Paul Clinton

Paul Clinton State lawmakers finally passed Assemblyman Ken Maddox's sewage-treatment bill last month with less than one hour in the legislative session. The measure, known as Assembly Bill 1969, traveled a long and winding road and went through several rewrites before it landed on Gov. Gray Davis' desk. The legislation, introduced by Maddox on Feb. 14, passed the state Legislature near midnight on Aug. 31, the last day of the session. The bill passed 79-0 in the Assembly and 38-0 in the Senate.

Rep. Dana Rohrabacher and U.S. Commerce Secretary Don Evans presented a local minority-owned business with a federal award and encouraged others like it to "go globally and grow locally." On an afternoon trip to Aranda Tooling Co., in Surf City, Rohrabacher and Evans presented owner Pedro Aranda with the commerce department's Export Achievement Certificate. The company manufactures small hand tools. Evans said small Latino-owned businesses are the "backbone of our nation's economy" and credited Aranda with successfully marketing and selling the tools in Japan, Mexico and other world markets.

Paul Clinton The Costa Mesa Sanitary District postponed a decision on whether to support or oppose a federal sewage waiver for the county sewer agency. Board members unanimously supported putting off the decision until June 24, two days before the Orange County Sanitation District decides whether to chase the waiver. Nine cities have lined up to oppose the waiver, which allows the district to discharge 240-million gallons of partially treated sewage into the ocean.

Paul Clinton California Coastal Commissioner Shirley Dettloff had planned her speech to the Orange Coast Assn. to be a relaxed reminiscence through five years on the statewide panel. But an appearance by Newport Beach environmentalist Rodolphe Streichenberger, a commission nemesis, sparked a confrontation over the legality of the agency at a June 5 speech. Standing up in the luncheon room of the Newport Dunes Waterfront Resort after Dettloff delivered her speech, Streichenberger accused the commissioners of having too much power.

Paul Clinton The Orange County Health Care Agency posted health warnings on a stretch of Huntington State Beach, after high bacteria levels were detected. Signs dotted the sand running 150 feet in either direction of Newland Street, for a total of 300 feet, on the evening of May 29. The agency announced the posting at 4:30 p.m. on that day. That section of beach, located in the city's southeastern corridor, has been a trouble spot for high bacteria levels.

Paul Clinton City workers are tying up the bow on a package of $5.65 million in beach improvements that they will deliver to residents on Saturday. Road crews wearing orange suits and hard-hats finished painting stripes on the newly-minted beach parking lot this week. On Monday, a crane placed six one-ton concrete benches into their footings. The improvements also include new beach restrooms, palm trees, better signage and several artistic touches, including a new surfboard sculpture known locally as "Surfhenge."

Paul Clinton A man allegedly held up a Huntington Beach bank and made off with $1,500 in cash. At 4:11 p.m. on Wednesday May 29 a man allegedly passed a note, demanding money and warning that he had a gun, to the teller of the Bank of America branch at 16811 Algonquin St., before making off with the money, police said. Witnesses in the bank described the thief as 25, a Latino or light-skinned black man, 5-feet-7, about 150 pounds, with short dark hair, freckles and a gap between his front teeth, police said.

Paul Clinton The Orange County District Attorney is prosecuting a Huntington Beach man for grand theft against an elder. A hearing date has been set for June 3 for 32-year-old Brett Porr, who was arrested on April 24 by Huntington Beach police. Porr allegedly defrauded his 95-year-old great aunt of more than $50,000. Porr may face up to six years. The penalty for grand theft becomes much more severe when the act is committed against an elder, said Deputy District attorney Doug Brannan.

Paul Clinton Usage of a central Downtown parking structure has doubled since last year, a sign of the popularity of the area, city officials said. Results of a survey, that counted the number of vehicles that used the Main Promenade parking structure over the weekend of May 11 to 13, showed that nearly twice as many cars used the lot this year as compared to last. "In general we're getting a lot more cars in there than we used to," said Steve Benson, the city's supervisor of parking and camping.

Paul Clinton Fountain Valley defended its title as the winner of the Mayor's Race at the city's annual Duck-A-Thon. In a race filled with little rubber ducks from a number of North County cities, the Fountain Valley quacker sailed to the shore quickest in the 1:30 p.m. race, retaining the title of victor from last year. The well-attended event, held on Saturday, is now in its 10th year. But in the race of thousands of rubber fowl, Karol Bruno and daughter Kym Little of Huntington Beach took home the crown for the public race, which was held at 3 p.m. Their duck was named "Baby Emma."