Gains & losses

Gains

SCHOOLS GET SOME PACK MENTALITY

Rocket scientists from the Boeing Corp., and social workers from the

Orange County Rescue Mission combined forces to donate more than 700

backpacks filled with scholastic supplies to 760 low-income students at

Oak View Elementary School in Huntington Beach.

The Rescue Mission’s Operation Backpack has given school supplies to

needy children throughout Orange County for more than seven years, but

this year’s major donor, Boeing, asked that the supplies be given to a

needy school in its own community of Huntington Beach.

REPAIRS HELD UP BY POLL

In a Sept. 10 poll conducted by the Fairbank, Maslin and Maulen research

firm, 41% of registered voters said they would vote “yes” on the

$160-million Huntington Beach Union School District bond repair issue,

and about 24% said they would probably vote yes. The bond issue needs a

two-thirds vote to pass and provide new funds for school repairs.

Homeowners would be asked to pay $27 per $100,000 of the assessed value

of their home for about 30 years.

TAKING THE BITE OUT OF BULLETS

Costa Mesa residents Jane Herbert and Casey Donahue spearheaded the

effort in Orange County to equip police dogs with bulletproof vests. They

have initiated an ongoing fund-raiser, and donated the first vest to

Fountain Valley. They hope to raise $3,425 in private donations to buy

vests for all eight police dogs in Huntington Beach, Fountain Valley and

Costa Mesa.

EYES IN THE FIRE

The Fountain Valley City Council voted to purchase one $21,662 thermal

imaging camera, which allows firefighters to instantly view victims, the

layout of a room, and the source of a fire when smoke blinds them inside

a burning building. The Women’s Club will hold a fund-raiser to purchase

a second camera. The council voted to supplement any extra funds needed

for the purchase.

Losses

ANYBODY SEEN OUR BABIES?

Golden West College is opening its Infant/Toddler Care Center to the

public just five weeks after it was opened as a venue for children of

students.

Director Sandy Lutz said the center is inviting the public to register

because low student use left the 28-child-capacity center virtually

empty. “As we got going along we found we didn’t have enough infants and

toddlers to fill the center,” Lutz said. The center now has nine children

registered, leaving 19 vacancies.

DUST IN THE WIND

As large construction projects rise up in Huntington Beach, so does the

“fugitive dust” they kick up, leaving residents coated in discontent.

The problem grew so bad that the South Coast Air Quality Management

District warned the developer of the Waterfront Hilton expansion, the

Robert Mayer Corp., to clean up its act, said district spokesman Bill

Kelly.

HE KNOWS WHERE THEY LIVE

John Merzweiler, 48, of Huntington Beach, was charged with maliciously

disclosing the home address of the city’s police chief. Authorities

charged him with the misdemeanor after catching him handing out flyers on

the street last Fourth of July. Merzweiler’s conduct showed malice

because, at the time of his arrest, the retired postal worker “expressed

displeasure” with the Police Department. In the past, he has accused

officers of police brutality.