Two candidates must change ballot labels Two...

Two candidates must change ballot labels

Two candidates for the 48th Congressional District must come up

with new ballot designations, after the secretary of state’s office

decided their suggestions aren’t permitted by state code.

Jim Gilchrist of Aliso Viejo, an American Independent Party

candidate, wanted to be listed as founder of the Minuteman Movement,

a group that organized volunteer U.S.-Mexico border patrols, but

that’s not allowed because it is considered commercial

identification, said secretary of state’s office spokeswoman Nghia

Nguyen. Republican candidate Edward Suppe of Huntington Beach listed

himself as a veteran and international businessman, but the veteran

designation is also prohibited.

“The code specifies that it has to be an occupation, and ‘veteran’

is deemed, according to the law, a status,” Nguyen said.

Both candidates have until 2 p.m. Monday to submit new

designations for the ballot.

Suppe, who said he served in the Coast Guard, is fighting the

decision that he can’t call himself a veteran. In an e-mail message

Friday to the secretary of state’s office, he wrote he had “no desire

to provide an alternate choice.”

In a phone call earlier this week Suppe said, “They say it gives

me special status. I’d say it’s a status I earned.”

Gilchrist could not be reached for comment Friday.

Nonprofits receive donations of $53,000

Costa Mesa-based organizations Mika Community Development

Corporation and Someone Cares Soup Kitchen have received $53,000 each

as a result of the 123 Loan First Annual Charity Golf event held

earlier this month.

The tournament, organized by Ed and Holly Eaton, who founded 123

Loan and the Eaton Family Foundation, raised about $46,000. The

Eatons kicked in $30,000.

Checks were handed to the two organizations Friday. Mika Community

Development Corporation develops community programming and is a

resource for Costa Mesa families. The money will allow the

organization to hire a new part-time staff member and to expand its

youth programming.

Somebody Cares Soup Kitchen provides more than 100,000 nutritional

meals to Orange County residents each year. With the donation, the

soup kitchen plans to expand the tutoring program, which currently

helps 45 at-risk children, into a kindergarten- through sixth-grade

program.

Annual Corona del Mar swim at 10 a.m. today

The Newport Beach Ocean Lifesaving Assn.’s annual Corona del Mar 1

Mile Don Burns Swim is scheduled for today at 10 a.m.

The event raises scholarship money for lifeguards in Newport

Beach.

The race accommodates all ages, from the late teens to 75 and

older.

Registration begins at the lifeguard tower by the jetty at 9:15

a.m. The entry fee is $25, which includes a souvenir T-shirt.