INSIDE SCOOP

Some Newport City Council members are sporting a different look for

the new millennium. There are some with more hair, others with less and

still one with facial hair. Councilwoman Norma Glover has gone for a more

modern, career-woman look with a side-sweeping, short cut. Gary Adams has

tried out a distinguished goatee. Time for The Daily Pilot to get new mug

shots.

A disheveled Dalton

Actor Timothy Dalton appears to have lost his James Bond edge. On Monday,

the actor sat on the set of “Timeshare” -- a romantic comedy being filmed

in Balboa -- brooding and looking rather disheveled. It was a far cry

from his days of Saville Row suits and martinis.

This young journalist needs a raise

In a Costa Mesa City Council discussion about the city’s growing demand

for affordable housing earlier this month, Councilwoman Libby Cowan said

the city’s lower-income workers -- including waiters, housecleaners and

“young journalists” -- have no place to live. Young journalist Andrew

Glazer, who has a 45-minute commute from Long Beach to the Daily Pilot’s

Costa Mesa offices, basked in the wise councilwoman’s compassion.

A failed attempt at sophistication

Last Tuesday night’s gathering at 21 Oceanfront to show off renovation

plans for the Balboa Theater saw many of Newport’s cultural heavy hitters

making chit chat and nibbling on dainty hors d’oeuvres.

Pilot City Editor Jenifer Ragland and entertainment writer Alex Coolman

attended the event, and did their best to appearappropriately urbane and

sophisticated.

But the effort to sound clever hit a snag when Coolman cracked a joke

about the white plastic model of the theater, which looked like an ornate

cake.

“When they cut it up, I want a piece with a tree,” Coolman quipped.

The remark went completely unheard by the socialite Coolman was

addressing. She was already laughing at something else. The mortification

was intense.

But Jo King, a member of the Balboa Performing Arts Theatre Foundation,

swept to the rescue just in time.

“When they cut it up,” she said. “I want a piece with a lot of frosting.”

Ooops! Wrong number!

When an agency claiming to represent disabled firefighters called a

Newport Beach company, little did they know one of the employees was

former Newport Beach City Manager Kevin Murphy.

Representatives phoned where Murphy worked, the Public Agency Retirement

System, trying to solicit money for their organization. The agency has

been scrutinized because much of their funding allegedly doesn’t go

toward aiding disabled firefighters.

One of Murphy’s co-workers received the call. She was a bit suspicious

and notified Murphy. He, too, thought it was fishy so he called the

Newport Beach Police Department. Then the fire and marine department. No

such association tied with either agency.

“I just wanted to check it out,” Murphy said. “They won’t be getting any

money from us.”

Mixed signals

While discussing the effect any new laws ushered in with the new year may

have on education, the Pilot learned of one that must have slipped by

unnoticed.

Peggy Anatol, the director of curriculum for the Newport-Mesa Unified

School District has alerted us to the fact it is now illegal in the state

of California to signal a turn with your arm if the vehicle you are

driving has a working turn signal.

However did this one slip by us without a fight? Don’t laugh too quickly

-- breaking this one may carry a heavy fine.