Estancia tradition is flushed

Let’s hope it’s not an omen for the rest of the school year.

In the early hours of Tuesday morning, while most students across Newport-Mesa enjoyed their last few hours of sleep before beginning the annual march to the first day of school, dozens of Estancia High School seniors headed to Fairview Park to toilet-paper a welcome mat for their peers.

Just before 3 a.m. Tuesday, with carloads of Estancia students and alumni watching through the darkness, several newly minted Estancia High School seniors went toilet-papered Placentia Avenue from Fairview Park to the steps of their school. It’s an annual tradition that makes students smile when they think about it. Many look forward to their chance to toilet paper the street to school.

The only problem with traditions like that are, everyone knows about them. Just ask Costa Mesa police.

“Simply, it’s an annual tradition. We had knowledge of it,” said Sgt. Bryan Glass, who said officers stopped the seniors from toilet-papering the park “as part of our services to the community.”

Eight seniors were cited for curfew violations and picked up by their parents, police said. Many, if not all, of the parents knew what their children were doing and laughed it off, police said.

Costa Mesa police increased their patrols along Placentia Avenue this year as part of an effort to halt the annual tradition, which the law calls vandalism.

“Every year, this generates other calls for service. There are already problems with vandalism in the area,” Glass said.

While there are people out there, mostly Estancia students, who say it’s harmless, “there’s individuals that believe it’s a nuisance and malicious,” he added.

Not too surprisingly, some at Estancia saw Tuesday morning’s enforcement as misdirected.

“I think it’s stupid. It’s toilet paper. It disintegrates in like, seven days,” said senior Cody Thornton.

“We can clean it up if we have to,” said Ryan Tartre, one of the juniors looking forward to his chance to turn the Fairview Park area into a virtual ghost town of toilet paper. “It’s not like it’s spray paint or anything permanent.”

JOSEPH SERNA may be reached at (714) 966-4619 or at [email protected].