INSIDE SCOOPS

Why did the blackball flag disappear from 45th Street in July?

Not because the lifeguards changed their polices but because

18-year-old Newport Beach resident Ryan Lopiccolo snatched it.

“I ran up, sprinted to the tower and grabbed the flag” as a prank, he

recalled.

Police and lifeguards didn’t think it was so funny. They showed up at

his house about an hour later, grabbed the flag and banned Lopiccolo from

the beach for two hours.

“I was kind of bummed they made such a big deal about it,” Lopiccolo

said. “It was just a joke.”

A shipshape gift

When Newport Beach Mayor John Noyes came to greet the U.S. Navy

coastal patrol vessel Zephyr on its arrival in Newport Harbor on Friday,

he didn’t show up empty-handed. He brought along a little brown box tied

up smartly with a red ribbon.

Inside the box? A crystal sailboat. Not quite as impressive as a

179-foot metal boat, maybe, but it’s much easier to display.

Getting to know you

How well do you know the teachers in your children’s schools?

Quite often, in addition to having dynamic personalities and

educational skills, instructors have interesting backgrounds. For

instance, Newport Harbor High School’s Phil D’Agostino is a

first-generation American whose parents grew up on Malta, a small island

in the Mediterranean.

-- Compiled by the Daily Pilot staff