It’s unanimous: We wish for peace

The gift of the end-of-the-year holidays is the sense that magic things can happen -- they might not happen, but they could. Maybe that is why so many people list peace on earth at the top of their wish lists.

“It’s not original, but it’s at the top of my list,” landscape architect and environmental activist Bob Borthwick said.

Councilwoman Jane Egly echoed Borthwick, as did Flatlanders Neighborhood Assn. President Tom Girvin, South Laguna resident Ginger Osborne, Bob Josephson, Laguna Beach Woman’s Club board member and ordained minister Karen Polek, Mystic Hills resident Birgitta Schoen, Sawdust Festival Marketing Director Rebecca Meekma, City Treasurer Laura Parisi and architect Morris Skenderian, who organized local architects to help shepherd the families displaced by the June 1 landslide through the red tape that can tie up building projects.

Artist Olivia Batchelder doesn’t want piecemeal peace. “My Christmas wish is peace on this planet,” she said.

Beka Farrar, Laguna Beach High School sophomore and a member of the Assistance League Assisteens Auxiliary, would settle for the resolution of the war in Iraq -- and she also wants to get better grades.

Amy Larson hankers for peace and good will for all souls. Dinah Brazelton wishes that all those souls reach their creative and spiritual best.

Bonnie Hano wants peace, but she also wants Bluebird Canyon restored, including the homes that were destroyed in the June 1 landslide. Long-time City Hall employee Mike Phillips’ wish is for what he doesn’t want: rain that would slow up the repairs to Bluebird Canyon.

“I hope the City Council funds the server [a prerequisite for more complete online city information], that is Verna’s big wish,” said Doug Reilly, who recently stepped down as Village Laguna President. Actually, former City Clerk Verna Rollinger wished for peace and good health.

Laguna Beach Concert Band founder Carolyn Reynolds wants peace and prosperity.

“I wish residents would learn to appreciate the benefits of living where we live,” planning commissioner Norm Grossman said.

Arts commissioner Jan Sattler broadened that to wish that people will honor and protect the planet. Laguna Greenbelt Inc. president Elisabeth Brown yearns for a wildlife corridor across the Great Park, which at one time would have been a commercial air transportation corridor. Well, hey, she got the cattle and Laguna Canyon Road moved out of the only natural lakes in Orange County -- a major goal of hers as a member of the Laguna Canyon Road Consensus Committee that advised the late Supervisor Tom Reilly on the layout for the road improvements.

Time is of the essence for “Lagunatics” and No Square Theatre founder Bree Burgess Rosen.

“I want to spend more quality time with the people I love,” Rosen said.

Cheryl Post hopes to see more availability of guide dogs for the blind. She and her husband, Carl, support the center in Northern California where dogs are trained and matched with their human partners. Liza Stewart, who grew up in Laguna Beach, dreams of a cure for autism.

New resident Joy Tash would like to see people learn to value others more.

“I wish everyone warm and happy holidays, embraced by loved ones,” Festival of Arts President Anita Mangels said.

Friends of the Laguna Beach Library and the Laguna Beach Taxpayers Assn.’s Martha Lydick is hoping her son, Chip, will survive grandson Vaughn’s “twos.” Vaughn was named for the store where parents Chip and Eden met -- it’s just spelled differently.

Councilwoman Cheryl Kinsman wishes for good health for everyone in Laguna Beach.

Closer to home: Past Laguna Beach Democratic Club president Audrey Prosser would like Santa to put a hole-in-one in her brother-in-law’s stocking. Mayor Elizabeth Pearson-Schneider wants to see her mother-in-law, currently in rehabilitation from the effects of stroke in September, to be walking in two months.

John Gustafson, who lost the Bluebird Canyon home he shared with partner Jim Moore, wants everyone to have a comfortable place to live.

On a practical note: Councilwoman Toni Iseman wants a new sink. Newly elected Laguna Beach Chamber of Commerce president Dave Sanford is asking Santa for a new laptop and a trip to Hawaii.

LBHS varsity tennis player McKenna Nokes wants new skis. Dad, Larry, grew up in Utah and the family skis there. That would give most tennis coaches the willies for Christmas. Tenth grader and Assisteens member Meagan O’Connell asked for “Sidekick II.”

Public safety is upper-most on the mind of Police Chief Michael Sellers, who succeeded retiring Chief Jim Spreine in October.

“I wish safe holidays for everyone as they enjoy Laguna Beach this year,” Sellers said. “And don’t forget those who are going without -- share a hello and good wish to anyone looking sad,” he said.

Fire Chief Mike Macey wants good health. Monica Tuchscher wished for her whole family to enjoy good health. Trudy Josephson wants her metabolism revved up.

No surprise here: Laguna Beach Seniors Inc. president Pauline Walpin put in a bid for a new building in town.

“My Christmas wish is that the senior center on Third Street gets built sooner rather than later,” Walpin said.

Chris Quilter wants to feel less embarrassed about begging for money for the center’s construction fund. Lord knows, he and his three brothers have put their money where their mouths are. The sons of the late Elizabeth Quilter donated $750,000 this year toward the center, which will be named the Suzi Q, their mother’s nom de plume as a Coastline columnist.

Attorney and former school board member Tim Carlyle wishes the spirit of generosity to prevail so that we can do what is needed to help others.

My wish is that we could bottle that spirit of generosity, compassion and practical response that makes this town so unique in times of emergency so it could be uncorked every day, not just in a crisis.

* OUR LAGUNA is a regular feature of the Laguna Beach Coastline Pilot. Contributions are welcomed. Write to Barbara Diamond, P.O. Box 248, Laguna Beach, CA 92652; hand-deliver to Suite 22 in the Lumberyard, 384 Forest Ave.; call (949) 494-4321 or fax (949) 494-8979.

20051223gzgnhtke(LA)