NOTABLE QUOTABLES: 2005 YEAR IN REVIEW

ready to go -- SJThis darned sand, when will it end?

“We’re very pleased that the city government finally listened to the people, because dumping all that stuff on our beach would have been a tragedy.”

-- Dave Johnson, who owns a beachfront home in West Newport, on the start of sand dredging in the Santa Ana River. Residents successfully lobbied against initial Army Corps of Engineers plans to dump the dredged material on West Newport’s beach. It instead was pumped offshore.

Done with the

steeple chase

“It is the most important building we have in the church. It’s the greatest project. I like to work on a temple more than any other kind of building.”

-- Vern Forbush, project superintendent for Jacobsen Construction, which worked on the Mormon temple built in Newport Beach. Forbush is also a church member, and the Newport Beach temple is the fourth one he’s built.

Yeah, but that

was last year

“We’re all fired up. It’s great to have that [national championship], especially to hold over little Bruins’ heads.”

-- Dylan Gormly, Newport Beach resident and 2002 grad of USC, basking in the school’s football championship -- the 2004 one, not the one being decided this week.

Remembering a leading teacher

“Linda was my mentor. She saw something in me that I didn’t even see, and that gave me the confidence to stand up here today and represent the 1,200 teachers in the Newport-Mesa district. And I’m very thankful for that.”

-- Jim Rogers, Newport-Mesa Federation of Teachers president, remembering Linda Mook, the former head of the union. Mook died Dec. 30, 2004.

Speak up, Chuck

“I see my main role in this environment as a gatekeeper. We would kind of serve as an early warning signal to the Republicans in the legislature that this [bill] is not something you want to vote for.”

-- Chuck DeVore, Newport-Mesa’s assemblyman, who sits on the committee that oversees revenue and taxation.

“The kind of quaint and naive thing about politics is, just like acting, everybody thinks they can do it.”

-- DeVore, who said he would not seek to replace Rep. Chris Cox during the tumultuous time leading up to the confirmation of Cox’s appointment to the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A starry-eyed city councilman

“I think this is my first time [on the red carpet]. We’re the celebrities of Newport Beach. That’s pretty sad.”

-- Steve Rosansky on the red carpet at the party for Newport Beach’s Glenn Stearns after he won “The Real Gilligan’s Island.”

A painful

story’s end

“I was just kind of numb. It just kind of came out of the blue.”

-- William Godsoe on the arrest of Victor Manuel Garcia in connection with the murder of his daughter Ceceline in 2001.

The sure sign of a

backyard interloper

“I told her, ‘Thank you for taking it down, because it encroaches on our backyard, and it’s an eyesore.’ She said, ‘That’s why we are taking it down.’”

-- George Cote, Costa Mesa resident, after spending six days with a Caltrans sign jutting in from the sound wall along his backyard.

Politicians

speak out

“Are you kidding me?”

-- Katrina Foley, Costa Mesa City Council- woman, after hearing that the sometimes- contro- versial sports bar Hooters was moving to her city.

“Basically I’m trying to get the ownership’s attention. You could call it saber-rattling if you want to.”

-- Eric Bever, Costa Mesa councilman, on his suggestion that the city declare Triangle Square blighted so it could exercise eminent domain and take control of the struggling shopping mall. He later referred to the statement as a joke.

“He’s a surfer, like I am, and we did a lot of surfing together.”

-- Dana Rohrabacher, Costa Mesa’s representative, about Petros Berhane, a downtown Huntington Beach resident whose father had his Ethiopian alcohol factory taken from him under the 1970s Communist regime of Mengistu Haile Mariam. Rohrabacher had proposed a bill, which passed the House of Representatives, that would cut aid to Ethiopia until it treats Berhane’s father, and other U.S. citizens, fairly in business dealings.

The center of the community

“I think libraries are one of the more important parts of the community, so I wanted to get involved how I could. It’s not something exclusive. Anyone can come and use it regardless of race, religion or creed.”

-- Jason Sherr, vice president of the Newport Beach Public Library Foundation, which raised a record $405,609 in the 2003-04 fiscal year.

“It looks better than it did. I still think it needs some work myself.”

-- Ed Selich, Newport Beach councilman, on the controversial city hall design.

“I’m not sure Britney Spears could stand that kind of constant coverage for eight years.”

-- John Campbell, then state senator and congressional candidate (he later won the race) addressing the Teenage Republicans club of Corona del Mar High School, on 24-hour media coverage and the drop in President Bush’s approval rating to 34%.

Does that mean the meeting’s closed?

“The Brown Act is not implicated when the city neither creates the committee, pays for its operation or appoints its members, and the committee meetings do not include a majority of the council members.”

-- Kimberly Hall Barlow, Costa Mesa city attorney, denying a resident’s claim that city involvement with a Costa Mesa Chamber of Commerce group looking into the future of the city’s job center violated the state’s open-meetings law.

He isn’t lion --

errr, lying

“We are getting the same show and the same set design that audiences in Los Angeles and New York and London have seen.”

-- Jerry Mandel, president of the Orange County Performing Arts Center, on “The Lion King,” which opened at the center March 10 for a six-week run.

Giving of

themselves

“We were prepared to do whatever was asked of us. If we needed to haul bodies, we’d do it. If we needed to take care of kids, we’d do it. If we needed to set up the water supply, we’d do it.”

-- Scott McAlvany, Vanguard University senior and Costa Mesa resident, who flew to Indonesia with other relief workers three days after the devastating tsunami of Dec. 26, 2004.

“We don’t deplete our own resources in order to help out.”

-- Keith Fujimoto, Costa Mesa Fire Department battalion chief, describing the mutual-aid relationship among fire departments; Costa Mesa and Newport Beach firefighters helped out with fires burning in northern Los Angeles County during the early fall.

“When the 1/1 goes off to war again, we will be there for their families when they need us.”

-- Steve Bromberg, former Newport Beach mayor and now Superior Court judge, at Mess Night held at the Balboa Bay Club for the 1st Battalion, 1st Marines, which the city adopted in 2004.

Making a point of appointments

“They’ve already got two of the seven [council members] who were appointed rather than elected when they took office. If we get to three, that’s nearly half, and I think it looks bad. It looks incestuous.”

-- Allan Beek, a member of environmental citizens group Stop Polluting Our Newport, on the Newport Beach City Council’s decision to appoint a replacement for Mayor Steve Bromberg, who resigned to become a judge.

But some people

like Spam, don’t they?

“We’ve got choices of Spam. We didn’t get real choices.”

-- John Buttolph, spokesman for Newporters for Responsible Government, which opposes the city hall plan. He was among those who complained that residents got only three options to look at during public hearings on the proposal.

Tee it high and then let it fly

“That’s not like me. Something inside me really feels calm and good about what I am doing. I don’t know what has happened to my game, but ever since I’ve been here, my swing is ... unbelievable. It feels really good.”

-- Paul Hahn, Newport Beach Country Club’s head pro, talking about his practice rounds before playing in the Senior PGA Championship.

Nonetheless, he still lost the fight

“I will not relinquish it. We are going to fight.”

-- Rodolphe Streichenberger -- founder of the Newport Beach-based Marine Forests Society -- about an underwater reef next to the Newport Pier. The California Supreme Court ruled that the California Coastal Commission is constitutional, meaning the commission’s decision to remove Streichenberger’s reef will stand.

A tough thought

for a kid

“I realized that these weren’t just bodies. These were bodies of Jewish people. I was Jewish, and these might have been some of my relatives.”

-- Leigh Steinberg, Newport-based sports agent, at a conference for teenagers, recalling a moment when, as a grade-school student, he came upon a group of boys laughing at a book containing pictures of Holocaust victims.

But watch out for

those seeds

“Avocados were a difficult one. People don’t always like to eat them plain, so we couldn’t have eating contests. I thought, ‘They are fairly round; you can throw them; you can catch them.’ I had to use my imagination.”

-- Erin Koenig, coordinator of the Orange County Fair’s Kids Park, on the difficulty of incorporating avocados, this year’s agricultural theme, into her part of the fair.

Tossing aside the endorsements

“Does it end up making a difference? I suppose it can, but at the end of the day, the one thing we all know is that voter turnout will be low.”

-- Mark Petracca, UC Irvine political science professor, on endorsements in the race to fill Rep. Chris Cox’s seat.

Those noisy pinnipeds

“Literally, the noise is intolerable. The [sea lions] get into arguing with each other over who gets to come aboard and who gets to sleep where.”

-- Dan Gilliland, a Balboa Peninsula resident, who presented a petition at a Harbor Commission meeting complaining about sea lions on a barge in the harbor. He said he has seen as many as 16 sea lions at the facility at one time.

On graduation and Measure F

“This is not an opportunity for somebody to cross the line who has not met the classroom require- ment. This is a completion of the work, not the test.”

-- Robert Barbot, super- intendent of the Newport- Mesa Unified School District, on a proposal to allow all seniors to walk in the June graduation ceremony if they complete their required coursework, even if they fail to pass the state’s mandatory high school exit exam.

“We’re thankful, really. It couldn’t be a better time with Thanksgiving coming.”

-- Barbot, on the official passage of Measure F, the $282-million school bond measure.

“Students have (and in my 37 years of experience have always had) tremendous needs and challenges. In the role of educator, you never know for sure just what impact you have had on helping students with these needs and challenges. I hope and pray that my impact has been positive.”

-- Barbot, in a letter announcing his retirement at the end of the school year.

“We probably get a better person appointed than we would elected. We know what we’re looking for.”

-- Tod Ridgeway, Newport Beach councilman, on the process by which the City Council appoints applicants to vacated council seats.

UCI has a banner year, grant-wise

“This is exciting for UCI, but it’s even more exciting for Orange County altogether because it really accents the great strengths we have in research, administration and healthcare. To be identified as one of six places in the entire country for the most ambitious effort to understand childhood health, it’s a great achievement for everybody in Orange County.”

-- Tom Vasich, UC Irvine’s assistant director of health sciences communications, on the university’s receiving $14.6 million from the National Institutes of Health to help conduct a nationwide study on children’s health.

Finally: Did you miss it last night?

“The event is appealing to mainstream Orange County. The 1980s music in particular appeals to not only people who grew up in the ‘80s but people here in high school.”

-- Matthew Everitt, Orange County New Year’s Eve bash producer, on the first event, which featured the band Sugar Ray as well as several musical acts from the ‘80s.