COSTA MESA Hundreds gather to support Cindy...

COSTA MESA

Hundreds gather to support Cindy Sheehan

Hundreds of Newport-Mesa residents participated in simultaneous

vigils Wednesday evening to support Cindy Sheehan, the mother of an

American soldier who had camped out at President Bush’s Crawford,

Texas, ranch until Thursday.

She was demanding answers from the president about his

administration’s handling of the war in Iraq.

At the corner of Newport Boulevard and 19th Street, in front of

what used to be Triangle Square’s Niketown store, more than 90 people

lined the sidewalks with signs and candles.

At the corner of Anton Boulevard and Bristol Street, an

intersection where protesters have convened for past events, about 50

people gathered to support Sheehan and to remember the more than

1,800 U.S. soldiers killed. A reported 150 people convened at UC

Irvine for a vigil.

The events were sponsored by MoveOn.org, True Majority and

Democracy for America. More than 1,500 vigils took place across the

country on Wednesday night, according to MoveOn.org.

* The City Council on Tuesday voted to end funding for the Drug

Abuse Resistance Education program, which has been offered to the

city’s fifth-graders since 1989. The council said studies have shown

that the program is not effective at keeping kids from using drugs,

and the Newport-Mesa Unified School District already has drug

education in its curriculum.

The program cut will save the city $21,405 on supplies, and the

two police officers and vehicles dedicated to it will return to

patrolling.