WEEK IN REVIEW

NEWPORT BEACH

Boaters and Harbor Patrol discuss racing permits

A plan aimed at easing tensions between sailboat enthusiasts and the Newport Beach Harbor Patrol by issuing permits for boat races is gaining momentum.

The permits would allow boaters to exceed speed limits in the harbor during races. The Newport Beach Harbor Commission voted last week to support the plan.

Harbormaster Deana Bergquist said she wants more information before forming an opinion on the proposal. Bergquist maintains that the Harbor Patrol already has its own process for scheduling and permitting special events in Newport Harbor.

Under the special event permit proposal, the city would allow racers to sail faster than posted speed limits in the harbor based on weather conditions and the judgment of racing committees.

The plan will go next to the city attorney’s office for further research.

 

 Die-hard Indiana Jones fans camped out this week in front of the Edwards Big Newport theater, awaiting the first midnight screening of “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.�

With its 40-by-80-foot screen, Edwards Big Newport was one of the last large-screen theaters to be built in Southern California.

Film buffs flocked to the movie house in years past for the premieres of the last three “Star Wars� films. The fans braved sweltering temperatures in the upper 80s over the weekend as they camped out in front of the theater.

 

COSTA MESA

Golf tournament nets about $4,000 for high schools

The Kiwanis Club of Costa Mesa’s sixth annual golf tournament to benefit Costa Mesa and Estancia high schools raised about $4,000, organizers said.

Players shot a round of golf in parties of four at Costa Mesa’s 18-hole Mesa Linda municipal golf course, then adjourned to the Newport Rib Co. for a buffet dinner.

The fundraiser will help the schools maintain programs that help prepare students for college that might not otherwise be possible because of recent budget cuts, Estancia High School Principal Phil D’Agostino said.

 

 A group of three Costa Mesa soldiers came back from a nine-month tour in Iraq where they trained the Iraqi police.

Nelson Benavides, Tony Vo and Jeeandy Morales flew into John Wayne Airport and were greeted by family members holding posters and balloons. All three men want to become Costa Mesa police officers.

 

More than a thousand people came to Triangle Square to benefit the Surfrider Foundation in its effort to stop the expansion of the 241 toll road.

Surf and skateboarding apparel were given away, and surf companies set up promotional tents.

The Surfrider Foundation, a worldwide environmental activist organization that started in California, had a few booths staffed by local members.

They encouraged people to sign a petition to the California secretary of commerce, asking him to stop the 241 Toll Road from extending through state park land in coastal South Orange County.

PUBLIC SAFETY

Two named in federal indictment for online fraud

A man and woman federal officials claim acted as runners in an international, online bank fraud scheme based in Romania that bilked $3 million from thousands of victims were arrested at a Costa Mesa hotel.

FBI agents, with the help of the Costa Mesa police, arrested Hiep Thanh Tran, a permanent legal resident from Vietnam, and his girlfriend, Caroline Tath, a permanent legal resident from Cambodia, Sunday evening in Costa Mesa after the pair were accused in a federal indictment of Internet-based fraud.

Tran and Tath are two of 33 people named in a 65-count federal indictment issued in Los Angeles alleging the pair used bank and credit account information culled through Internet scams to manufacture fake debit, credit and gift cards.

 

 They were two separate cases. One involved the sentencing of a man, and the other was a jury’s conviction of a woman. But they both had this in common: They were driving under the influence and killed someone.

Janene Johns, 53, was convicted of gross vehicular manslaughter while under the influence of prescription drugs Wednesday for killing Costa Mesa teacher Candace Tift in an August 2006 car crash.

After more than a week of testimony, a jury of Johns’ peers found beyond a reasonable doubt that she was under the influence of Xanax, the sleep-aid Ambien and the cough-suppressant Mucinex when she hit Tift.

Johns’ Lexus veered onto the West Coast Highway sidewalk and hit Tift as she was riding her bike. She faces up to 10 years in prison at her July 18 sentencing.

Luis Adan Ramirez, 34, was sentenced to 15 years to life in prison Friday for killing Corona del Mar resident Timothy Lysgaard, 45.

Ramirez was driving with a .23 blood-alcohol level, nearly three times the legal limit, when he lost control of his car and swerved into oncoming traffic and hit Lysgaard on his motorcycle head-on. Lysgaard was killed instantly.

Ramirez was convicted of second-degree murder and his third DUI.

EDUCATION

Schools improve in statewide rankings

A dozen Newport-Mesa Unified School District schools moved up in their Academic Performance Index rankings this year, according to the 2007 Base API report released Wednesday.

The rankings, based on a school’s API score from a combination of the various standardized tests given to students, showed a considerable amount of progress for many schools, especially Sonora Elementary School.

Sonora had previously had a statewide ranking score of 3 out of 10, but that jumped to an 8 with its recent API score. The school also went from a score of 2 to a 10 when compared to schools with similar demographics.

The school’s Principal Christine Anderson contributed that success to the school’s staff.