Police Files

Four commercial trucks burglarized in SoLag overnight Sunday

Appointments scheduled for early Monday with a longtime South Laguna plumbing company were delayed when the company discovered early Monday morning that four of its commercial trucks had been broken into sometime overnight.

The rear windows were smashed in all four trucks, which had been parked in the 32300 block of Coast Hwy.

The company was still in the process of taking a tool and materials inventory late this week, police said. That delays the overall investigation until stolen property can be identified and a loss established.

“Buy me some peanuts and Cracker Jacks” and enjoy freepopcorn all night with Laguna Beach Little League at 6 p.m.

Laguna Beach Little League will host their Opening Ceremony tonight, Friday, Feb 27, at 6 p.m. at Riddle Field. VFW and Rotary will open the ceremony with a flag raising led by the local the VFW Post, followed by the National Anthem by Zade Harrison, a AAA Southland Eyecare ball player. 

Clyde Wright, an ex-MLB player and All-Star, will throw out the ceremonial first pitch. The first game is traditionally played between the league’s two oldest sponsors, VFW and Rotary. Division Managers Lee Novick of VFW, and Coby Naess, Rotary, will face off for the opener this season with their accomplished Intermediate team players.

Laguna Beach Little League expects to have 400 registered ball players, ranging in age from 4 to 14 this year. In 2014, Riddle Field went under a major renovation, with gracious support from Mark Christy, the Angels Organization and the City of Laguna Beach. LBLL President, Tim Loughlin recognizes the continued support from the community. “Baseball is an American institution and Riddle Field is an institution in Laguna Beach. I am proud of our kids and all participants in our league every day.” 

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Riddle Field – a great place to see a ballgame

Riddle Field hosts baseball games every weekday at 4:30 and 6:45 p.m. and on Saturdays at 10 a.m., 12:30 and 4 p.m.  

The snack bar will be serving their famous Riddle burgers and hot dogs. Opening day specials will include Mama Loughlin’s famous chicken and New England clam chowder.  Popcorn will be free all night. 

Amy Neufeld, LBLL snack bar chair, “…encourages all neighbors, managers, supporters and sponsors to come out and attend the ceremony, game and have dinner with the league.”

The Patriots Day Parade is scheduled for Saturday, March 7. LBLL would like to invite all players and fans of baseball to put on their jerseys or red, white and blue attire and march with us. The league will distribute free LB baseball caps to the first 50 little leaguers to arrive. 

Little League Baseball was organized in Pennsylvania in 1939. The Laguna Beach Little League was established in 1952 and was the third chartered Little League franchise in California and is the oldest league in Orange County. 

In 1963, the Riddle Field was dedicated to Mayor Jesse Riddle, who spearheaded the drive to develop Boat Canyon for the league.

Hallie Jones to address Laguna Canyon Conservancy 

Hallie Jones

The next Laguna Canyon Conservancy dinner meeting will be held Monday, March 2 at Tivoli Terrace restaurant, which is on the Festival of the Arts grounds at Irvine Bowl Park. The Executive Director of the Laguna Canyon Foundation Hallie Jones will present the program. She will provide an update on Foundation activities and discuss proposed development in Laguna Canyon. 

Doors open at 6 p.m. Dinner tickets are $10 for members, $15 for non-members and may be paid at the door with prior reservations. Those wishing to attend should make reservations by calling Sharon Larimer at (949) 545-7669. Space is limited. 

Jones is a Laguna Beach native, born and raised in Laguna Canyon. She has many years’ experience in non-profit management, with a specific expertise in communications and outreach previously working at Heal the Bay, an ocean-related non-profit located in Santa Monica.

Will we be seeing you Saturday at The Ranch?

The goodies and good company await you – and we can’t wait! We are so excited to share good times with our loyal community, along with locally sourced food and coffee, all at The Ranch, this Saturday from 11 a.m. – 1 p.m.

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SNL (Stu News Laguna) will take our friends from on-line to on-the-green, live and in person. Come chat up your friends, make new ones, or just share with Shaena and Stu your thoughts of the day. 

The SNL crew will be diving into the homemade Carrot Cake with Orange Cream Cheese frosting, prepared by The Ranch pastry chef, Mary Catherine Woods. (Okay, twist our arms – maybe we’ll post the recipe next week).

The food is going to be incredible. The coffee superb. And with you, our readers, the conversation will be SNL worthy – though everything is off-the-record, of course!

It will be hometown fun at one of our favorite places, Laguna’s own The Ranch, the place to enjoy a bucolic canyon setting while the deer graze on the greens. Everyone is invited, so bring a friend or two. Stu and Shaena are footing the bill!

We’ll see you tomorrow – Saturday, February 28, from 11 a.m. – 1 p.m.

Dr. Korey Jorgensen new chair of Laguna Food Pantry 

Dr. Korey Jorgensen has been elected to chairman of the board of directors of the Laguna Food Pantry, succeeding longtime chair Andy Siegenfeld. Siegenfeld will continue to serve as a board member and a volunteer at the pantry, located at 20652 Laguna Canyon Road. A board member since 2009, Dr. Jorgensen will serve as the nonprofit’s spokesman, lead monthly board meetings, and see that the pantry’s mission of providing free supplemental groceries to low-income households is carried out.  

Dr. Korey Jorgensen

Dr. Jorgensen has lived and worked in Laguna Beach since 1972.  He retired late last year from his position as a family physician at the Laguna Beach Community Clinic, where he remains active as a donor and advisor. He began working as a volunteer physician at the clinic and in 1990 began full-time work there, specializing in HIV and AIDS. In 2007, the California Academy of Family Physicians (familydocs.org) namedDr. Jorgensen its Family Physician of the Year. He continues to act as the Community Clinic’s representative on the HIV Advisory Committee for the City of Laguna Beach. He was named Laguna Beach Citizen of the Year in 2006. Since 1995, he has acted as Assistant Clinical Professor of Family Medicine at UC Irvine Medical Center in Orange and continues in this role. 

A veteran of the U.S. Marine Corps and a grandfather to a seven-year-old, Dr. Jorgensen is a member of the Susi Q Senior Center and the Hortense Miller Garden. 

Every weekday, the Laguna Food Pantry distributes 2,500 lbs. of free, fresh groceries to shoppers from area low-income households. Among those households, 20 percent of the consumers are babies and children.  Located at 20652 Laguna Canyon Road, just north of the Dog Park, the Pantry is open from 8 to 10:30 a.m. Monday through Friday. It is run entirely by volunteers. New volunteers are always welcome. Phone: 949-497-7121 www.lagunafoodpantry.org.

LBCF luncheon speaker featured the scope of non-profits

Laguna Beach Community Foundation hosted their second monthly luncheon speaker series on Thursday, Feb 19 at their headquarters in downtown Laguna Beach. Attendance was filled to capacity with many of Laguna Beach nonprofit’s looking forward to hearing the recent report by Cal Nonprofit Project Director Nancy Berlin.

Sponsored by Tom Davis/Davis Law, the presentation - entitled Causes Count - was the first of its kind to examine the scope of the nonprofit sector’s activities and economic impact in the state of California. Its purpose is to give the nonprofit community information that will help them advance their individual causes. The report analyzed 72,478 California nonprofits (50,000 of which most are all volunteer) and gathered input form 3,000 plus nonprofit leaders and individuals across the state.

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Tom Davis (event sponsor), Dan Pingaro (LB Community Foundation Executive Director) and Rick Balzer (LB Community Foundation president) at the luncheon

While the study focused on nonprofits from throughout California, Berlin discussed some Orange County specifics including that we are home to 8% of the state’s population, 8% of its nonprofits, and 5% of its total nonprofit revenue. Orange County has the 3rd largest number of foundations and total annual giving after the Bay area and Los Angeles.

Key findings related to California nonprofits from the study include:

Makes up 15% of the Gross State Product

Largest private employer by industry in the state

Employs a racially diverse and younger workforce

There are fewer resources in Southern Calif.

Majority of revenue is generated through programs and fees

Operate in the black or at break-even 70% of the time

Mobilize 25% of the state’s residents as volunteers

Are trusted more than for-profits to create jobs, reflect community values and work on the public’s behalf.

For more information about the Laguna Beach Community Foundation or upcoming luncheon speaker series, call 949.715.8223 or visit www.lagunabeachcf.org

For more information about Cal Nonprofits and to download the complete Causes Count report, visit http://calnonprofits.org/causes-count.  

Free weekend trolley service begins here on March 6

The City of Laguna Beach will begin free, year-round weekend trolley service in Laguna Beach every Friday and weekends beginning on Friday, March 6. The hours of operation are Fridays from 4 p.m. – 11 p.m., Saturdays from 11 a.m. – 11 p.m., and Sundays from 11 a.m. – 8 p.m. 

The trolley frequency will be 20 minutes during service hours.

The weekend coastal trolley route will run along Coast Highway from Mission Hospital in South Laguna to Cajon Street in North Laguna. Free parking will be offered at Mission Hospital every Friday after 5 p.m. and all day on Saturday and Sunday.

As of Friday, March 6, Visit Laguna Beach will enable the ‘Trolley Tracker’ found on the Laguna Beach Travel Info app so that riders can see when the next trolley will reach their location in real-time. 

Share your trolley experience on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram with #LagunaFreeTrolley and tag @VisitLaguna. 

For trolley information call 497-0766 or www.visitlagunabeach.com/trolley.

You can find the trolley route map at https://www.dropbox.com/s/i1p4r3ga81orrp6/Trolley%20Route%20Map.zip?dl=0.

Looking back at the National Student Association as a covert CIA operation following WWII to the late 60s

This Saturday, February 28, Karen Paget, the author of a highly acclaimed new book Patriotic Betrayal, will speak at the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship at 429 Cypress Dr. 

The book is a study of the National Student Association and the way in which it functioned as a covert CIA operation in the postwar years and until the exposure of this relationship in Ramparts magazine in the late 1960s.  Paget, a political scientist who had a high-level government position in the Carter administration, was herself recruited by the CIA when involved with the NSA in the early 1960s, and she has spent the better part of 20 years conducting meticulous research in order to get the story of the CIA/NSA relationship right.  

This is Paget’s second book, the first being Running as a Woman, co-authored with Lagunan Glenna Matthews.

The event will be from 1 to 4 in the afternoon, and Laguna Beach Books will be on hand for those who wish to purchase a copy of the book.

James Clay Garrison in extended run at Hotel Laguna

Local guitarist/vocalist James Clay Garrison has been signed to an open-ended engagement at the Hotel Laguna Lounge, appearing every Friday from 7 – 10 p.m. He has also appeared several times recently, with his entire band, to packed houses at Mozambique, and will be playing in the Blue Water Festival.

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James Clay Garrison

Garrison was greatly influenced musically during his childhood in Spain and became a virtuoso guitarist and vocalist at an early age – recording his first album at age 15. In the 80’s he toured the US, Europe and Asia with several bands. Eddie Van Halen saw James perform in Shreveport, LA and was so impressed, he invited him and his band to Los Angeles to record for the Warner Bros label.

James also appeared during that time with a variety of popular bands at Sunset Strip clubs in L.A. such as the Whiskey A-Go-Go. He has worked with Ray Charles as writer/producer/musical director as well as Stephen Stills, Dave Mason, Brian Wilson and Van Halen, among many others.

His career has also included composing, recording, and/or music consulting for film, TV and video games, and national TV spots, as well as appearing on such television series’ as “General Hospital” and “21 Jump Street”. 

James is also busy as a studio session musician, performing throughout Southern California, and is continually writing new material. He also finds time to teach and mentor young musicians, including a televised contestant on “American Idol” this season, Andrew Bloom.

Garrison’s set list spans a wide variety of styles and artists, from Neil Young to Bob Dylan, Led Zeppelin, and Hall & Oates. Particularly notable is his cover of “Voodoo Child,” and his exceptional guitar and vocals truly match that of Jimi Hendrix’s.

Laguna author will sign her new book, Immigrant Soldier, The Story of a Ritchie Boy this Sunday

Kathryn Lang-Slattery will be at Laguna Beach Books this Sunday, March 1 at 4 p.m., for a book signing, and speaking about her new book, Immigrant Soldier, The Story of a Ritchie Boy, inspired by the stories of her uncle, Herman Lang.

The novel tells his story as one of the “Ritchie Boys”, a US special military intelligence unit in World War II. The Ritchie Boys consisted of approximately 9,000 young Germans and Austrians, predominantly Jews, most of whom had fled Nazi persecution. Their job was counter-intelligence in Europe, and interrogation of prisoners because of their knowledge of the language and culture.

“I wanted to tell his story because it is different from any other Holocaust story I had read,” said Lang-Slattery. “The young Jewish hero is not a victim, but a man who gradually grows from a frightened and frustrated teenager, looking for a place to belong, into a confident US Army intelligence officer who struggles with the conflicting emotions of hate and forgiveness.”

Kathryn Lang-Slattery grew up in Laguna Beach. Her father is local SoLag notable, Fred Lang, and this is the story of his brother. Part coming of age story, part immigrant tale, part World War II adventure, Immigrant Soldier, was inspired by Herman Lang’s true stories.

Lang-Slattery has been a published author of fiction and nonfiction for youth. Immigrant Soldier, The Story of a Ritchie Boy marks her debut as an adult genre novelist. She spent more than a decade researching, interviewing Ritchie Boys, and turning the true story of her uncle into a fictional read.

The story unfolds in November of 1938. According to an excerpt from the novel’s press release, “Herman watches in horror as his cousin is arrested. He realizes it is past time to leave Germany, a decision that catapults him from one adventure to another, his life changed forever by the gathering storm of world events…”

Immigrant Soldier, The Story of a Ritchie Boy has already been received with acclaim. Kirkus Reviews had this to say: “In this debut historical novel, a young German Jew flees his homeland before World War II and is later drafted into the US Army, serving closely under the legendary Gen. George S. Patton. Lang-Slattery effectively mines family history to create a solid work of historical fiction from her uncle’s real-life derring-do… An often engaging tale of one man’s involvement in the world’s most horrific war.”

The public is invited to the event with Lang-Slattery at Laguna Beach Books, located at The Old Pottery Place, 1200 S. Coast Hwy, on Sunday, March 1 at 4 p.m.

Laguna Art Museum’s Malcolm Warner speaks at the Susi Q

Dr. Malcolm Warner

Dr. Malcolm Warner, well-respected museum professional and current Executive Director of Laguna Art Museum will speak to the public about the Past, Present, and Future of the Museum on Thursday afternoon, March 5 from 3 - 4:30 p.m. at the Susi Q Senior Center (380 Third Street, Laguna Beach). 

Dr. Warner joined the Laguna Art Museum as Executive Director in January 2012. Previously he was Deputy Director at the Kimbell Art Museum; Senior Curator of Paintings and Sculpture at the Yale Center for British Art; and Curator of European Art at the San Diego Museum of Art.

Rich in history, culture, and education for all ages, Laguna Art Museum partners with Gallery Q at the Susi Q for this special presentation. Gallery Q, located in the Laguna Beach Community and Senior Center, is a public exhibition space dedicated to showcasing and celebrating the talent of emerging, semi-professional and professional artists of all ages.

To make a reservation or for more information about “Tea Talk” with Dr. Malcolm Warner please call Laguna Beach Seniors at the Susi Q: (949) 497 2441. 

This presentation is open to the public. Stay tuned for featured “Tea Talks” from Gallery Q at the Susi Q this year. 

For more information about Gallery Q visit www.susiq.org.

Covered California extends enrollment until April 30

The Executive Director of Covered California (ObamaCare) Peter Lee announced late last week that the enrollment period has been extended until April 30, 2015.  

Certified Covered California insurance agents Patrick and Joann Freeman explained, “According to a Covered California statement on Feb 20, the reason for this is because many consumers are just realizing they will have a substantial tax penalty for not enrolling for health insurance under the affordable care act-ACA. The Penalties for 2015 are double that of 2014. For example, a person earning $40k per year will pay a penalty of $300 per year, doubling to $600 for 2016. A family of four earning $70k annually will pay $500 in 2014 and a $1000 for 2015.” 

Consumers may contact Covered California certified Agents or enrollers to get covered for at least part of 2015. Patrick and Joann Freeman of Laguna Beach are available at 497-7473 - http://www.lagunabeachinsruance.com

Jazz Wednesdays with trumpeter Gilbert Castellanos March 4 

Gilbert Castellanos

Laguna Beach Live! announced Thursday afternoon that Gabriel Johnson will not be performing in their Jazz Wednesdays series on March 4. 

“But, we are really excited to welcome ace trumpeter Gilbert Castellanos and his Quartet to the [seven-degrees] stage next Wednesday,” said Cindy Prewitt, president of Laguna Beach Live! “He performed for us a couple of years ago in the summer series at the Rose Garden and so many people asked us to invite him back. Of course, we would prefer to have a little more notice but we know the concert will be great!”

Castellanos is an adjunct professor at the University of Southern California, tours the world as a member of the acclaimed Clayton-Hamilton Jazz Orchestra, and has played on albums by Diana Krall, Willie Nelson, Queen Latifah and dozens more.

Jazz Wednesdays series is 6-8 p.m. at the fabulous [seven-degrees] event facility 891 Laguna Canyon Rd in Laguna Beach. 

Tickets are $15 online and can be purchased at http://www.Lagunabeachlive.org or by phone 800-594-4849. The information line is 949-715-9713.

Donita Lloyd teaches acrylic workshop for LOCA March 5

Laguna Outreach for Community Arts (LOCA) is offering an acrylic painting workshop with Donita Lloyd Thursday March 5, 9:30 a.m.-11:30 a.m. at Laguna Nursery, 1370 S. Coast Highway. 

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Photo by Mike Tauber

Participants will learn to paint wildflowers. Lloyd will teach simple composition, color blocking and highlighting techniques. Everyone will take home a beautiful finished canvas. Cost is $30 or $125 for five class. All classes in the 50 Shades of Green program include materials and free on-site parking. Beginners and all levels are invited. Advance registration is required, click on http://www.locaarts.org/calendar?task=view_event&event_id=62, call 363-4700, or email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .

2015 Patriots Day Parade lineup for March 7

Wonder about the marching order of the Patriots Day Parade next Saturday? Well, wonder no more. 

Download a PDF here with the official order of the parade.

March 7 is the 49th edition of the parade, which was postponed due to inclement weather last year.

Remember the old Laguna saying, half of the town marches in the parade and the other half watches!