EDUCATION * Estancia High School girls’ soccer...

EDUCATION

* Estancia High School girls’ soccer booster president Mark

Gleason dropped his complaint with the U.S. Department of Education

Office of Civil Rights against the Newport-Mesa Unified School

District regarding the unseemly conditions of local athletic fields,

specifically those at Estancia and Costa Mesa high schools.

Gleason had accused the district last summer of maintaining

Newport Beach’s fields better than Costa Mesa’s, suggesting the

differences between the two cities amounted to discrimination. But he

said Thursday that the district has gone above and beyond their

promise to even out the playing field. Additional improvements are

still on the horizon for the two schools’ baseball fields before the

season tees off in March, he said.

* The pastor of St. John the Baptist Catholic Church defended two

boys’ enrollment at the church’s school, saying that their fathers’

homosexuality should have no bearing on their rights to a Catholic

education.

Eighteen parents at the school signed a letter last month

demanding that the school only accept families that agree to live by

Catholic doctrine. According to the doctrine, homosexual acts and

adoption by same-sex couples are outlawed.

Father Martin Benzoni contended that the children should be

permitted to stay because they’ve been baptized by the Catholic

church and live within the boundaries of the St. John the Baptist

parish.

* An Orange County Superior Court judge dismissed a defamation

charge Wednesday that former Newport Heights Principal Judith

Chambers filed Nov. 10 against an outspoken parent, saying he was

within his rights to free speech.

Chambers’ lawsuit alleged that Robert Shaw and three other parents

defamed her in a public meeting she believes the district held in

order to oust her. The suit claims that Chambers was wrongfully held

responsible for the departure last February of a popular substitute

teacher at Newport Heights, was fired and was later rehired as a

teacher with lower pay.

She’s also suing three members of the school district for breach

of contract, intentional infliction of emotional distress, defamation

and other counts.

PUBLIC SAFETY

Jury selection for gang rape trial set to begin

Jury selection for the retrial of a high-profile alleged gang-rape

case will start early next week, leaving enough time to determine if

enough impartial people can be found.

The retrial of Kyle Nachreiner, Keith Spann, both 20, and

19-year-old Greg Haidl, son of former Orange County Assistant Sheriff

Don Haidl, is scheduled to start Jan. 31. The judge in the case

called for hundreds of jurors to be polled to see if the massive

publicity the case generated the first time around tainted the

potential pool of jurors. If that’s the case, the trial may be moved

to another county.

COSTA MESA

New mayor takes over at City Hall

The City Council voted Monday to put Allan Mansoor in the mayor’s

seat for 2005. Mansoor was elected to the council in 2002 but has not

previously served as mayor. He could be mayor for two years, if the

council supports an ordinance suggested by the previous mayor, Gary

Monahan, to lengthen the term of the city’s top elected official.

Monahan was voted vice mayor Monday, but not without some

quibbling from Councilwoman Linda Dixon, who said it’s time for

someone else to have a turn at the responsibilities of the council’s

top jobs. Monahan has served two and a half terms as mayor since he

was elected to the council in 1994.

* With 31 candidates for the 10 open spots on the city’s parks and

recreation and planning commissions, the City Council decided Monday

to do interviews one-on-one at their own discretion rather than as a

full council. After choosing in December to pick commission members

by a full council vote instead of direct appointment, the council had

to decide how to weed through the candidates. Council members are

slated to appoint commission members at their Feb. 7 meeting.

POLITICS

Latest El Toro effort doesn’t fly

A last-ditch effort by Los Angeles Mayor James Hahn wasn’t enough

to persuade federal officials to halt an online auction of property

at the closed El Toro Marine Air Corps Station. Hahn on Tuesday held

a press conference asking the U.S. Navy, which owns the former base,

and the U.S. Department of Transportation to lease the property to

the city of Los Angeles’ airport agency. He proposed operating a

commercial airport at El Toro to ease Southern California’s

transportation woes, but federal officials refused to bite.

Department of Transportation and Navy officials said they’re

following the will of Orange County voters, who in 2002 cast ballots

to zone the property to allow the planned “Great Park.” Local El Toro

airport proponents cheered Hahn’s move, but their joy was destined to

be short-lived. The auction of the property began as planned.