TONY DODERO -- Editor’s Notebook

Not that we needed an energy boost after the McFadden Square shootings,

but a raft of big news stories managed to keep our reporting staff hot on

the keyboards the last few days.

Of course the most somber events of late had to be the 1 year anniversary

of the preschool tragedy that took the lives of two innocent children.

The parents of the children had their own personal memorials, one at

Pacific View in Corona del Mar and the other in the San Fernando Valley.

Pam Wiener, the mother of Brandon, the 3-year-old boy who was killed,

wrote a heart-wrenching note to her young son, which appeared on the

Daily Pilot front page Wednesday, one year from the date of the tragedy.

Hopefully both the Wiener family and the family of Sierra Soto, the other

child who was killed, can find some sort of peace as time goes by.

*

Perhaps the biggest news was the decision by a local judge that the

county can indeed continue to spend money on consultants and fighting

lawsuits linked to the planned El Toro airport.

The ruling struck a blow to South County forces who had hoped their

landslide ballot box success with Measure F, which requires a two-thirds

voter approval for an airport at the closed Marine base, would eternally

stall the county’s momentum for an alternative to John Wayne.

Indeed, planning for the airport remains in limbo and will so until the

county supervisors give the go ahead to move forward again.

And on June 23 the courts will again address the portion of Measure F,

which bars taxpayer money from being spent on airport preparation. Stay

tuned.

*

Parents of Newport Elementary students agreed to create a new dress

standard for their children, who attend what is believed to be one of the

only grammar school campuses that has the beach and Pacific Ocean as its

playground.

The colors are basically navy, white and khaki with at least one

Hawaiian-style shirt. While parents seem overwhelming in favor of the

dress standard, 71% according to a school survey, the early reviews from

the pupils aren’t so bright.

“How are we going to play soccer in these?” asked one. And another, maybe

a future Mr. Blackwell, had these reoccurring thoughts: “I hate them, I

hate them, I hate them.”

To which I say, it could be worse.

Try wearing my elementary school uniform of salt and pepper corduroy

pants, white shirt and red cardigan sweater.

Moving further down the peninsula to The Wedge, bodysurfers are back in

action as the 10 a.m. to 5 p.m blackball for board surfers began May 1.

The ban, which affects body boarders, surfers and knee boarders, lasts

until Oct. 31.

And on the other side of Newport Harbor, we learned that children are not

the only ones with discerning tastes. Reportedly some residents are

unhappy with the color on the new Albertson’s in Corona del Mar and have

collected a petition of as many as 80 signatures in protest.

But after our story ran Thursday, several readers e-mailed us or called

to say they like the store’s mustard color scheme.

“It’s colorful and adds a lot of pizazz to the street,” said one Daily

Pilot reader who defended the store’s look.

For brighter news, local environmentalists should be happy after reading

Newport Beach has become the state leader in electric cars with 20 and

Costa Mesa is making use of old tires by grinding them up to use for new

asphalt on the Fairview Road resurfacing project.

Also, the Environmental Nature Center won its two-year fight to purchase

the land that formerly housed the Newport-Mesa school district

headquarters.

*

On more serious notes, a Balboa man was arrested on suspicion of lewd

conduct with young girls and allegedly showing those children

pornographic material.

Also, word came in from Las Vegas that Sid Soffer isn’t going to let a

few cockroach sightings by health officials at his Old Newport Boulevard

steakhouse force him to shut his doors.

*

My favorite quote from last week came from the story about Brent

Neumeyer, a Halecrest Hall of Fame resident who is opposed to the new

Home Ranch development project in Costa Mesa that includes a nine-story

office building and an IKEA furniture store.

“I don’t want sickos looking down from the offices with a telescope

watching me watering my tomatoes in my underwear,” he said.

Pardon me, but in this case, I’m not sure who would be offending whom.

* TONY DODERO is the editor of the Daily Pilot. He can be reached at

(949) 574-4258 or via e-mail at [email protected] .