He would walk 500 miles

Newport Beach Councilman Don Webb laced up his walking shoes Wednesday and began a roughly 500-mile walking tour of every street in the city that he expects will take a year to complete.

The councilman started his walk at the northeastern most part of the city at Coastal Peak Park in Newport Coast and plans to work his way westward, walking two or three miles a day.

This will be the fifth time the councilman has walked the city in its entirety. The last time Webb undertook the walk, it was in honor of the city’s centennial in 2006. This walk is to mark Webb’s 40 years of service to Newport Beach, first as a city employee with the Public Works Department, and as a city councilman after his retirement.

“I have really enjoyed visiting all parts of the city, and it’s the way I have kept up with what things look like and where the various areas of the city are that not everybody has visited,” Webb said.

POLICE OFFICER SAID HE WAS EMBARRASSED BY MAYOR

Former Costa Mesa Police Lt. Clay Epperson was embarrassed to serve in a city with a mayor who is an honorary member of the Minutemen, Epperson said last week while on the witness stand of activist Benito Acosta’s federal lawsuit trial against the city.

In 2006, Costa Mesa Mayor Allan Mansoor was awarded an honorary membership to the Minutemen, a group of activists who monitor the U.S.-Mexico border in an effort to stop the flow of illegal immigrants, following his resolution that Costa Mesa police officers should be trained to enforce federal immigration laws.

Epperson described the Minutemen as vigilantes whose views and activities heighten the national issue of illegal immigration. Epperson, who retired in September after about 30 years of service, said he did not share his views on the mayor while serving in the department.

Acosta sued the city with the backing of the American Civil Liberties Union, claiming that the city and Mansoor violated his 1st Amendment right to speak when Mansoor called for a break before his three minutes at the council dais were up on Jan. 3, 2006.

ROHRABACHER SKEPTICAL ABOUT CLIMATE CHANGE

Rep. Dana Rohrabacher railed from the House floor Tuesday against the ongoing United Nations talks on climate change in Copenhagen.

An outspoken skeptic of climate change, Rohrabacher called the talks a bid for the U.N. to increase its global power.

“This is about centralizing power into the hands of global government; that’s what Kyoto and Copenhagen are all about, that’s what the globalist alliance is all about,” Rohrabacher said. “We must fight the globalist clique that is trying to shackle generations of Americans.”