Landing’s resident kitty goes missing

Michael Miller

Robert Woodbury, the office manager of Newport Landing Sportfishing,

describes the area around Newport Landing as “like a small town.”

Shop owners and residents on the tiny strip of the Balboa Peninsula

live closely together, know each other, trade local gossip. When

someone goes missing, neighbors are quick to notice.

Even if it’s not a person.

On April 9, Stubbs, the resident cat of Newport Landing

Sportfishing, disappeared. Ten days and one mysterious telephone

message later, shop owners around the landing are enlisting the help

of the Newport Beach Police and putting up signs to help locate their

boardwalk’s most beloved pet.

“He’s our mascot here,” said Pam Watts, the owner of Sportfishing.

“I don’t know why someone would have taken him. I’m assuming someone

saw him outside the door when it was closed.”

Stubbs -- estimated to be about seven months old -- has been

Sportfishing’s tenant ever since he wandered into Woodbury’s yard in

Garden Grove last November. Since arriving at the Newport Landing

shop, Stubbs has become a common sight along the boardwalk, often

milling with customers at other businesses and playing with

residents’ pets.

Watts and Woodbury said the cat wanders in and out of Sportfishing

on a regular basis, sometimes sleeping in a basket in Watts’ office

or staying outdoors if the shop closes without him.

On April 9, Sportfishing closed at 6 p.m. Later that evening,

Woodbury said, an employee at the neighboring Newport Landing

Restaurant saw a man, a woman and a number of children inspecting

Stubbs in front of the shop.

“The lady looked kind of distraught about the cat being outside,

so the employee told her the cat lived there,” Woodbury said. “He

never saw them take the cat. That was the last time he was seen.”

That night, at 9:09, Sportfishing received a truncated voice

message that appeared to come from the people who had taken the cat.

The message, delivered by a woman, is partially unintelligible, but

clearly states, “We found your cat. You want to come get it, we’ll --

” before ending in mid-sentence. While Stubbs cannot be heard on the

recording, a pair of children are audible laughing and talking in the

background. Woodbury believes they may have been playing with the

cat.

Newport Beach Police Det. Bill Beverly, who is in charge of

investigating the case, said officers had not yet determined the

identity of the caller.

“Usually cats are kind of transitory animals, but this particular

case has a twist in that someone called and tried to return it, but

didn’t leave any contact information,” Beverly said. “I don’t know if

it will turn out to be an extortion case, an embezzlement case or

anything, but at this point, we don’t know.”

Around the cluster of shops by the boardwalk, a number of

businesses have put up signs in their windows seeking information on

Stubbs’ whereabouts. Many store owners, who had grown accustomed to

seeing Stubbs over the last few months, were saddened by the news of

his disappearance.

“Ever since they brought him in, I’d see him a few times a week,”

said Jandi Pierle, manager of the Newport Landing Restaurant.

“Sometimes he’d sneak into the restaurant. I used to go out every

morning after I got my work done and look for him.

“We’re just going to keep hoping he shows up or that police find

out who called.”

Watts described Stubbs as a part-Manx and part-tabby mix, with a

striped brown, gold, white and black coat and a short tail. While at

Sportfishing, the cat wore a black collar with multicolored happy

faces on it, along with a bell and a silver tag displaying the name

of the business.

“I don’t think he was abducted in maliciousness,” Woodbury said.

“I don’t think someone took him because they wanted to harm us. I’d

like to think someone believed he was in danger, but at the same

time, I don’t see why they wouldn’t just call us back.”

* MICHAEL MILLER covers education and may be reached at (714)

966-4617 or by e-mail at [email protected].