POLITICS Muslim leaders call on Cox for...

POLITICS

Muslim leaders call

on Cox for help

Newport Beach Rep. Chris Cox met on Monday with local Muslim

leaders to discuss their concerns about the detention of Wagdy

Ghoneim, an imam at the Islamic Institute of Orange County.

Ghoneim had been held since November, when immigration authorities

took him in because his visa had expired.

Supporters and family members said Ghoneim should be freed on bond

because of health problems, and they charged that the Muslim

community is unjustly the target of increased immigration vigilance

in the name of homeland security.

Cox agreed to look into the case, but after a bond hearing Tuesday

in San Pedro, Ghoneim’s attorney announced the imam and his family

will leave the U.S.

PUBLIC SAFETY

Firefighters deliver baby sans doctors

Newport Beach firefighters helped deliver a baby early on the

morning after Christmas.

The firefighters got to the Santa Ana Heights apartment of a woman

who had the baby about two minutes later -- before paramedics could

arrive.

The woman and her new daughter were doing well, fire Capt. Chip

Duncan reported.

Man considers

ring a lordly item

The story of a U.S. Marine who lost a finger when he refused to

let doctors cut off his wedding ring after he was injured in an Iraqi

firefight touched many, including local residents.

Business owner Bobby Atkins, who runs a limousine service, helped

set Ontario couple David and Devann Battle, both 19, up with a

belated honeymoon -- at the Four Seasons Hotel in Newport Beach.

The couple married in June, two days before he shipped off to

serve in Iraq.

Police shoot, kill

man at local bank

Newport Beach Police shot and killed Costa Mesa resident Paul

Acierno after he allegedly pointed a gun at officers inside a Fashion

Island bank Tuesday afternoon.

Acierno, 35, was trying to conduct a financial transaction that

aroused the suspicion of employees at the Washington Mutual branch,

who then called police.

The man refused to cooperate with officers and pointed at least

one of two guns he had at them, police said.

The shooting is under investigation.

Longtime surgeon

dies after car crash

After a Wednesday car crash, a Newport Beach neurosurgeon died in

the hospital he had worked at for more than 30 years.

John C. Kennady, 78, died of his injuries at Western Medical

Center in Santa Ana, where he had worked as a trauma surgeon.

His Porsche Carrera was broadsided by an SUV at a Costa Mesa

intersection Wednesday afternoon.

Police are investigating the crash.

Boat buyer has his preliminary hearing

A preliminary hearing for the man who bought a yacht from a couple

missing since the sale was postponed until Tuesday.

Skylar DeLeon, 25, is charged with three counts of money

laundering and three counts of possession of money earned from drug

sales, in connection with his purchase of the boat.

Retired couple Tom and Jackie Hawks, who had lived on the boat

until its Nov. 15 sale, have not been seen or heard from since.

Lifeguards save towers from winds

As winds and rain beat down on coastal areas this week, lifeguards

scrambled Tuesday to save their towers from floating away with the

current.

The current swept away 50 feet of sand all along the beach, one

lifeguard said, and along with it an emergency ramp valued at

$20,000.

The California Highway Patrol said nearly 300 traffic accidents

were reported along Orange County freeways that morning alone, most

of them a likely result of driving too fast on slippery pavement.