Fountain Valley

With spring break a few days away, the Sunset League baseball race is about to complete its first-round of action. It comes to a close Thursday with the league lead on the line. Through the first four league contests Tuesday, Fountain Valley leads the way at 4-0. The Barons won their fourth outing Tuesday by taking a 6-1 victory from rival Edison. One game back of the lead is Marina which was dropped from a share of first place after Newport Harbor rallied for a 3-2 win. Huntington Beach also was victorious Tuesday by defeating Los Alamitos, 4-1. Thursday's schedule has Marina playing at home against Fountain Valley in a key game and Huntington traveling to face Edison.

An Orange County Grand Jury report on local cities' transparency regarding government compensation flunked Huntington Beach and Fountain Valley in at least one category. The neighboring cities both received an F grade for disclosure of executive salaries and benefits. Huntington Beach received a B for disclosure of employee salaries and for accessibility of information. Fountain Valley got a B in accessibility, but a D in the employee category. Huntington Beach City Manager Fred Wilson said the executive salaries were lumped in with all the employees' salaries.

After opting to keep its own Fire Department intact, the loss of redevelopment funds has led Fountain Valley to reconsider sharing fire services with neighboring Huntington Beach. The potential loss of up to $1.4 million in redevelopment funds from the general budget is forcing Fountain Valley to reexamine its options of sharing services, said Fountain Valley City Manager Ray Kromer. "With us losing redevelopment money, we're just kind of making sure we're reexamining everything," he said.

It took Peg Klinck 12 years to complete 10 speeches, but that is the great thing about Toastmasters, she said. A person can get as much or as little as they want out of the program and work at their own pace, she said. Her pace, which was the butt of a good-natured joke Tuesday at the Huntington Beach Toastmasters Club, did speed up. The Fountain Valley resident is now one of only two members to complete both the communication and leadership track, earning herself the recognition of Distinguished Toastmaster.

Despite the loss of $1.4 million in redevelopment funds, Fountain Valley is once again balancing its budget and is expected to end the next fiscal year with a surplus and no layoffs or major cuts of services. The City Council on Tuesday passed a $36-million operating budget, with a projected $132,000 surplus by the end of the 2013-14 fiscal year. "We're operating everything on a shoestring, but we're still providing all the services and we're living within our means," said City Manager Ray Kromer.

The top 10 dishes of 2010 (in no particular order and not a list of the 10 best restaurants): Café Grill (Fountain Valley): Sweet Potato Ravioli is a winner! Looking more like cannelloni, the toothsome pasta is wrapped around an exquisite sweet potato puree, whipped into a state of sublime creaminess with an astonishing depth of flavor. The nut-brown butter sauce with sage accents adds a whole other dimension of mouth-watering delight. The final fillip is the crispy, deep-fried sage leaves on top. Unbelievably, only $5!

A 17-year-old boy was shot to death Monday afternoon in what police believe was a personal dispute outside a 7-Eleven in Fountain Valley. According to Sgt. Kurt Ulrich, police responded to the scene at 1:21 p.m. and found the victim with a gunshot wound to his neck in the minimart's parking lot at 16475 Harbor Blvd. He was pronounced dead at the scene. Police identified the victim as Valle Valeriano of Santa Ana. The suspect, 18-year-old Reda Safieddine of Fountain Valley, was arrested on suspicion of murder and booked at the Orange County Jail.

Fountain Valley and Huntington Beach may soon share a fire chief. Huntington Beach City Manager Fred Wilson said he's had preliminary discussions with his counterpart in Fountain Valley about giving Huntington's fire chief, Patrick McIntosh, the task of managing both departments. Fountain Valley Fire Chief Bill Walker left recently to serve in Alhambra. Former Laguna Beach Fire Chief Mike Macey replaced Walker in the interim. "It will be a challenge for our fire chief to manage both organizations," Wilson said.

Fountain Valley Youth Baseball's Bronco All-Star team extended its win streak to 17 last weekend by opening the PONY Baseball Zone Tournament with a pair of victories at York Field in Whittier. Fountain Valley ripped Palmdale, 15-2, in its tournament opener as pitchers Thomas Marcin, Chad Blauer and Branden Lawson combined to limit Palmdale to two runs on three hits. A potent offense was paced by Jeff Roth, who went 3 for 4 with a pair of home runs. Additionally, Garrett Leon, Kyle Mastel, and Marcin each had multiple hit games, while Jake Mahlstedt, Cameron Mc Mullen, Dean Otsuka, and Ryan Stehle contributed other key hits.

Fountain Valley's eighth-grade boys' Basketball team clinched third place at the National Junior Basketball Sectional All-star Tournament by defeating Lake Elsinore, 70-55. Guard Robert Hansen scored a game-high 19 points and center Scott Grant added 17 points and dominated the boards with 11 rebounds as Fountain Valley broke away from a third quarter tie. Forward Matt Derocili scored eight points and had a big game defensively with three blocks and two steals.