Oak View

Boys & Girls Clubs of Huntington Valley plans to open a new location in Huntington Beach's low-income Oak View neighborhood, the organization announced Tuesday. The after-school program, which will run until 5 p.m. on weekdays during the school year, is slated to begin Oct. 1 at the Oak View Family Resource Center at 17261 Oak Lane. The club expects to serve between 200 and 300 children the first year, according to the release. Spokeswoman Tanya Hoxsie said the club approached the community center after other children's programs moved out due to lack of funds.

A quiet Saturday morning in Huntington Beach was quickly filled with the voices of nearly 400 volunteers as they moved in to help spruce up the Oak View neighborhood. Organized by OneOC, volunteers from 16 different companies from Orange County and residents of the Oak View neighborhood came out to conduct a slew of beautification projects in the square-mile community. "The secret sauce for [Saturday's] event is we have people working together as part of one community," OneOC President Dan McQuaid said.

Elias Hakimian will do what it takes to benefit Huntington Beach's low-income Oak View neighborhood — even if the kids have really, really good aim. Hakimian, the city pastor of Rock Harbor church, is among the local church leaders setting up a back-to-school carnival to raise funds for community programs. As part of the festivities, the churches are providing a dunk tank — and it's his understanding that the pastors from each congregation will take turns in the seat. Has Hakimian, whose church launched in Huntington just over a year ago, ever been dunked before?

Paul Clinton Bouquets of yellow and pink flowers are clustered along the brick wall at Nichols Street and Wagon Drive. Colored candles with religious images form a cross on the sidewalk. Families and friends of Oscar Gaytan, 18, and Heriberto Tapia Vasquez, 16, two Huntington Beach boys killed in a gangland shooting Saturday, have blanketed the sidewalks where their loved ones perished. Flowers, candles and framed pictures of the fallen teenagers now act as a reminder of the heartbreak and trauma that inevitably follows street violence.

Local kids got a chance to carry away just-their-size pumpkins in a patch younger than them. Oak View preschoolers and kindergartners walked across the street Oct. 22 and 24 to tour a pumpkin patch that employees from Rainbow Disposal Co., Inc. planted last summer. “Farmer” Tony Hurtado, a 36-year Rainbow maintenance and construction employee, has made one acre of the site into a pumpkin patch and vegetable garden for the children. “I love to plant and see things grow and want the children to see all the pumpkins we have right across the street,” Hurtado said in a news release.

Staring at a line of trophies that would be awarded to those competing in the Oak View Youth Soccer League Finals on Sunday, Jose Luis Rodriguez couldn't help but think about how far the league has come. The league founder and 17-year resident of Huntington Beach's Oak View community has seen the organization grow from the four teams it started out with in its inaugural 2003 season to about 30 teams and 700 boys and girls a year. An estimated 700 people came out to the Oak View Elementary School field Sunday to watch the league's five championship games for players 6-and-under to 14-and-under.

The president of the Oak View Youth Soccer League released a statement Monday underscoring that the allegations of sex abuse by a soccer referee have only a tenuous link to the organization. Anaheim resident Jorge Serafin was arrested Jan. 15 on suspicion of molesting three children. The Orange County Sheriff's Department has said none of the boys - ages 10, 14 and 15 - were members of the Oak View league. The statement signed by league President Jose Rodriguez said they were made aware of the arrest through news reports.

Andrew Wainer It was a quiet Friday night. Deep green lawns, well-lighted streets and tidy homes added to the sense of normalcy on Keelson Street in the Oak View community. It seemed unlikely turf for Huntington Beach's largest and oldest street gang. Slowly cruising through the neighborhood in an unmarked Chevrolet, Gary Faust and Mark Garcia, Huntington Beach Police Gang Unit detectives, encountered little gang activity during their nighttime patrol of the community that hardly covers more than half of a square mile.

There is one square mile of Huntington Beach that is quite different from the other 31. Spanish can be heard rolling off the tongues of residents as the smell of home-cooked meals tickles the taste buds. The community is called Oak View, and it's a far cry from the rest of the surf-oriented beach town. Most of Oak View's residents immigrated to the United States from Puebla, Mexico, and the culture of their home country is evident on every street. Now, a special program called El Viento is helping the community's children get a jump on life in America.

A quiet Saturday morning in Huntington Beach was quickly filled with the voices of nearly 400 volunteers as they moved in to help spruce up the Oak View neighborhood. Organized by OneOC, volunteers from 16 different companies from Orange County and residents of the Oak View neighborhood came out to conduct a slew of beautification projects in the square-mile community. "The secret sauce for [Saturday's] event is we have people working together as part of one community," OneOC President Dan McQuaid said.

The president of the Oak View Youth Soccer League released a statement Monday underscoring that the allegations of sex abuse by a soccer referee have only a tenuous link to the organization. Anaheim resident Jorge Serafin was arrested Jan. 15 on suspicion of molesting three children. The Orange County Sheriff's Department has said none of the boys - ages 10, 14 and 15 - were members of the Oak View league. The statement signed by league President Jose Rodriguez said they were made aware of the arrest through news reports.

An Oak View Youth Soccer League referee was charged Tuesday on suspicion of molesting three children, according to the Orange County district attorney's office. None of the boys — ages 10, 14 and 15 — were members of the popular soccer league, according to the Orange County Sheriff's Department. Jorge Diosdado Serafin, 30, who lives in an unincoporated part of Anaheim, was charged with three felony counts of forcible oral copulation on a minor 14 years of age and older, one felony count of lewd act on a child, and one felony count of lewd act on a child under 14, according to a news release from the D.A. Serafin also faces enhancements for allegedly committing crimes against more than one vicitm, which could lead to additional prison time if he is convicted.

Staring at a line of trophies that would be awarded to those competing in the Oak View Youth Soccer League Finals on Sunday, Jose Luis Rodriguez couldn't help but think about how far the league has come. The league founder and 17-year resident of Huntington Beach's Oak View community has seen the organization grow from the four teams it started out with in its inaugural 2003 season to about 30 teams and 700 boys and girls a year. An estimated 700 people came out to the Oak View Elementary School field Sunday to watch the league's five championship games for players 6-and-under to 14-and-under.

Boys & Girls Clubs of Huntington Valley plans to open a new location in Huntington Beach's low-income Oak View neighborhood, the organization announced Tuesday. The after-school program, which will run until 5 p.m. on weekdays during the school year, is slated to begin Oct. 1 at the Oak View Family Resource Center at 17261 Oak Lane. The club expects to serve between 200 and 300 children the first year, according to the release. Spokeswoman Tanya Hoxsie said the club approached the community center after other children's programs moved out due to lack of funds.

Elias Hakimian will do what it takes to benefit Huntington Beach's low-income Oak View neighborhood — even if the kids have really, really good aim. Hakimian, the city pastor of Rock Harbor church, is among the local church leaders setting up a back-to-school carnival to raise funds for community programs. As part of the festivities, the churches are providing a dunk tank — and it's his understanding that the pastors from each congregation will take turns in the seat. Has Hakimian, whose church launched in Huntington just over a year ago, ever been dunked before?

There's an old Paul Simon tune called "One Man's Ceiling Is Another Man's Floor. " The title sentiment can be taken literally — the song, on the surface, is about squabbling apartment tenants — but it can also be taken to mean that what seems lofty and unattainable for one person can seem like no great shakes for another. Consider this: When you donate to a food bank or a Third World clinic, do you ever read the literature explaining how they plan to stretch out your dollar?

Allegations against me by Mary Thompson in her letter to the editor ("Trustee's conduct not professional," Mailbag, June 16) cannot stand unchallenged. The first allegation that my "lack of courtesy and respect to the board president was shameful" and the implication that I should be disciplined is similar to another employee-written complaint submitted directly to the district. Apparently she believes the Ocean View School District president has dictator powers to be meted out against those that dare to speak up. I am a person who dares to speak up and speak out frequently.

The chance to attend summer camp and learn to sail and swim are what drew 18-year-old Ana Munguia into a program eight years ago that would help her get into college and then help pay for it. But what was supposed to be a way to hang out with her friends over the summer changed her whole life for the better. Dressed up with a red carnation pinned over her heart, Munguia graduated Friday evening from El Viento at a small ceremony at Golden West College's amphitheatre. El Viento is an organization that takes students in the underprivileged, mostly Latino, Oak View neighborhood, between Warner and Slater avenues, and Beach Boulevard and Gothard Street, and helps them get into college by giving them academic assistance, enrichment opportunities from fourth grade through graduation and then pays for their first two years of college wherever they decide to go. Back in fourth grade, Munguia said she didn't think about going to college, she just wanted to go to summer camp.