Notable quotables of 2004

Politicians speak

“Draconian cuts are needed. I’m all for the poor people and the

downtrodden and all that kind of stuff, but we just have to make

draconian cuts.”

- Newport Beach Mayor Tod Ridgeway on Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s

plans to make deep cuts in the state budget.

“We’re going to spend what we need to spend. It’s a modest amount.

We always figured if we spent half [as much as Cristi Cristich], we’d

win it.”

- Chuck DeVore, 70th Assembly District candidate, who re-ported

raising $336,000 for his campaign in 2003, less than half the

$703,000 raised by Cristich, his opponent in the Republican primary.

“The speech reflected the two sides of George Bush. It showed his

tough side, when he exhibited a firm stand against terrorism, clearly

jabbing some of the Democrats who had been backbiting and nitpicking

about some of those issues. He was able to do all that while

maintaining his presidential aura.”

- Rep. Dana Rohrabacher on the president’s state of the union

speech.

“I feel great. We worked really hard. It finally paid off.”

- Katrina Foley, then Costa Mesa planning commissioner, who was

the top vote-getter in this year’s City Council election.

“We’re the policymakers, and I think we blew it with respect to

putting [property owners] on notice.”=

- Newport Beach Councilman Steve Bromberg, on resi-dents’

complaints about how the discussions about the Newport Coast

Elementary School access road were handled.

“We really worked hard to do this. It was an uphill battle to do

this, because many of the major institutions in the city endorsed

others. I feel like it was worth the effort, and I can’t wait to get

to work.”

- Eric Bever, Costa Mesa planning commissioner, who won the third

seat available on the Costa Mesa council.

Lawyers speak

“A simple apology is just not enough after your whole emotional

life has been stolen from you. Jail would be nice, but it’s not

possible. All these people have left is a civil remedy.”

- John Manly, an attorney who represented 80 victims of alleged

abuse in the Catholic Church, eight of whom are from Newport-Mesa.

Coaches on the firing line

“On all matters, we cannot speak on the reasons for the integrity

of the school and the rights of the coach, even if the story is

one-sided.”

- Fred Navarro, Costa Mesa High School principal, during a meeting

with players and their parents about the firing of football coach

Dave Perkins.

“Why did you fire our coach?”

- Juan Diaz, a Costa Mesa High School football player, during the

same meeting.

Trial grips community

“I remember I woke up once and threw up all over my hands and

hair. And I heard one of the guys saying, ‘Oh my God, she’s throwing

up.’”

- Jane Doe, girl allegedly raped by Greg Haidl, son of former

Orange County Assistant Sheriff Don Haidl, Kyle Nachreiner and Keith

Spann.

“She’s been prepped. Probably not by the prosecutor but by someone

here, maybe her parents.”

- Joseph Cavallo, defense attorney for Greg Haidl, son of Orange

County Assistant Sheriff Don Haidl, Kyle Nachreiner and Keith Spann,

referring to testimony last week of from an 18-year-old woman

allegedly raped when she was 16.

“I don’t know what went wrong. Every day, I look back and ask the

same question: What could I have done to change this?”

- Don Haidl, Orange County assistant sheriff, about the multiple

criminal charges of sexual assault that his son, Greg, faced.

“I’m just sick of all that. I’ve put up with it for way too long.”

- Joseph Cavallo, who was lead attorney for Greg Haidl, son of

Orange County Assistant Sheriff Don Haidl, in the recent high-profile

rape case, announcing he won’t be part of any retrial.

Speaking of Greenlight

“They don’t want to alienate those in the electorate that will be

opposed to the conversion of parkland and beachfront to a hotel. We

want them to debate the issues in a public forum and accept

responsibility for their positions as councilmen.”

- Phil Arst, Greenlight spokesman, on a vote on the proposed

Marinapark hotel.

City Hall watchers speak

“We need an explanation. We need to make sure this garbage doesn’t

happen again. We need to make sure our senior management is protected

from whatever the feeling of the moment is by the council. It’s

flat-out wrong, and it’s not in Costa Mesa’s best interest.”

- Costa Mesa resident Doug Sutton on the city’s second settlement

with former City Atty. Jerry Scheer.

“It’s not painless. When you don’t get money in, it means you

better stop money going out somewhere else.”

- Sandra Genis, a former Costa Mesa mayor, reacting to a decision

by the City Council to waive a traffic fee for the Renee and Henry

Segerstrom Concert Hall that will result in a city shortfall of more

than $1 million for a freeway access project.

“Would people like to see me go away? Yes. But we’re the people,

and we have a right to be heard.”

- Jim Hildreth, a Balboa Island resident and frequent speaker

during Newport Beach City Council meetings, after the council decided

to move to the end of its meetings public comment on routine calendar

items.

“[Robin Clauson’s] been with the city a long, long time. The city

will have continuity with a caring person, who has the experience and

who has done a great job over the years. It’s her reward for doing a

good job.”

- Dolores Otting, who ran for City Council in November, on the

possibility of Clauson taking over as Newport Beach city attorney.

Clauson did.

What’s El Toro again?

“It’s not over. We have to be vigilant and keep our fight up. This

is a never-ending struggle to maintain our quality of life.”

- Rick Taylor, the Airport Working Group’s vice president, on the

continuing El Toro airport fight, during the group’s annual meet-ing.

Get those smokes off the sand

“It’s really neat because this was not my idea at all. The kids

are the ones that did the clean-up and were appalled by what they

found and are seeking to make a difference in their community.”

- Scott Morlan, who teaches the surf class as well as geom-etry

and a college prep program at Newport Harbor High School, on a plan

by students to petition the Newport Beach City Council to ban smoking

on the beach.

“We’re really proud of ourselves, and we’re really happy that

Newport decided to go smoke-free and help the environment. The

cigarettes get washed into the ocean, and then the fish eat them, and

we eat the fish If you think about it, that’s kind of disgusting.”

- Caroline Wilkinson, a junior at Newport Harbor High School and

president of the school’s Earth Resource Foundation Club, which

lobbied the city to adopt the smoking ban on New-port beaches.

They wanted their public TV

“Now we’re focusing on nailing the money. We’ve had a lot of

people waiting in the wings for resolution. Now we’re trying to raise

as much money as pos-sible.”

- Mel Rogers, KOCE-TV president, after a judge denied Christian

broadcaster Daystar Television Network’s claim that Coast Community

College District should have sold the station to it and not the

foundation.

“Daystar is attempting to use intimidation, pressure and threats

to get its way, and those efforts in this community will fail. If

anything, those heavy-handed tactics only reinforce why Daystar is

exactly the wrong organization to own Orange County’s only public

television station. KOCE-TV is a community asset, and we intend to

defend it vigorously.”

- Bob Brown, chairman of the KOCE-TV Foundation, on the Christian

broadcasting company’s lawsuit to win the right to buy KOCE from the

Coast Community College District.

Tax day comes but once a year

“We are looking out the window right now and people are outside in

the car lined up because they procrastinated until the last minute.”

- Dave Tax, a Newport Beach tax preparer, as the minutes ticked

away on April 15.

There still are heroes

“I had gotten out of the car and was in complete survival mode. I

had a second to respond and I just went over, got the door open, got

the seat belt off and pulled him to safety.”

- Costa Mesa resident Timothy Montag on his heroic feat of pulling

a young man from a burning car after an accident.

“He made a huge impact on an extended network of people. I’m sure

he didn’t know how he impacted people, and I don’t know that his

family did. I hope they take comfort in knowing what a positive

impact he did have on so many people.”

- Calvary Chapel English teacher Nancy Hamilton on her former

student, Trevor Win’E, a soldier who was killed in the war in Iraq.

“My adrenaline was going good, and I felt good. I just needed a

plan because there were three of them. I figured if they were going

to give me too much of a hard time, I would let them have it. But I

figured I could bluff my way [out of it].”

- Jeffrey Moore after chasing down teenage bike thieves.

“The car was burning down pretty soon, and we had to make an

assessment within a matter of seconds. We decided to pull the man out

of the car instead of trying to put out the fire.”

- Jim Ellis, Costa Mesa Fire chief, after he and his son Kevin

pulled a man from a fiery car accident.

“I’m proud to do what I do today because I really felt like I

saved someone’s life.”

- Jason Chamness, a Costa Mesa Police officer who talked a man out

of jumping off a freeway overpass.

“He not only had the courage to fight the disease but to return to

work. He is a shining example of courage and positive thinking.”

- Costa Mesa Police Chief John Hensley, about officer Dave

Makiyama returning to work after a battle with cancer.

“It devastated me. And I kept asking why. But I realized I needed

to be strong for my baby. I needed to smile and be happy for her,

because whatever I’m going to feel, she’s going to feel.”

- Dinora Reynosa describing what life has been like after her

husband Rafael, a Marine, was killed by a car bomb explosion in Iraq

on May 29.

Politicians speak the truth?

“If it’s the type of music and loud noise I think it will be,

that’s not the type of place I en-joy going to.”

- Newport Beach City Councilman Don Webb on the restaurant and bar

Josh Slocum’s makeover and name change to Rodman’s.

An expansive issue

“This is a very difficult issue. We’re all neighbors, so this is

very difficult for us.”

- Cliff Haven resident Bill Dunlap, on the proposed expansion of

St. Andrew’s Church.

“We want to show whoever did this crime -- this hate crime -- that

it won’t silence us. Arabs, students, the community, we all stand

united against hate.”

- Vanessa Zuabi, vice president of UC Irvine’s Society of Arab

Students, during a rally to denounce acts of hate and the destruction

of a symbolic wall built by Arab students.

Surfers still love it

“It’s like an armpit over there.”

- Bob Caustin, president and founder of Defend the Bay, about the

mouth of the Santa Ana River, which earned an “F” during the wet

season in an annual beach report released last week.

Cox wins something

“If there was an award to be given for someone whose name is

frequently mentioned to do ‘x’ in Republican circles and then didn’t

do it, Chris Cox would be the unequivocal winner.”

- Mark Petracca, UC Irvine political science professor,

com-menting on rumors that Rep. Chris Cox was in line for the top CIA

position.

Marinapark, who can forget?

“I don’t think voters are going to know heads or tails what

they’re voting on.”

- John Heffernan, Newport Beach city councilman, on the Marinapark

proposal. He was one of three to vote against the plan being put on

the ballot.

“We’re suing because the [report] is deliberately misleading and

concealing and may there-fore lead the public to pass Measure L by

mistake by deceiving them. It’s deceptive in several ways. The most

important is that it does not consider the main alternative - using

the park for some attractive park purpose, such as a boating center.”

- Allan Beek, secretary of Stop Polluting Our Newport, on a

lawsuit the group filed against Newport Beach over Marinapark.

“We have to protect parklands that are being taken away for

development. There are precious few [parks] left in the city ...”

- Tom Billings, spokesman for Protect Our Parks, about Marinapark,

a proposed hotel on Balboa Peninsula.

Speaking of George Yardley

“It was remarkable when you realize he was arguably the greatest

athlete to come out of our area, and he had an electrical engineering

degree from Stanford, where he was an All-American in two sports. He

was involved both with family and his business. He was never in a

hurry, and that was one of the engaging things about him. He made you

feel like you were important.”

- Buck Johns, of Santa Ana Heights, about George Yardley, the

Newport Harbor product and NBA Hall of Fame player, who died last

week this year after battling Lou Gehrig’s disease.

Dolphins stop in harbor

“It’s becoming a phenomenon. If everyone ends up going into the

harbor, swimming, snorkeling or paddling out in kayaks, they will

impede what [the dolphins are] doing.”

- Dennis Kelly, professor of marine biology at Orange Coast

College, about two dolphins that have been swimming in the Back Bay

near the Coast Highway bridge, attracting crowds.

A schism in Newport’s backyard

“For so many years, they have poured everything they have into

this church. They want to see all that used for something they

believe in.”

- Praveen Bunyan, St. James Parish rector on the fate of the

church being sued by the Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles.

“Those churches are part of the diocese of Los Angeles. I’m their

bishop. The clergy in those churches have been ordained by us and

sworn to obedience to the Episcopal Church.”

- The Rt. Rev. J. Jon Bruno on the St. James Church announcement

that it was seceding.

One from the Worm

“At 43 years, I’m in very good condition. I’m 110% fit.”

- Dennis Rodman, after signing a contract to play home games for

the ABA’s Orange County Crush.