President nominates lawyer for federal judgeship

COSTA MESA

President nominates lawyer for federal judgeship

Local attorney Andrew J. Guilford was nominated Wednesday by President Bush to a spot on the federal bench. Guilford, 55, is representing the city of Anaheim in a lawsuit with Angels baseball team owner Arte Moreno over the addition of “Los Angeles” to the franchise’s name.

The attorney is a past president of the State Bar of California and in 2003 received the Franklin G. West award, the Orange County Bar Assn.’s highest honor. The Senate must confirm Guilford for the seat on the U.S District Court for California’s central district.

* The Center for Resources and Employment Opportunities, a privately run day labor center, closed its temporary location at Orange Coast College on Friday. The group of business, church and community leaders that runs the center is still searching for a permanent site.

The temporary center opened Jan. 9 on a short-term lease at OCC, and it closed because with classes resuming, the school needs the space back. A phone system that contractors can call to request workers was set up earlier by the private group and will remain in operation. The number is (949) 764-1528.

PUBLIC SAFETY

Costa Mesa man, 56, accused of lewd conduct with teen

A 56-year-old Costa Mesa man was arrested Jan. 19 and is accused of engaging in sexual conduct online and over the phone with a 14-year-old girl.

The Orange County Sheriff’s Department arrested Steven Edward Riddle at a San Clemente Holiday Inn where he allegedly planned to meet with the South Orange County teen for the first time.

Riddle met the girl in a Yahoo chat room in November and told her he was 24. He instructed the girl to “touch herself” and take naked pictures of herself and send them to him using a cellphone he sent her, officials said.

Riddle is being held on $100,000 bail at Orange County Jail and is scheduled to be in court Tuesday.

* The Costa Mesa man accused of intentionally hitting another man with his car in an Aliso Viejo shopping center pleaded not guilty Tuesday in Orange County Superior Court.

Police say Morteza Bakhtiari, 26, was the driver of a silver BMW that struck a pedestrian in the parking lot of the Aliso Viejo Town Center late Thursday.

John Royston, 41, was walking through the parking lot when he saw the car driving too fast and either said something or waved for the driver to slow down. The driver of the BMW passed Royston, then made a U-turn and ran him over, authorities said.

Bakhtiari’s lawyer, Joseph Cavallo, said his client was threatened by a group of men in the parking lot and did not run the man down.

* Three people were arrested Thursday on suspicion of illegally towing vehicles from a Newport Beach business’ parking lot.

The owner of a Stanton-based towing company, her husband and an employee are accused of towing cars without the property manager’s permission and of charging the owners to retrieve their vehicles.

In California, the law requires that towing companies have the authorization of the property manager before towing from private property.

The parking lot is near a night club and the three took advantage of that, said Newport Beach Police Sgt. Bill Hartford. The towing company charged between $100 and $400 for the owners to retrieve their vehicles, Hartford said.

NEWPORT BEACH

City Council approves rules to help silence sea lions

The City Council on Tuesday approved new rules that ban feeding nondomesticated animals and that require boat owners to take measures to keep boats secure from sea lions. The rules are aimed at discouraging sea lions from loitering in the harbor, hopping aboard boats and disturbing homeowners with their noise.

The council also agreed to give a new permit, with some conditions, to the Balboa Angling Club for a barge used to raise white sea bass. The barge has raised complaints from some neighbors, who say it’s an eyesore and pollutes the harbor, but the angling club vowed to work with the city and residents to make sure the sea bass pens are maintained properly and to consider other locations for the barge.

EDUCATION

Elementary school updates ‘Snow White’ for musical

The classic tale of “Snow White,” like, totally came alive for the 21st century at Newport Elementary School, which debuted scenes from its winter play, “Val E. Gal Meets the Best on the Beach,” Wednesday in the school auditorium.

The musical, adapted from the Grimm Brothers’ story by parent Gail O’Hea and writing partner Sara Lunsford, transforms the famous heroine into Val E. Gal, a modern-day valley girl whose wicked stepmother attempts to kill her with a poisoned TK Burger. But Val E. Gal finds refuge at Newport Elementary and is saved by the love of her life, a young surfer named Gnarly Dude.

* The pedestrian safety campaign got underway Monday morning at Newport Harbor High School, as members of the Student Political Action Committee set bright orange flags on both sides of the school’s nearby crosswalks and asked students to carry them across the street on their way to class.

The campaign started as a result of an accident in which a student driver hit a pedestrian on one of the crosswalks.

Although the school club intends the flags to increase the visibility of walkers, it ultimately plans to approach the Newport Beach City Council about a more permanent solution -- such as stop signs, crossing guards or blinking lights on the pavement.

* At the Newport-Mesa Unified School District’s Tuesday board meeting, the members rejected a proposal for the Orange County Academy, a charter campus that would be the first such site in the district. The board ruled that the charter left too many unanswered questions, although it encouraged the founders to come back with a rewritten plan.

Todd Winkler, the president of the Orange County Academy board of directors, said his group would either return to Newport-Mesa or appeal to the county.

NOTABLE QUOTABLES

“Some people kind of laugh, but other people are receptive and take the flags with them. Overall, I think it does a good job of reminding drivers that the crosswalk exists. They see these things on the sidewalk and automatically slow down.”

-- Lara Schilling, a 17-year-old senior at Newport Harbor High School, who was in front of the campus Monday as part of the Student Political Action Committee’s new safety campaign, which includes pedestrians crossing streets while carrying flags

“I can’t seem to get this message across that that’s not what was adopted by the City Council. I don’t know how to get around that other than to continually get out into the community.”

-- John Hensley, Costa Mesa Police chief, on his public relations campaign to explain the city’s planned enforcement of immigration rules

“The only thing I see is that the people that are opposing this want zero enforcement, and I just don’t understand how someone doesn’t want to take a major criminal off the street, because that’s what this does.”

-- Allan Mansoor, Costa Mesa mayor, saying he doesn’t understand why there is opposition to the city’s plans to enforce immigration laws

“I spent a long time in San Diego working at the La Jolla Playhouse, and I’ve been an attendee [at the center] and admirer from afar for many years. It’s a center that stands for excellence in a number of art forms.”

-- Terrence W. Dwyer, the new president and chief operating officer of the Orange County Performing Arts Center, He will begin his new job on April 20.

“Is that right for the city to be waging a campaign with taxpayer dollars to sway their own citizens?”

-- Phil Arst, leader of slow-growth Greenlight movement, on Newport Beach hiring a public relations firm to produce mailers about the city’s general-plan update.