Rearview Mirror: OC Week in Review

Sunday (07.12.15)

Emigre community eyes improving U.S.-Vietnam ties with suspicion

As President Obama closes out his presidency, one of his goals has been to strengthen relations with Vietnam. He welcomed Nguyen Phu Trong, the general secretary of Vietnam’s Communist Party, to the Oval Office recently, and the landmark Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement is expected to boost trade between the two countries. But these moves alarm Orange County’s Vietnamese emigre community in Little Saigon and elsewhere, who burn with distrust of Vietnam’s communist government and complain that the U.S. isn’t doing enough to deal with human rights abuses in their homeland. (Los Angeles Times)

Start-up turns methane from manure into eco-friendly plastic

What if you could pluck pollution out of the air — like the methane gas emitted from cow manure — and create plastics? Scientists have long known it was possible to use climate-changing methane, rather than oil or natural gas, to make water bottles, Tupperware and other plastics. But they couldn’t do it cheaply enough to make the technology commercially viable. Now, a small Costa Mesa company, Newlight Technologies, says it’s cracked the code. (Los Angeles Times)

Ducks defender buys a home in Newport Beach

Anaheim Ducks defenseman Clayton Stoner, who signed as a free agent last summer, has put down roots in Orange County with the recent purchase of a Newport Beach home for $2.025 million. Marked by a picket fence, the two-story home was built in 1965 and recently remodeled. (Los Angeles Times)

Monday (07.13.15)

D.A.: Man tries to trade Disneyland tickets for sex

A 27-year-old man was charged with trying to trade Disneyland tickets for sex with an underage girl, authorities said. Darreck Michael Enciso posted an ad on Craigslist offering theme park tickets paid for with sex acts, according to the Orange County district attorney’s office. Prosecutors say he set up a rendezvous point with a person he thought was a 14-year-old girl but who was actually a Huntington Beach police officer. He was immediately fired as a dishwasher from a hotel owned by Disney, a resort spokeswoman said. (Los Angeles Times)

13-Year-old girl hit, killed near school

A 13-year-old girl was fatally struck near a Santa Ana school by an employee of the Santa Ana Unified School District who was driving a box truck in the area, police said. The girl was riding her bike on Center Street through the Edinger Avenue intersection — near Gerald P. Carr Intermediate School — at about 7:30 a.m. when the fatal collision occurred, according to Jeffrey Smith, a watch commander with the Santa Ana Police Department. (KTLA)

Tuesday (07.14.15)

Fire Authority says maintenance crew sparked fire

A fire that started in light grass in Silverado Canyon and quickly spread across drought-parched hillsides was caused by a work crew maintaining an access road, the Orange County Fire Authority said. The fire broke out just before 11 a.m. Monday near Santiago Canyon Road and the California 241 toll road in the unincorporated Silverado Canyon area, fire officials said. (Los Anglees Times)

Newport approves resolution on equality

After more than two hours of discussion about a councilman’s recent controversial statements regarding same-sex marriage, the Newport Beach City Council approved a resolution reaffirming the city’s support for diversity, equality and inclusiveness. Dozens of speakers, including residents and members of the LGBT community, lambasted Councilman Scott Peotter for his July 6 email blast to constituents, which took issue with the illumination of the White House in rainbow hues after the Supreme Court’s recent ruling legalizing gay marriage nationwide. (Daily Pilot)

Man Charged with blow-torch crime assault

A man suspected of physically assaulting an 18-year-old woman with a blow torch before forcing her to work as a prostitute has been charged, the Orange County district attorney’s office said. Richard Jordan Sandoval, 24, was charged with “two felony counts of assault with force likely to produce great bodily injury, two felony counts of domestic battery with corporal injury, one felony count of false imprisonment by menace, violence, fraud or deceit, one felony count of human trafficking, one felony count of pandering by promise, threat or violence to become a prostitute, and one felony count of criminal threats,” according to a news release from the office. (KTLA)

Wednesday (07.15.15.)

Newport settles group-home lawsuit

The seven-year lawsuit between three group homes and Newport Beach over the city’s ordinance regulating recovery homes has ended in a multimillion-dollar settlement, City Atty. Aaron Harp announced. The City Council voted unanimously in closed session to approve the agreement, which requires the city to pay Pacific Shores Properties, Newport Coast Recovery and Yellowstone Women’s First Step House $5.25 million. The settlement does not require any changes to the city’s ordinance, which the City Council adopted in January 2008, Harp said. (Daily Pilot)

Displaced churchgoers file complaint

Episcopalians formerly associated with a Newport Beach church have filed a formal complaint against a bishop whose actions have paved the way for the church’s waterfront property to potentially become luxury condos. The complaint, known as a presentment, filed with the national Episcopal church in New York City alleges that Bishop J. Jon Bruno violated church doctrine in May after he put St. James the Great Episcopal Church’s Lido Village property and two nearby parking lots up for sale to a developer, Legacy Partners Residential, which plans to construct 22 homes there. (Los Angeles Times)

Thursday (07.16.15)

CHP officers crash on way to I-405 traffic accident in Irvine

California Highway Patrol officers responding to a serious crash on the 405 Freeway in Irvine ended up in a collision of their own, according to authorities. The situation started around 12:40 a.m. when a Hyundai rear-ended a tractor-trailer at a high speed as they both headed south on the 405 near Culver Drive, according to a CHP news release. The Hyundai’s driver — identified as Juan Luis Espinoza, 34, of Chula Vista — suffered “major injuries” and was taken to a trauma center in Santa Ana, according to authorities. (Daily Pilot)

Appeal puts brush clearing plan on hold

A brush-clearing project intended to buffer houses from potential fires in Nyes and Oro canyons is on hold after a Laguna Beach resident appealed the matter to the California Coastal Commission. According to his appeal, dated July 6, Marc Wright alleges the project is “inconsistent with several sections of the city of Laguna Beach Local Coastal Program and related sections of the California Code,” including those having to do with residential hillside protection, zoning, trees and vegetation, and public land. Wright is appealing the Design Review Board’s May 7 approval of a coastal development permit for the 22-acre project. Under the plan, crews would clear non-native and dead or dying brush by hand, preserving the root systems, in areas extending 100 feet from the edge of residential zones into undeveloped, steep-sloped canyons, according to a city staff report. (Coastline Pilot)

Friday (07.17.15)

Angel Stadium unlikely to host NFL team

The NFL’s options for a temporary home in the Los Angeles area could be shrinking again. Using Angel Stadium in such a capacity would be “very difficult” because of potential scheduling conflicts, a spokesman for the Angels said. The stadium, in Anaheim, is one of at least five local venues that the NFL asked to submit bids to host a team in the event that one or more relocates to Los Angeles. (Los Angeles Times)

Disneyland had to overcome first-day issues

Disneyland’s opening day, July 17, 1955, was a nightmare. Rides broke down. Restaurants ran out of food and drink, and a plumbers’ strike meant drinking fountains were in short supply. Long lines formed at bathrooms. Bunting hid unfinished attractions. Women’s high-heeled shoes sank into the fresh asphalt. All in front of a national audience of 90 million, then the largest live broadcast in television history on a day that would be known in Disney lore as Black Sunday. (Los Angeles Times)