Costa Mesa

A meeting Saturday between two undefeated teams left the Huntington Beach Green Chargers perfect. Huntington combined a stingy defense with an offense that was able to penetrate a tough Costa Mesa defense to hand the Mustangs their first loss, 16-0, in a Pop Warner Football Pee Wee Division game. Treavon Coley rushed for a pair of touchdowns, and Tyler Macleod added both point-after kicks in the second quarter. Aaron Vargas and Allen Vogelsang came up with interceptions for a Green Chargers defense that also received outstanding play from Elijah Herrera, Matt Oakley, Bradley Dominick, Charles Mendola, Jake Dailey, Steven Tovatt and Peter Russo.

Costa Mesa has signed on to use Huntington Beach's police helicopter for three years, netting Huntington Beach at least $900,000 over the term of the contract. In a unanimous vote at Tuesday's City Council meeting, Costa Mesa leaders said the $300,000-per-year agreement with Huntington offered equal service to their own now-defunct helicopter program but at a fraction of the cost. The contract has an option to extend it annually for the fourth and fifth years. The two cities would reopen the contract for negotiating if the cost of fuel increased more than 10% during the preceding contractual year.

The Hurricanes out of Region 56 bounced back from a 1-0 loss in the morning to earn a 1-1 tie with Costa Mesa later in the day Saturday in boys Under-10 Orange County Spring League playoff action at Balearic Soccer Field in Costa Mesa. David Taylor broke a scoreless halftime tie with a second half goal to give the Hurricanes a 1-0 lead against Costa Mesa, but the host squad came back to score later in the half to forge the tie. Hurricane goalie David Johnson helped preserve the halftime tie by stopping four shots on goal.

Opponents of the proposed Poseidon desalination plant walked out of City Hall last week with a major victory, their biggest since Huntington Beach leaders turned down the plan's environmental report in December 2003. Unfortunately for them, the City Hall was across the Santa Ana River in Costa Mesa, and the vote didn't doom entirely the $250-million plant, which has come back from its earlier defeat. But the Costa Mesa decision not to allow Poseidon to put six miles of pipeline through that city is a crushing blow, one that certainly cannot help but weigh on Huntington Beach leaders as they decide on the future of the proposal at their Nov. 21 meeting.

Earlier this month, Peggy Gardner added a bench to her outdoor garden. That bench faces a large wall. The Costa Mesa resident enjoys sitting on the bench and staring at the wall. That's where this story ends. Artistic inspiration is where the story began. This spring, Gardner's next-door neighbor asked for her permission before erecting a dividing wall -- eight feet high and 70 feet long -- between the two properties. The wall replaced a nine-foot-tall hedge that was knocked down along with the neighbor's home to prepare for reconstruction.

One after another, Candace Tift's husband, parents, siblings and friends bent and kissed her flower-dressed coffin outside a Huntington Beach church last week. Tift, a young mother and teacher at Eastbluff Elementary, died Aug. 24 after she was hit by a car while riding her bike on West Coast Highway. She was 31 and the mother of a 15-month-old son, Owen. Family, friends and former and current students gathered at Sts. Simon and Jude Catholic Church, the church where Tift was baptized, to remember the woman who reached out to many of the hundreds gathered together.

A two-car crash at Newport Boulevard and East 17th Street early Sunday resulted in the death of one passenger and left two people injured, police said. The person killed has been identified as Nacheli Garcia-Torres, 23, of Garden Grove, said Leslie Meader, Orange County supervising deputy coroner. Garcia-Torres was a front-seat passenger in a 1987 Acura LS driven by Jaime Grenado, 21, also of Garden Grove. Grenado is in police custody on suspicion of drunk driving, said Costa Mesa Police Sgt. Larry Hicks.

Seahawks can still tie for league title by beating Westminster.The Ocean View High boys' basketball team lost sole possession of first place in the Golden West League race Monday when host Costa Mesa held on for a 44-42 victory. The Seahawks, playing without starter Brad Sweezy, were led in scoring by Wynton Johnson, who finished with a game-high 16 points. Costa Mesa, which completed a season sweep of Ocean View, moved into first place with a 9-2 record. The Seahawks slipped to 8-2 but can earn no worse than a share of the league title with wins this week over Orange and Westminster.

Jennifer Kho COSTA MESA -- The City Council still doesn't have a permanent location for its skateboard park, but that isn't going to stop skateboarders and in-line skaters from riding on rails, quarter pipes, wedges and spines this summer -- with the city's blessing. A mobile skateboard park debuted May 19 at a Leadership Tomorrow event to paint tiles for renovations at Tewinkle Park. "It was really popular," said Rob Cavanaugh, recreation coordinator.

Thomas Schriber -- a co-founder of the Costa Mesa real estate company that played a major role in the redesign of Fashion Island -- plans to reduce his activities with the firm at the start of the new year. Schriber, currently chief executive and chairman of Costa Mesa-based Donahue Schriber, announced Monday that he intends to hand the chief executive's post to Patrick Donahue the firm's president and chief operating officer. He is also the brother of company co-founder Daniel Donahue, who died in 2002.

Ocean View High girls' softball got its 2014 season off to a big start Tuesday by overpowering visiting Costa Mesa, 10-0. Senior co-captain Emily Long homered and drove in three runs, senior co-captain Tobi Salzman had three hits, and junior Billi Derleth had two hits and drove in five runs for the Seahawks whose offense came alive in the third inning. Ocean View hosts Tustin at 3:15 p.m. Thursday in nonleague play. Edison and Huntington Beach had their season openers rained out Saturday.

Huntington Beach officials want to get moving on a plan to alleviate traffic at one of the city's most congested intersections: Brookhurst Street and Adams Avenue. Council members voted 5 to 2 on Jan. 21, with Councilmen Joe Carchio and Jim Katapodis dissenting, to approve the environmental impact report for a project aimed at improving the intersection, which is not far from the Costa Mesa city limits. Huntington Beach can now apply for funding. The project would add an additional through lane in each direction on Adams, two right-turn lanes on the northbound side of Brookhurst and one right-turn lane on the southbound side.

The party-bus service, HB2Newport, started its engines in March and recently expanded to include Costa Mesa. The shuttle service - there are actually two buses - connects the popular bar areas in downtown Huntington Beach, the peninsula in Newport Beach and the Triangle in Costa Mesa, giving passengers a chance to enjoy themselves outside their home cities for $4 per stop. It gives partiers the ability to make intercity bar crawls complete with a 4,000-watt stereo system and other party accoutrements.

Huntington Beach headed into the start of its league season on a high note by winning its first tournament of the 2012-13 girls' prep basketball season Saturday at Costa Mesa. The Oilers capped an undefeated, four-game run at the Winter Classic by pulling away in the second half to defeat San Ramon Valley of Danville, 56-34. The win put the Oilers at 10-3 overall and gave them momentum heading into the Sunset League opener Thursday. In the title game, senior Jill Nakaso scored 12 points to go along with 12 rebounds and went on to be named MVP of the tournament.

Dan Muraira and Eric Wilford often have their Kona Ice Trucks compared to ice cream trucks, but there's one big difference. "We don't go anywhere unless we're invited," said Wilford, who's Muraira's uncle. "We aren't an ice cream truck where we just drive around. " The San Clemente residents just purchased their third Kona Ice Truck for Huntington Beach, which has operated in the city for the past three years under two previous owners, to help meet an increasing demand for their services.

A longtime activist for the rights of disabled people has sued Fred's Mexican Café and the Pierside Pavilion complex in Huntington Beach for alleged failures to comply with state and federal disability laws and with the state's civil rights law and health and safety code. Costa Mesa resident Christie Rudder filed the lawsuit July 2 accusing Fred's and Pierside Pavilion of failing "in their obligation to provide disabled persons … with full and equal access to their goods and services.

The Huntington Beach City Council on Monday opted not to outsource the city attorney's office. An independent attorney hired as a consultant told the council that if the city attorney were to sue the city for attempting to outsource her office, she would likely prevail, leaving taxpayers buried in legal bills. Ultimately, the council took the advice and opted to preserve Jennifer McGrath's office. Neighboring Costa Mesa, which is in the middle of an outsourcing legal battle with one of its employee associations, contracts with outside legal counsel.

The place to be this Labor Day weekend is at the 14th annual Costa Mesa Wood Racquet Classic to benefit the John Wayne Cancer Foundation. The fashionable and philanthropic event brings classic style to the forefront, with participants playing with wooden racquets and wearing vintage tennis attire. The event starts at 1 p.m. Saturday at the Palisades Tennis Club, 1171 Jamboree Road, Newport Beach, with matches between men, women and children. A reception will be from 7 to 9 p.m. at the Boathouse Collective, 1640 Pomona Ave., Costa Mesa.

Costa Mesa has signed on to use Huntington Beach's police helicopter for three years, netting Huntington Beach at least $900,000 over the term of the contract. In a unanimous vote at Tuesday's City Council meeting, Costa Mesa leaders said the $300,000-per-year agreement with Huntington offered equal service to their own now-defunct helicopter program but at a fraction of the cost. The contract has an option to extend it annually for the fourth and fifth years. The two cities would reopen the contract for negotiating if the cost of fuel increased more than 10% during the preceding contractual year.

Assemblyman Allan Mansoor (R-Costa Mesa) told a conservative group Monday that he believes his Republican opponent in the June 5 primary will bow down to unions and special-interest groups in Sacramento. During a Surf City Tea-sponsored forum in the Huntington Beach Central Library, Mansoor said Newport Beach Councilwoman Leslie Daigle, who is running against him in the 74th Assembly District race, supports unions and raising taxes. "That's a clear difference between me and my opponent, who calls herself Republican," he said.