WEEK IN REVIEW

EDUCATION

Concert raises about $2,000 to benefit Relay for Life

Orange Coast Middle College High School students got together to organized a benefit show Sunday to support Relay for Life. The students raised about $2,000 through a concert they put together, with the help of two advisors, that featured several bands and performers at The Crossing Lost in Costa Mesa.

POLITICS

JWA numbers grow slightly; neighbors remain concerned

John Wayne Airport experienced a 1% increase in its annual passengers this year, but neighbors remain concerned about the airport’s effect on their quality of life.

About 9.85 million passengers used the airport from April 2007 to March 2008 — about 500,000 fewer than the cap of 10.3 million established in 2003. That number is up from the 9.76 million passengers identified in the airport’s 2006-07 figures.

In spite of the incremental growth, airport officials estimate the facility could manage only 10 million passengers a year before passenger services were adversely affected.

Activists with AirFair, a community group opposed to expanding the airport’s growth beyond existing agreements, said the numbers did not surprise them.

“For an airport in an affluent community, we can only expect growth,” Nancy Alston said. “While we haven’t grown to the absolute maximum, that doesn’t mean we wouldn’t hit those levels sometime in 2008.”

A spokeswoman for the airport says there are no plans to exceed 10 million passengers this year.

NEWPORT BEACH

Annex bid voted down; Moorlach blamed for blow

County officials rejected the pleas of residents of the unincorporated South of Mesa Drive neighborhood to extend an application that would allow the neighborhood and nearby Santa Ana Country Club to be annexed by Newport Beach.

The Orange County Local Agency Formation Commission, which presides over annexations, voted down the extension, 6-1, Wednesday.

The residents needed a tax-sharing agreement from the Orange County Board of Supervisors to move forward, and some blame County Board Chairman John Moorlach for blocking the board from voting on the agreement.

Moorlach, a longtime Costa Mesa resident, has been outspoken in his belief that Costa Mesa has more of a right to the land than Newport Beach.

COSTA MESA

Trailer park residents fear increasing rent rates

A rent hike at Costa Mesa’s Anchor Trailer Park will prompt many to leave their neighborhood, residents said.

Resident Adrienne Watkins says her monthly rent went from $660 to $825 last year, and that it will rise to $990 a month by July.

“I’m going to have to move out,” she said. “I have a choice between paying my rent or buying my prescriptions — and you know what the price of gas is; I don’t even have to mention that.”

Owners say that the rising rent is based on the rental rates of similar lots throughout the surrounding area, though some residents to fear the park’s new owners are trying to kick residents out to convert the property.

The park’s management company, J&H; Management, denied it was raising the rents to encourage residents to move.

BUSINESS

Owners of gas stations feel burn of rising gasoline prices

Gas prices continued their surge in Orange County last week — and it wasn’t just commuters who felt the pinch.

A number of Newport-Mesa gas station owners reported that they had made cutbacks, stopped promotions and even laid off workers to deal with the rising costs of gasoline.

The problem, many said, is that money buys fewer gallons, which makes it harder for station owners to cover the cost of the oil purchased.

Shawn Mohebbi, owner of the Mobil station at San Joaquin Hills Road and San Miguel Drive, said he had noticed another trend: Customers were using their money almost entirely for gas now and forgoing the snacks that used to net him many of his profits.

“People have to divert the money they have for the water and soda, which I make more money off of,” he said. “Now, they can’t spend it for water and soda because they have to spend it for gas.”

PUBLIC SAFETY

Man pleads not guilty to lewd acts at Moon Park

Glen Montgomery, 56, of Costa Mesa pleaded not guilty after he was accused of masturbating in front of two women at Moon Park last Sunday. Court records show he has been convicted of indecent exposure four times since the mid-1990s.

 Scott Spiezio, best remembered around these parts for sending the rally monkey into a frenzy after clouting that epic three-run homer in Game Six of the 2002 World Series, dodged prison time with a plea bargain on hit-and-run drunk driving charges that stemmed from a night out at a Newport Beach bar.

The judge gave him three years of informal probation, and he has to do a three-month alcohol-offender program and fork over nearly $2,000 in court fees and fines.

The judge also told him to go to two Alcoholics Anonymous meetings and do 80 hours of community service.

Woman charged for alleged pilfering of church funds

A New Hampshire woman pleaded not guilty Monday to embezzling $320,000 from a Newport Beach church for which she used to work.

Cheryl Lean Granger is charged with eight felonies, each with multiple sentencing enhancements related to the $320,000 she’s accused of stealing.

Prosecutors say that when Granger was employed as the office manager and bookkeeper for Newport Harbor Lutheran Church from September 2002 to February 2006 she forged signatures and addressed checks to her husband, their business, herself and her credit cards.

Newport Beach police are also investigating the husband’s role, Sgt. Evan Sailor said. Granger will be back in court Monday for a pre-trial hearing.

Meanwhile, Newport Harbor Lutheran Church Pastor John Embree reassured his congregation that they will survive the fiscal crisis. Church leaders are working with the tax man to catch up on its debt. Much of the money was supposed to go for taxes, Embree said. Fortunately, the tax collectors have been understanding, the pastor added.

“We will survive. I think God needs a church and a ministry here,” he said.