Testing van is a sight to see

Harbor Mesa Lions members are helping with the annual testing of sight and hearing in the Newport-Mesa Unified School District. They are providing the use of the Lion’s sight and hearing testing van for the school nurses, who administer the testing. Three Costa Mesa Lion’s clubs are providing the drivers who move the van to each school as scheduled, and the Harbor Mesa Lions assist with the preparations for opening and closing the van.

“Sight and hearing are so important for a student’s success in school and in their life,” said program chairman Joan Parks, a Harbor Mesa member, “our club is very proud to assist in this project.”

The van is a converted motor home that is equipped with a sound-proof room for testing eight students at a time for hearing and vision testing equipment. Funds to support this van are raised by various Lion’s club events.

WHICH WAY NEWPORT BEACH?

The Speak Up Newport’s Nov. 9 program will feature Mayor John Heffernan and City Manager Homer Bludau, who will present an overview of the Newport Beach City Council’s goals. Questions and answers will follow the presentation.

The meeting is open to the public and will be held at the Newport Beach Yacht Club, 1099 Bayside Drive. It will start at 5 p.m. with appetizers and a cash bar, followed by the program at 6 p.m. Additional information is available at (949) 224-2266.

BOB BADHAM WILL BE MISSED

Bob Badham and I served on the committee for Newport-Mesa Unified School District Superintendent John Nicoll’s retirement party years ago. Bob asked how he could help honor his friend Nicoll, and it was suggested that he secure proclamations from the cities, county and state, honoring Nicoll’s 45-plus years in education.

The week before the event at the Balboa Bay Club, Badham showed up at the committee meeting not only with the appropriate proclamations, but personal letters of congratulations of a lifetime commitment to education from presidents Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, George Herbert Walker Bush and Bill Clinton, beautifully framed. Four of the five letters were signed by the presidents. Only one was a machine generated signature, that of Bill Clinton. Needless to say, Nicoll was honored by the letters from the five presidents and the friendship of Bob Badham.

In 1988, as Badham was retiring from Congress, there was a group of us working on a YMCA dinner and auction. I wrote Badham a letter asking if he could help secure a helicopter ride at the Tustin Marine Corps Air Station as an auction item for the fundraiser. That apparently was too tame for Badham. He wrote back and offered instead a fighter-attack jet flight from Miramar to an aircraft carrier off the coast of San Diego, followed by lunch with the carrier’s captain and a return jet flight to Miramar. The auction item sold for more than $7,000!

Badham was a ready volunteer in the community, active in the Commodores Club, Hoag Hospital, Orange County Coast Assn. and willing speaker to service clubs and community groups. Condolences from Barbara and I to Anne Badham and the family.

FIVE STARS IN MY BOOK

Barbara and I celebrated my 64th birthday last week by having a quiet dinner at the Balboa Bay Club Grill and were treated to outstanding service and dinner. We enjoyed the piano music of Chuck Munnings as we have for the past 11 years that he has played at the club. Our waiter, Jeff Goddard, looked familiar to me, but it wasn’t until he told me that he had moved over from being an attendant at the men’s spa that I was finally able to place him. Jeff started at the Bay Club as a high school student and now attends UC Irvine.

Bus boy Joe Reynolds coaches high school football at Edison High School in addition to attending Orange Coast College. Maiter’d’ Brent Christensen splits his duties between the First Cabin and the Grill. The food was fabulous. Barbara enjoyed the rack of lamb, while I dined on mahi mahi. The dessert, banana’s Foster, was prepared tableside by our waiter, who used a recipe he secured from Brennan’s of New Orleans.

An evening at the Balboa Bay Club was a very enjoyable way to spend a birthday!

WORTH REPEATING

From the Thought for the Day as provided by Greg Kelley of the Newport Mesa Irvine Interfaith Council: “I know God will not give me anything I can’t handle. I just wish that he didn’t trust me so much.”

-- Mother Teresa

SERVICE CLUB MEETINGS

THIS WEEK

How are you giving back to your community? Help your community and the world through a service club! For many, service club membership is an extension of our religious beliefs and congregation affiliation.

You are invited to attend a service club meeting this coming week to learn more about opportunity for service. Most clubs will buy your first meal for you as you get acquainted with them.

TUESDAY

7:15 a.m.: The 48-member Newport Beach Sunrise Rotary Club meets at the Five Crowns restaurant for a program by Webster Guillory, Orange County assessor (www.newportbeach sunriserotary.org).

Noon: The newly formed Rotary Club of Costa Mesa will be meeting at The Club House at South Coast Plaza.

WEDNESDAY

7:30 a.m.: The 10-member Newport Harbor Kiwanis Club will meet at a new location, Denny’s Restaurant and Redhill and Bristol.

Noon: The 27-member Exchange Club of the Orange Coast meets at the Bahia Corinthian Yacht Club for a business meeting.

6:15 p.m.: The 50-member Rotary Club of Newport Balboa meets at the Bahia Corinthian Yacht Club for the Annual Foundation Dinner with Jim Young as Paul Harris and the presentation of Paul Harris Fellow to several community leaders and club members (www.newportbalboa.org).

THURSDAY

7 a.m.: The 20-member Costa Mesa Orange Coast Lions Club meets at Mimi’s Café.

Noon: The 50-member Costa Mesa Kiwanis Club will meet at the Holiday Inn (www.kiwanis.org /club/costamesa); the 50-member Kiwanis Club of Newport Beach/Corona del Mar meets at the Bahia Corinthian Yacht Club; the 85-member Exchange Club of Newport Harbor meets at the Newport Harbor Nautical Museum for a business meeting; the 90-member Rotary Club of Newport Irvine meets at the Radisson Hotel to hear Arturo Jasso of Cal State Fullerton, with a classical guitar recital and brief lecture (www.nirotary.org); the 50-member Kiwanis Club of Newport Beach/Corona del Mar meets at the Bahia Corinthian Yacht Club for a program by Frank Van Nostrand, public affairs officer, Social Security Administration.