Waving toward home

Newport Beach’s flag is flying in an unlikely place these days ? Iraq. A battalion of Marines from Camp Pendleton that the city “adopted” in December 2003 was deployed to Fallouja recently, and the city’s flag went along. Members of the 1st Battalion, 1st Marines sent a photo back as proof.

Activities to support the Marines and their families are organized by a committee that includes Newport Beach City Manager Homer Bludau, former Mayor Steve Bromberg and Arches restaurateur Dan Marcheano, all military veterans. The committee so far has held two mess night events to raise money for Marine families, and a picnic was held in August after the battalion returned from an earlier deployment.

CARRYING THE TORCH

Following ever closer in the footsteps of his predecessor, Newport Beach Rep. John Campbell todayplanned to propose a bill that would permanently ban taxes on Internet access.

In December, Campbell won a special election to replace Chris Cox, Newport Beach’s congressman for 17 years who left to become chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission. Internet access taxes are now banned through 2007. Cox failed to get a permanent ban through Congress in 2003 but was able to get temporary bans renewed.

Campbell said Wednesday that the permanent Internet tax ban continues his work as a state legislator ? he was a coauthor of a state Internet tax ban bill that expired in 2004. He unsuccessfully pushed to extend the ban in 2005.

“I’m picking up the baton, if you will, for him [Cox], but it’s also a baton I’ve carried in California,” Campbell said.

The bill prohibits creation of state and local taxes on Internet access ? for example, e-mail messages can’t be taxed.

The Internet has been a powerful force for commerce and communication, so the government shouldn’t do anything that could stifle it, Campbell said.

“If someone says they don’t want to make it [the tax ban] permanent, they’re saying, ‘I may want to tax e-mails at some point,’” he said.

‘CLEAN BILL OF HEALTH’

And speaking of Chris Cox, a month after surgery to remove thymic tumor, he was given a “clean bill of health,” a statement from his office said Tuesday. Cox, 53, had surgery Jan. 30 that removed a benign tumor from his thymus gland, and he returned to work a few weeks later.

The thymus is located behind the sternum and helps in the development of the body’s immune system.

GOD OF THE SEA NEXT DOOR

Plans for the Poseidon seawater desalination plant got a thumbs up from Huntington Beach officials this week, but project proponents still need to win over the Costa Mesa City Council, which in November voted to bar a pipeline that would run under the city’s streets.

A 10-mile pipeline would run from the plant to an existing water line in Costa Mesa. Six miles of pipe would be in the city. Costa Mesa officials were concerned about noise and traffic along the construction route, and they said they don’t see any benefits to their city from the project.

Costa Mesa Mayor Allan Mansoor said Wednesday he’s not yet convinced the city should allow the pipeline.

“The bottom line is I want to make sure there’s some type of benefit for Costa Mesa and minimal impact to the city, because it’s an awful lot of streets that they need to go through to get this done,” he said.

Poseidon Vice President Billy Owens said the pipeline will cause a small amount of inconvenience to Costa Mesa residents, but he thinks a little outreach and education will change council members’ minds about the project.

“To some extent they’re swatting at an unknown project. They’re reacting with, ‘I don’t want it here because 12 people from Costa Mesa are telling me it’s a bad thing,’” Owens said. “We treat it more as we need to build a relationship with the city and talk them through it.”

WATER BOARD PROMOTION

Costa Mesa resident Jan DeBay last week was named first vice president of the Orange County Water District’s board of directors for 2006. DeBay, a former Newport Beach planning commission and City Council member, has served on the water district board since 2001.

Steve Sheldon of Newport Beach also serves on the board and will continue through 2006.dpt.02-landscape-flag-CPhotoInfoQ91OH2OK20060302ivh6qvkn(LA)Newport Beach’s “adopted” 1st Battalion, 1st Marines, of Camp Pendleton, paid tribute to the city’s support for them by flying the city’s flag in front of their base in Fallouja, Iraq.