Village Entrance.

Councilwoman Cheryl Kinsman, who supports the relocation, said

both sides of the issue have polls that show the public favors the

relocation two-to-one.

“If it takes a referendum, so be it,” Kinsman said.

-- Barbara Diamond

Baseball fence has neighbors up in arms

4 Controversy has swirled around the construction of the Laguna

Beach High School baseball field and the 30-foot fence that is

designed to prevent home runs from landing on St. Ann’s Drive. The

fence is up, in time for baseball season to begin in February, but

neighbors are still advocating a change in the height of the fence

poles.

When neighbors began to voice concerns about the appearance of

tall poles in front of their homes, construction came to a stop in

late August. The school board said the delays cost the district about

$25,000.

In October, the school board voted to resume construction of the

baseball fence, but this time they would adhere to a set of

modifications designed to address neighbors’ concerns.

The plans approved by the board dropped the top height of the

outfield poles from 30 feet to 20 feet, with the possibility that

poles could come down more. The fence is now at 30 feet and the

school board said they will lower the outfield poles to 20 feet by

Feb. 1.

A high-tech idea to build a fence with telescoping poles that

could climb from 10 feet to 40 feet at game time was proposed by

neighbor Stephen Crawford at an earlier board meeting.

The residents concerned about the fence hired a lawyer, Jim White,

as an advisor, but they have not filed a lawsuit against the

district.

-- Lauren Vane

Dan Stafford gets a new kidney

5 Halloween night 2003, at age 26, Laguna Beach resident Dan

Stafford was rushed to the South Coast Medical Center emergency room,

the same hospital he was born in. Stafford was told he had kidney

failure and needed a kidney transplant.

Waiting to find a potential donor, Stafford had to have dialysis

three times a week, four hours each time.

“The doctor said if I stayed on it [dialysis] forever I’d probably

lose 20 years of my life,” Stafford said.

Tiana Bryant, age 25 at the time, of San Clemente decided to be

his donor after she read about his transplant need in the Coastline

Pilot in December 2003.

Bryant, whose dad owns the Coyote Grill, where she is employed,

said her motivation was simple. She said she just wanted to help.

On Aug. 3, 2003 Stafford received the kidney he needed to save his

life.

-- Suzie Harrison

Laguna Beach police solve two cold cases

6 Twice this summer Laguna Beach police used DNA evidence to solve

a cold case murder.

In June, after working the case for years and following several

bad leads, Det. Paul Litchenberg and Sgt. Jason Kravetz made an

arrest in the 1983 murder of Santa Maria resident Ronald Jay Murphy.

After DNA found at the scene matched that of 48-year-old James

Paul Snider, Litchenberg and Kravetz traveled to Michigan to question

Snider in the murder. Snider, who is a convicted bank robber, was

interrogated by police for only 20 minutes before he confessed to

killing Murphy by battering his head with a toilet seat at a Laguna

Beach hotel.

Though the suspect and victim met at a well-known gay bar in

Laguna Beach, there is no evidence that any sex took place in the

hotel room where Murphy was murdered. Police believe the motive was

robbery.

Snider waived extradition and police brought him back to Orange

County where he is being held on $1 million bail. Snider pleaded not

guilty at his arraignment and is awaiting his next court date, Feb.

18.

In a separate case, police used DNA evidence to arrest a man in

connection with the 1983 murder of a prostitute who was found

strangled to death on Laguna Canyon Road.

In July, Laguna Beach Police Det. Paul Litchenberg and

Investigator Lou Gutierrez, a detective with the Orange County

District Atty.’s office, arrested 57-year-old John Laurence Whitaker,

a registered sex offender, in Gresham, Ore., after DNA evidence taken

from the victim’s body matched Whitaker’s DNA.

Litchenberg and Gutierrez flew to Oregon where they obtained

enough information about the killing, from Whitaker, to issue an

arrest warrant for the December 1983 murder of 26-year-old Patricia

Ann Carpenter. Police do not know if she was killed in Laguna or Los

Angeles, or somewhere between the two cities.

Since his arrest, Whitaker has been fighting extradition and is

still being held in an Oregon jail, police said. Whitaker has not yet

been arraigned for the murder.

-- Lauren Vane

2004 council election

expensive and brutal

7 Laguna’s voters elected Jane Egly and Cheryl Kinsman to

represent them, putting four women on the City Council together for

the first time in the city’s history.

“This is an unprecedented opportunity for the women of Laguna to

restore civility to local politics,” said former Mayor Kathleen

Blackburn, at one time the only woman on the council.

The election was anything but civil.

“There were anti-campaigns against all three candidates,”

Councilman Steve Dicterow said. “And none of the candidates had

anything to do with that.”

The campaign exacerbated divisions among city leaders, who have

been unable to reach compromises on issues of vital importance to the

city and who suspect the motivation of opponents.

“This is the ugliest campaign I have ever seen in Laguna,” said

retiring City Clerk Verna Rollinger.

Incumbent Wayne Baglin came in third in the race for the two

seats.

The campaign spotlighted some changes in the town that perhaps

have not been fully explored.

“I went to the Temple Hills meeting and I didn’t know 80% of the

people there,” Heritage Committee member Anne Frank said. “And they

don’t know the history of the town.”

Negative campaigns work, part-time political consultant Norm

Grossman said, when the voters don’t know the issues or the

candidates as thoroughly as they might.

The election did not change the balance of power in the council,

keeping intact what has been dubbed “the Council Majority” --

Kinsman, Mayor Elizabeth Pearson and Councilman Steve Dicterow. They

are united in support of moving the city’s maintenance yard to the

Act V parking lot, which Councilwoman Toni Iseman and Baglin bitterly

opposed.

However, opponents of the relocation lost no ground when voters

swept Egly into office.

She opposed the relocation as vehemently as Baglin.

The 2004 election was Baglin’s sixth run for council, three of

them successful, none for consecutive terms.

Martha Anderson, running unopposed, was elected City Clerk.

Incumbent City Treasurer Laura Parisi, also unopposed, was returned

to office.

The election was one of the most expensive in Laguna’s history. A

final accounting of funds raised and spent is due in January.

-- Barbara Diamond

Marine life gets its own protector

8 Beachgoers looking to make art work out of living creatures need

to think twice before removing marine life from any of Laguna’s

beaches.

The city’s first marine protection officer, Matthew Brown, began

work on Dec. 20 and he is doing his part to educate the public about

local marine life and also to ensure that beachgoers comply with

fish-and-game laws.

The city had recognized the need for a marine protection officer

for years, and the position became a reality this year when the city

started the search for the right candidate.

Brown was chosen out of about 40 people who applied for the

position. Brown is a graduate of Laguna Beach High School and has

served as a seasonal ocean lifeguard supervisor in Laguna Beach.

While the position does give Brown the power to issue citations to

those people who do not obey the rules, it is also his job to act as

an ambassador and teach beachgoers about marine life. Brown will

reach out to the community with educational efforts, such as giving

tours to school groups.

Laguna’s tide pools are already periodically monitored by

volunteer docents who work during low tides on weekends in the fall,

winter and spring and some summer weekdays. The marine officer works

closely with the docents to coordinate education programs.

Brown is currently in the process of completing his training,

while also conducting field patrols on all local beaches. According

to Marine Safety Chief Mark Klosterman, Brown is off to a great start

as Laguna’s first marine protection officer.

-- Lauren Vane

Blast from the past gets help now

9 The new Bluebird Park Rocket Ship was launched Nov. 7.

It took a village to get it off the ground. Funds were raised by

private donations from folks, who cherished memories of playing on

the rocket ship or watching their children play, and were matched by

the city.

Cost: $91,000. Value: priceless.

“Sonia Campbell deserves the credit for organizing the fundraiser

at Tivoli Too, where about $20,000 was raised,” said then-Mayor

Cheryl Kinsman. “The Blues Offenders band, which entertained at the

fund-raiser, donated their fee to the fund.”

Kinsman kicked off the private donations with a $1,000

contribution made at the 2004-05 budget workshop and later proposed

the matching grant, which the council approved.

Montage Resort and Spa donated $20,000, joyfully presented to the

council by longtime resident Chris Loidolt, whose children played on

the original rocket ship.

Kinsman, Campbell, Councilwoman Toni Iseman, Laguna Club for Kids

Executive Director Shelley Cox Miller and park landscape architect

Ann Christoph broke ground for the installation on Oct. 27.

Campbell’s husband, Chris, and their younger son, Ian, and Acting

City Manager John Pietig attended.

Bluebird Rocket Ship I was installed in the late 1960s during the space race. It was removed from the park in 2000 because it was

rusted and considered unsafe.

“Ann Christoph worked with the manufacturer on the design of the

new rocket ship,” Kinsman said. “It took more than three months to

fabricate.”

Columbia Cascade built the parts in Portland, Ore. All the

hardware is stainless steel and the main posts are aluminum, to avoid

corrosion.

The rocket ship stands 32 feet, 9 inches high and weighs 1,000

pounds.

“It should last 30 years,” Kinsman said.

-- Barbara Diamond

Art college loses Alan Barkley

10 Laguna College of Art and Design’s President Alan Barkley

resigned in July after seven years at the college.

During Barkley’s tenure the number of students nearly doubled from

150 students the year before he started to around 300.

Barkley started the animation program with the help of Chuck

Jones’ affiliation with the college and Jones serving as professor

emeritus.

Barkley enhanced the technological infrastructure turning it into

a wireless campus and added high-tech improvements to keep the

college on the cutting edge.

The college is set to launch a Masters of Fine Arts program in

representational art and figurative painting in the fall of 2005 due

to Barkley’s efforts. The master’s program is limited to only a few

colleges in the country, and there is nothing like it yet in

California.

Barkley left in August to become dean of Lyme Academy College of

Fine Arts in Connecticut.

-- Suzie Harrison