Orange County's Leading Source Of News, Culture And Entertainment
Orange County's Leading Source Of News, Culture And Entertainment
Photo by Patricia InsheiwatMy vividest memories of growing up in Orange County include Thrifty's drugstore, Lucci's Deli and my hunt—still ongoing—for the best frozen dessert. Raised in the crime-plagued Huntington Continentals (at Brookhurst and Adams), I climbed the cinder-block fence behind Grant's (now Mervyn's) and went to Thrifty's for the 15-cent triple-scoop ice-cream tower. A …
The Irvine Co. has always kept generous friends in influential positions. When the company needed unswervingly pro-developer appointments made to the county's Board of Supervisors and superior court, Republican governors Ronald Reagan, George Deukmejian and Pete Wilson routinely obliged with the likes of 5th District Supervisor Tom Wilson and Judge David Sills. When the company …
Photo by Keith MayIn 1998, Greenbriar High School in Evans, Georgia, declared March 20 “Coke Day.” It was part of the school's effort to capture the Atlanta soft-drink maker's $500 top prize in a contest to find the local school most enthusiastically promoting Coca-Cola. Greenbriar encouraged students to dress in red and white. Chemistry classes …
Photo by Daniel C. TsangA recent drug sting in Irvine netted authorities three suspects, 11 marijuana plants and 11 grams of pot in a plastic bag. But it also turned upside-down the life of an innocent UC Irvine student when his over-the-counter pain relievers were mistaken for the club drug Ecstasy. Filipino-American student activist Burt …
Photo by Jack GouldAlone in her parents' Laguna Niguel house with her baby on Oct. 16, 1998, 20-year-old Shantae Marie Molina says she was watching All My Childrenon television and putting away just-washed clothes when she was startled by sounds coming from the other side of her bedroom wall. “It was like a T-shirt rubbing …
Photo by Johan VogelHuntington Beach's infamous toxic dumpsite may not be California's biggest, but it's one of the most dangerous. The Ascon-Nesi hazardous-waste dump includes three 25-foot-deep oil lagoons (only partially covered) and a styrene pit protected by little more than a plastic tarp. Residents have long complained about the foul odor that emanates from …
When an undercover FBI operation goes wrong, as it does in Matt Witten's The Deal, you know somebody is going to get hurt. Inspired by a political-corruption case in Boston, The Deal traces a battle of wits and wiretaps between FBI agents and their prey. While impressively executed by the International City Theater, this mildly …
Huntington Beach Mayor Dave Garofalo seems surprised to discover he's in deep trouble. If so, he's one of the last to know. Accounts of his crass audacity have been bouncing around Huntington Beach almost since the moment he showed up in town 30 years ago after a roundabout journey from his hometown of Cranston, Rhode …
In a rare pairing, California's bleeding-heart San Francisco and shoot-first Orange County were cited by the American Youth Policy Forum (AYPF) last week for deploying programs, not prisons, to cut juvenile crime. The Washington, D.C.-based AYPF is a big “P” (for “Program Lobby”) in America's institutional gang shootout over how to bite down on crime. …
Photo by Jack GouldJim Righeimer Teacher-bashin', labor-bustin' OC politico, real-estate guy, and Lord of Darkness. Righeimer was afraid we were going to use this as an opportunity to make fun of him. We wouldn't do that —we think Riggy's a swell guy. It's just that, you know, he's Satan. But did we mention that, aside …
Photo by Jeanne RiceBy the time you read this, the county's Harbors, Beaches and Parks (HBP) Commission will have met on June 1 to draft a response to the Weekly's recent revelation that one-third of the county's 27,000 acres of parkland lack any deed restrictions against development. The results of their meeting weren't available by …
Photo by Ted SoquiState insurance commissioner Chuck Quackenbush let insurance companies dodge $4 billion in potential fines for alleged wrongdoing following the 1994 Northridge earthquake after the companies secretly paid $12 million to private Quackenbush-controlled groups. The public's “watchdog” also offered insurance-company executives immunity from future charges and prematurely closed several key state probes into …