Week in Review

EDUCATION

OCC cheer, dance squads win national awards

Orange Coast College made a sterling showing this month at the Universal Cheerleaders Assn.’s National Championships in Florida, taking home first-place trophies in dance, hip-hop and cheerleading. The school’s dance squad has won nine national titles and the cheerleaders have won six. But this year marked the first time that OCC has won the hip-hop contest, which was instituted a few years ago.

“We were really shocked when we won,” said cheer team captain Mitchell Le. “We were happy because we knew there was tough competition out there.”

The task force, consisting of three district officials and three members of the teachers union, formed in September and compared salaries and benefits at all 12 of the county’s unified districts. Newport-Mesa’s average annual teacher salary of $64,292 finished last, with Laguna Beach Unified leading at $78,988.

Supt. Jeffrey Hubbard and union President Jim Rogers said they would meet over the next few months to work out a new pay scale for Newport-Mesa teachers. In a 1999 contract, the union set a goal of bringing salaries between the mean and 75th percentile for the county.

PUBLIC SAFETY

Rapper pleads not guilty to illegal-weapon charge

Rapper Snoop Dogg’s lawyer entered a not-guilty plea on his client’s behalf at an arraignment Wednesday for charges of carrying an illegal weapon at John Wayne Airport.

The rap star, whose legal name is Cordozar Calvin Broadus, was not present for the proceedings at Orange County Superior Court. If convicted of the felony charge, he could face up to three years in prison.

Broadus, 35, of Sherman Oaks, was detained at the airport by county sheriff’s deputies on Sept. 27 when airport screeners looked in his laptop case and found a 40-inch collapsible baton, which California law classifies as an illegal weapon. Broadus’ lawyer said it was a prop for a music video to be filmed in New York.

It was confined to one unit, caused $250,000 in damage to the building and $150,000 to the contents of the apartment, Newport Beach Fire Department spokeswoman Jennifer Schulz said. Two people were treated at the scene and one was sent to Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian for non-life-threatening injuries.

Fire officials were investigating Thursday’s fire late Friday.

POLITICS

Rep. pressures Bush on Border Patrol pardon

Huntington Beach Rep. Dana Rohrabacher upped the pressure on President Bush to pardon two convicted Border Patrol agents by inviting the wife of one of the agents to the State of the Union address Tuesday.

Rohrabacher has been asking the president to pardon Ignacio Ramos and Jose Alonso Compean, who are now serving prison terms for shooting a drug smuggler who fled and later claimed he was unarmed. Monica Ramos was invited as Rohrabacher’s guest, the congressman said, to bring the president face to face with someone whose life is being destroyed by the justice department’s decision. Bush has said he will consider the pardon request.

BUSINESS

By summer, Arches will be under new management

Hollywood producer and director Joseph McGinty Nichol, who goes by McG, recently signed a 10-year lease to take over the Arches restaurant location in August, Arches proprietor Dan Marcheano said last week.

But Marcheano said that although McG will be taking the location, he will not keep the name. Marcheano plans to take the name with him — he said he owns the Arches name and corporation — when he opens a new restaurant, which will have some of the restaurant’s signature dishes but will have a barbecue theme.

He’s in talks with land owners regarding other locations in Newport Beach. He has run the Arches for 25 years at Old Newport Boulevard and West Coast Highway, where it’s been for more than 80 years.

The foundation will give more than $1 million to Orange County organizations in its efforts to help find a cure for breast cancer.

NEWPORT BEACH

Contract makes city’s cops best compensated in O.C.

The City Council on Tuesday approved a new contract for city police that makes them the best-compensated cops in Orange County. The three-year contract gave police employees raises totaling 11% and police management raises that add up to 10.25%.

Among other benefits, police will get bigger contributions to healthcare, and management employees are eligible for a pay differential for staying with the department.

The contract will cost the city $3.7 million through 2009.

Council members said they didn’t hear a consensus in either neighborhood for permit parking, but they did hear a desire for more police enforcement.

In 2003, Veches received a life sentence for charges related to sucking boys’ toes and other inappropriate contact at city recreation programs. It has cost the city $479,000 to settle the five resolved claims, and discussions are underway to settle the remaining one, which asks for at least $10,000.

City Manager Homer Bludau said the situation raised the city’s awareness of how employees are trained, and workers are more vigilant about making sure policies are followed.

NOTABLE QUOTABLES

“I believe the not-guilty plea says it all. It wasn’t a weapon; it was a prop. We’re hoping to convince the D.A. of that, but if not, we’ll try it in court and win.”

— Daniel Etra, attorney for rap star Snoop Dogg, whose legal name is Cordozar Calvin Broadus, after entering a not-guilty plea for his client on felony charges of carrying an illegal weapon at John Wayne Airport

“If we’re talking about gangs and we’re talking about guns, are they going to care that they’re going to get a ticket?”

— Nancy Gardner, Newport Beach city councilwoman, on whether resident-only permit parking would have an effect on crime problems near the beach in Corona del Mar and Peninsula Point

“It’s important to let the soldiers know we want them home safe and that we appreciate what they’re doing. No matter how you feel about the war, I think the important point is to get these young men and women to know that we care about them and that we want them home.”

— Yvette Erskine, leader of a Costa Mesa-based Camp Fire USA club, on participating in a city-sponsored collection drive called Operation: Cupid that will send Valentine’s Day care packages to each of the 104 members of the Delta Company, 2-25th Aviation Regiment of the U.S. Army in Iraq

“It’s so important for every woman over the age of 40 to get an annual mammogram, but mammograms in Orange County cost somewhere between $100 and $150 if you’re paying out of pocket. Where that might not seem like a lot to some people, for others it becomes a luxury — it becomes a choice between buying the groceries and getting a mammogram.”

— Lisa Wolter, executive director of Susan G. Komen for the Cure’s Orange County board, on the “gap” in breast healthcare that places annual mammograms beyond the reach of many women who are uninsured or underinsured

“At first we thought it was just computer theft. But when we had the IT [information technology] people there trying to get logged in and determine what was lost, they said we had a problem.”

— Ed Westbrook, vice president of student affairs at Vanguard University, on the theft of two computers from the school’s financial aid office that may put more than 5,000 financial-aid applicants at risk for identity theft