Category

Huh? Here we go again. Our City Council seems to be hell-bent on a big dose of social engineering with a renewed commitment to artist live-work housing. This may include taxpayers’ participation where required. What this has to do with keeping the sewers flowing and the potholes...

Heroes Among Us Was there a high school teacher who made a difference in your life? One you wish you could have given an award to? I remember two, and it’s a personal regret that I never acknowledged them. That problem has been solved in local high schools with the Crystal Apple...

Diversity I’d like to start our first column by thanking the Indy for giving a voice to “the other side.” My wife, Michèle, and I will take turns writing a bi-monthly column dealing with issues of interest to people with center to right-leaning philosophies—the “other side” of...

Community Spirit Treasured I was chatting with Bill Blackburn, husband of the late Kathleen Blackburn, two-term councilmember and mayor, and his sister Betsy at the South Laguna Community Garden Park last Saturday. Neighbor and fellow gardener Jeannie Richardson had organized the...

The Pacific Marine Mammal Center has reported triple the number of rescued dolphins, sea lions and seals at this time of year compared to last year. Marine staff is at a loss to say why there’s been such a big jump. As of last week, the Center was attending to 44 mammals....

Final Notice Most folks are a sucker for a deal. A recent example is the throwing over Ma Bell’s phone service for the Cable Guy’s phone service. Those Cable Guys enticed us with lower rates. Once we were hooked, service seemed to declin One of Ma Bell’s accomplishments was the...

Dick Dale at the Rendezvous Did you read about the March 16 passing of pioneer surf-music guitarist Dick Dale, who got his start firing up the famous stomps at the Rendezvous Ballroom on Balboa back in the ‘60s? Dale got his throbbing style from Big Band drummer Gene Krupa, who...

It’s the Trees The first thing you notice is the cicadas. Thousands of them. Maybe millions. You don’t see them. But you hear them. One massive, supersonic sound wave, like the Blue Angels buzzing a football game, but on an order of magnitude exponentially bigger. It travels...

Wildfire Protection An article from the California Chaparral Institute caught my eye the other day. It reads: “The traditional approach to wildfire management has it backwards. It focuses on vegetation control rather than what we actually want to protect—our homes and families.”...

Tend and Befriend We all have stressors in our lives that are unique to the societal landscape we live in today. The fight/flight concept as the automatic response to stress has been applied to both genders for decades. This familiar metaphor represents the notion that when we...

WINNEBAGO FOR SALE – One-of-a-kind rolling home/dressing room belonging to a HOT actress of the 1980s. Wow – you won’t believe what went on here! This is a true piece of entertainment history – big names/big happenings for only $55,000 (photos included) #LaVidaLoca  ...

Home Sweet Home Laguna Beach took a step forward in reforming its controversial historic preservation list. But the task force forgot to ask first, “Mother may I?” and had to take two steps back.  Now everyone’s home is on the list again under the “exceptional” designation with...

A Vile Foe Resurfaces Growing up in Orange County in the 1950s and 1960s, I was exposed to plenty of anti-Semitism.                                                                                                                                             “Of course she’s a Jew,”...

Pay or Plague Only a prolonged plague would solve Laguna’s persistent parking problems. A new garage near the downtown bowl certainly isn’t going to do it. Nope, that garage is intended to solve a specific problem associated with all the business owners, customers, and employees...

Luck of the Irish To honor St. Patrick’s Day, I should tell the story of John Monahan, a son of Ireland no longer with us. I worked for John at a Procter & Gamble plant that used to be in Long Beach. I was starting my career; he was nearing the end of his. He had been a...