Wal Mart

Angelique Flores HUNTINGTON BEACH-- The walls of the closed Crest View School are tumbling down to make way for Wal-Mart. Demolition crews arrived last week to begin clearing the 14-acre property at Talbert Avenue near Beach Boulevard. Work is expected to take an additional two weeks, said Ocean View School District Supt. Jim Tarwater. One year ago this month, a five-year battle came to an end when 54.1% of the voters cast their ballots defeating Measure I. This move put the brakes on an effort to rezone the school site to a residential zone, which would have blocked the construction of the Wal-Mart store.

Bryce Alderton Day after day they gathered in the parking lot, just waiting for the moment their weight would cause the automatic doors to slide open. Anxious customers ready to stroll the aisles in search of bargains were finally let inside the controversial Wal-Mart store in Huntington Beach, five days after the retail giant was scheduled to open. "I've been waiting for it and I'll be coming back tonight with my husband," said Jannise Nagle, a Fountain Valley resident, as she walked out of the store on its opening day with her son Jaedin, 7. "He liked all the games on the way out, I think we wasted $5."

Eron Ben-Yehuda HUNTINGTON BEACH -- Wal-Mart opponents learned this week that the retailer won't go down without a fight. At a City Council workshop Monday, City Atty. Gail Hutton announced that company officials plan to file a lawsuit against Crest View United, a resident group that opposes Wal-Mart's proposal to build a 150,000-square-foot retail complex on Talbert Avenue near Beach Boulevard. The suit will challenge the validity of a ballot petition to rezone the commercial area back to residential, she said.

Andrew Wainer Although the Save Crest View and Save Our Schools campaigns are on opposites sides of Measure I -- the March ballot initiative that will decide if Wal-Mart will be able to build a store on Talbert Avenue -- the groups' campaign rhetoric is remarkably alike. Members of both movements speak in grandiose terms about the March 7 election. That's when voters will decide if the former Crest View school site will be zoned commercial or residential.

Eron Ben-Yehuda Hoping to attract as many voters as possible, the City Council agreed Monday to hold an election in March to decide whether Wal-Mart belongs in the neighborhood. Although a special election focusing solely on the retailer's controversial project could be held as early as January, the council, in a 4-3 vote, took advantage of a provision in the election code that permits pushing the date back if the city adds other issues on the ballot.

MARVIN JOSEPHSONChairman of Crest View United, a group formed in opposition to building a Wal-Mart on land that was once housed a school, which he lives near. Rarely misses an opportunity to speak out at City Council meetings. CONNIE BOARDMAN Treasurer of the campaign committee formed to promote Measure I. Says the amount of money the retailer has contributed to defeat the measure is "obscene." Lives near the proposed site. RALPH BAUER City councilman.

I am calling about your question, "Will you shop at Wal-Mart when it opens?" There is no way on earth I will go near that cheap store. We do not need it in Huntington Beach, we have all the other cheap discount stores. We wouldn't have had it if it hadn't been for Dave Garofalo. I think that Wal-Mart is like a cancer that is spreading throughout the country and it is destroying all other businesses. MAUREEN SHRUBSOLE Huntington Beach I shop at Target, therefore I have no reason to shopat Wal-Mart.

Dale E. Hoover EDITOR'S NOTE: The numbers used in this column were taken from the following sources: Wal-Mart and Arnel Development leases with Ocean View School District, Proposition 1A and U.S. Treasury rates. In the recent televised debate over Measure I, which rezones Ocean View School District's Crest View school site back to its original residential zoning, the proposed plan to build a Wal-Mart on the site was exposed as a risky giveaway to a Newport Beach developer and Arkansas-based Wal-Mart stores.

Students lobby the governor Student leaders from the Coast Community College District traveled to Sacramento in April to meet with legislators about issues affecting the more than 60,000 students who attend district community colleges. David Escobar, Deborah Solum and Laura Spears were three representatives from Golden West College who participated in the lobbying trip. The students met with Orange County legislators and their staff to discuss issues ranging from equalization for under-funded community college districts to a pilot program aimed at reducing the burden placed on students by the high cost of textbooks.

Only a very thin line separates dictatorships, even benevolent dictatorships, from democracies. The fundamental difference between the two political philosophies is who gets to make the wrong decision. To be sure, representative government always contains a dictatorial element. When we elect our representatives to four-year terms, we recognize that during that term, the people exercise very little control over elected officials, who are bound and determined to pursue their own course of what's in our best interest, even if it runs contrary to what we believe to be in our own best interest.