Week in Review

NEWPORT BEACH

From being near to death to being new motherOn Christmas Eve, Amanda Edwards gave birth to a healthy baby girl. This wasn’t the only blessing bestowed on Amanda during her life.

In May 1997, Amanda was seriously injured in a car accident that left one of her friends dead when the Chevy Blazer she was in flipped on a curve on Irvine Avenue.

Amanda, whose last name was Arthur before her marriage, was in a coma for over four months. After waking up, Amanda struggled to recover.

But after four years of physical therapy and years of emotional support from friends and family, Amanda has made a recovery most didn’t think was possible.

She now lives in Irvine with her husband, Mike Edwards, and new daughter, Audrey.

To prepare for the title, the city devised a tsunami-response plan, a public education program and developed several methods to receive and disseminate tsunami warnings. Public need for such an agenda increased after the 2004 tsunami that ravaged Indonesia and a June 2005 tsunami warning in Newport Beach.

The city is preparing presentations on tsunami preparedness, which will be circulated through local schools and homeowners associations.

For more information on the city’s tsunami preparedness, call (949) 644-3109.

ENTERTAINMENT

Musical ‘Pippin’ opens at arts center this week“Pippin” comes to Segerstrom Hall this week to open the new Curtain Call Series at the Orange County Performing Arts Center.

Micky Dolenz of the Monkees fame stars as Charlemagne in the production that opened on Broadway in 1972.

“Pippin” will run Tuesday through Sunday at the center, and tickets are available for $15 to $65. For more information, go to www.ocpac.org.

COSTA MESA

City employees donate leave time to help co-workerCosta Mesa city workers shelled out a dose of kindness to the city’s video production specialist who needed to have surgery but didn’t have enough sick days to cover his recovery time.

Brad Long needed to have a fourth hip replacement surgery after he got an infection that could have caused him to lose a leg, and he needed months of healing time. The problem was, he only had three weeks’ paid leave from his job. But this fall, some of his friends at the city donated more than 400 of their own leave-time hours so he could have the operation, recover, and pay the bills.

Long is scheduled for surgery Jan. 5 to rebuild his hip, and the infection has cleared up.

BUSINESS

Newport man to shower Times Square with confettiNewport Beach resident and balloon innovator Treb Heining will return to the West Coast this week after showering New York partyers with 7,000 pounds of confetti in Times Square.

Every year for the last 15, Heining as been an event coordinator for the legendary New Year’s Eve celebration in Times Square. The blizzard of confetti after the countdown comes courtesy of Heining, who brings a crew of friends, family and neighbors to help him throw the confetti off the top of a high-rise.

With some space still available — officially the center is 75% leased — Birtcher said leasing agents are looking at attracting a coffee shop, and home theater, fireplace, barbecue and outdoor furniture retailers.

PUBLIC SAFETY

Man arrested at after-school program in Corona del MarA man apparently on drugs exposed himself at an after-school care program at a Corona del Mar community center on Tuesday, police said. But supervisors quickly subdued him and led the kids out of harm’s way before police arrived, according to authorities.

Newport Beach police arrested Joel Pizano, 26, of Monrovia on suspicion of indecent exposure.

Pizano faces charges, including indecent exposure and being under the influence of a controlled substance, prosecutors said.

Homicides, however, increased from three last year to five this year. Costa Mesa Police Sgt. Marty Carver said the increase could be blamed on a couple of crimes of passion, not some larger trend.

Property crimes decreased the most, especially vehicle thefts and burglaries. Carver said police tried hard to bring those numbers down, working closely with neighborhood watches and putting significant resources into education.

In Newport Beach, crime statistics stayed roughly the same, declining by about 2% when comparing last year with this year through November. Violent crime was low, with no homicides so far in 2006. Property crime, on the other had, remained high for a city of Newport’s size.

Newport Beach Police Sgt. Evan Sailor said affluent Newport Beach was full of valuable targets for thieves and burglars, so higher levels were to be expected. He said police worked to keep the numbers from rising by patrolling aggressively and teaching residents how not to be easy targets.

POLITICS

Congressman calls for two Border Patrol agents’ pardonsRep. Dana Rohrabacher ripped a policy that prevents Border Patrol agents from shooting at suspects unless directly threatened with a weapon.

“This is about the stupidest, most nonsensical policy that I’ve ever seen,” he said. “How can you say to the Border Patrol that they can’t use their weapons unless somebody is about to shoot them? … Their only recourse will be to wrestle someone to the ground. Why would someone stop if he [the agent] can’t use his weapon?”

Rohrabacher would like to see two Border Patrol agents — who were convicted earlier this year after shooting a drug smuggler who had illegally entered the country — pardoned.

NOTABLE QUOTABLES

“I hope men like me who do this are an example to the youth because it’s a great honor to be able to do this to serve God and the community.”

— Frank McNamara, an alter server at St. John Vianney Chapel

“I don’t think I could do this job if I had one leg. I know I wouldn’t be carrying a camera.”

— Brad Long, video production specialist for Costa Mesa whose co-workers are helping him with leave time

“To spend 10 minutes with my brother, you would know why I’m out here. He would give you the shirt off his back.”

— Illinois resident Michelle Thompson, who biked 2,400 miles to Costa Mesa to raise money for her brother’s cancer treatment

“There have been a lot of miracles. She’s a miracle herself.”

— Chris Maese, mother of Amanda Edwards, who recovered from a post-car-accident coma and has since married and started a family

“We put the plea out to the public and, oh my goodness, they responded. It was amazing.”

— Lynnette Round, a spokeswoman for the Orange County Fire Authority, on the last-minute surge in donations to the Spark of Love toy drive

“I don’t know where the time has gone; I thought this would be a seven- or eight-year thing, and it turned out to be 37 years plus.”

— Cal Calentino, who’s closing the doors at Calentino’s in Costa Mesa for good tonight

“We want to show residents that we are doing something and that we do take the threat of a tsunami very seriously.”

— Katie Freeman, emergency services coordinator for the Newport Beach Fire Department, on the city’s being declared “tsunami-ready”