Summer slips away quietly

Greg Risling

NEWPORT BEACH -- By all accounts, Labor Day went out with a whimper

rather than a bang.

The holiday weekend that symbolizes the end of summer did little to

attract big crowds to Newport Beach. The shoreline wasn’t teeming with

activity, although Labor Day itself saw bigger crowds than the two cloudy

days prior to it.

Those who did venture to the coast were caught in traffic late Monday

when a suspected drunk bicyclist struck a passing car near the

intersection of 23rd Street and West Ocean Front. The victim suffered a

possible concussion and he was rushed to Western Medical Center in Santa

Ana. Police said the victim would be cited for driving under the

influence.

Police said traffic was snarled along the peninsula’s major thoroughfare

as motorists weren’t allowed into the main parking lot near the Newport

Pier.

Police had not compiled weekend arrest totals but noted the department

kept busy with alcohol-related incidents.

“We’ve kept busy with the amount of paperwork,” said Lt. John Desmond.

“We are constantly going from one incident to the next but there hasn’t

been anything major.”

Lifeguards saw more of their stations than the water over the weekend.

There were only a handful of rescues, no more than 30 on any day of the

extended weekend, when typically they have more than 100 responses on a

summer weekend day.