INSIDE SCOOP

The environmental group Huntington Beach Tomorrow printed the following

item in its latest newsletter:

“The mayor’s chief of staff announced this week that the city will

proceed with plans to place a statute of the mayor at the intersection of

Pacific Coast Highway and Beach Boulevard.”

City Hall watchdog Dean Albright was outraged until he realized that the

newsletter was the April Fools’ Day edition:

“‘Damn,’ I thought, ‘there they go spending money again,”’ he said.

Doughnuts going out of style with cops

The ethics and principles of police officers have improved over the

years, said Fountain Valley Police Chief Elvin Miali during the

department’s Community Oriented Policing Program. But that’s not all that

has changed.

“Now we don’t eat doughnuts and coffee anymore. Our guys want decaf

lattes -- and no doughnuts to keep in shape,” the chief joked.

Painting the way over and over again

Huntington Beach resident Gail Pelliccioni is a whirlwind of energy,

working to raise money to repaint the math and science building at

Huntington Beach High School. Asked why she’s doing the work, she

replied, “I’m just a psycho mom who has two kids.”

The chair of the Painting the Way campaign, Pelliccioni has been getting

some practice in by having the inside of her home painted. Not liking the

color when it was finished, she had the painters redo the rooms three

times. “It never looks like it does on the samples,” she said.

-- Compiled by Eron Ben-Yehuda, Angelique Flores and Jennifer K Mahal