WEEK IN REVIEW

Reserve from Newport back from Iraq for holidays

Army reservist Kenny Allsop, 19, arrived home on leave for the holidays this week from Iraq. Allsop enlisted in the Army Reserves after graduating from Newport Harbor High School last June. He was deployed with his unit in September.

His parents weren’t expecting him home until January, but scheduling changes gave the family an unexpected Christmas present.

Tori Allsop and Joe Harrington are extremely proud of their son’s commitment to serve, and said they have also received a tremendous amount of support from the community.

For the next 15 days, Kenny Allsop will be doing what he loves most — eating.

He’ll be enjoying all his favorite foods from home. His first night back, Allsop headed straight to In-N-Out for its famous double-double.

PUBLIC SAFETY

MLB all-star, reality TV notable busted for drinking

Former Oakland Athletics all-star pitcher and “Real Housewives of Orange County” star was arrested at a Newport Beach hotel bar Tuesday for what authorities said was a violation of the terms of his probation for a 2005 DUI conviction.

Newport Beach police officers found Keough, 52, drinking at the Fashion Island Marriott hotel Tuesday evening after concerned hotel staff called authorities, Newport Beach police Sgt. Evan Sailor said.

Keough had just finished up a seven-week stint at the Newport jail as a trustee for another alcohol-related probation violation, Sailor said. During his stay, Keough performed routine maintenance tasks such as washing patrol cars, Sailor said. Keough finished his term as a trustee Dec. 12, Sailor said.

Keough is not supposed to drink any alcohol under the terms of his probation. In 2005, he pleaded guilty to felony charges for driving under the influence in Orange County Superior Court.

 Of the 520 illegal immigrants considered eligible for deportation from Costa Mesa this year in a recent report, 360 were kicked out of the country and 12 had been previously deported. That has led some to question the effectiveness of having a U.S. Immigration and Customs agent at the jail.

Louis DeSipio, an expert on immigration at UCI, said the amount of detainers is relatively low. He believes the area and normal work by local police would produce a solid amount of arrested deportable immigrants as it stands and the ICE agent has less to do with the 520 number as it seems.

ICE officials said they have done an effective job producing results in arresting deportable immigrants with felony convictions and that the numbers are consistent with the agency’s goals. James Hayes, director of the Los Angeles Field Office of ICE, calls the program a “valuable use of resources.”

NEWPORT BEACH

Residents rally against local rehab homes’ proliferation

Balboa Peninsula residents lobbied Newport Beach City Council Tuesday to strengthen a proposed ordinance aimed at curbing the spread of drug and alcohol rehabilitation homes in Newport Beach.

The residents said they will accept no less than a 1,000-foot buffer zone between rehabilitation centers they said are a nuisance in coastal neighborhoods on the peninsula, although the city’s special legal counsel has said such a restriction probably wouldn’t hold up in court if it were challenged.

Peninsula residents said there is an over-concentration of rehabilitation centers on the peninsula and that a buffer zone between the homes would help alleviate the problem.

The council could consider the new rules as early as Jan. 8.

 Brad White’s program, Yellow Ribbon America, collected a pile of toys at Newport Beach City Hall this week after a monthlong collection.

White said he was inspired to start Yellow Ribbon America after his neighbors helped out his mother while he was enlisted in the National Guard at the beginning of Desert Storm.

He now runs a statewide collection of toys for California military men overseas and their families. They collected more than 100,000 items statewide, 2,000 to 2,500 of those coming from Newport Beach community members.

COSTA MESA

Bike path, renovating flood channels to be considered

City Councilwoman Katrina Foley has requested that the council revisit the proposed bike path that would connect Fairview Road between Adams Avenue and Baker Street. Part of the proposal is a renovation of the Paularino and Santa Ana/Delhi flood channels that wind through Costa Mesa. The council rejected a prior proposal by a 3-2 vote.

BUSINESS

Four companies booted amid complaints about owner

As many as four Costa Mesa mortgage companies owned by the same man were evicted from their Anton Boulevard headquarters Tuesday.

Jim Amormino, a spokesman for the Orange County Sheriff’s Department, confirmed that Quick Loan Funding and Loyalty Funding had both left the office building on the north end of town. A November complaint by the state Department of Corporations had sought to revoke the licenses of both companies along with two others — Sadek Inc. and Platinum Coast Escrow — housed in the same building and owned by businessman Nazih Daniel Sadek.

Efforts to reach Sadek were unsuccessful. Costa Mesa Chamber of Commerce President Ed Fawcett said he hadn’t heard of Sadek or the firms, but wasn’t surprised to see another group of brokers going under.

“There were some egregious violators of lending out there,” Fawcett said. “Just on a personal basis, I’ve heard from brokers who were pretty much honest and up front, and there were some out there that were really working the system. This may have been one of those.”

 A block or two away, another business disappeared Wednesday — somewhat abruptly — as the Georgette Klinger spa in South Coast Plaza put a sign announcing that it closed permanently.

Calls to the Klinger corporate office went unreturned, but Debra Gunn Downing, South Coast Plaza’s executive director of marketing, said the spa had gone bankrupt. She couldn’t say whether the bankruptcy applied to the nationwide Klinger chain or just to the Costa Mesa location.

Costa Mesa City Councilwoman Katrina Foley said she was disappointed by the closure, noting that her mother-in-law was a longtime Klinger customer.

EDUCATION

Students free for now, but back in their seats Jan. 7

Students in Newport-Mesa Unified School District endured a soggy and cold final week of classes before heading off for winter break. Students will enjoy two homework-free weeks, maybe, before heading back to class on Jan. 7.