Good morning. It’s Wednesday, Dec. 11. I’m Carol Cormaci bringing you this week’s TimesOC newsletter with a look at some of the latest local news and events.
The fallout of the recent conviction on bribery charges of Andrew Do, a former member of the Orange County Board of Supervisors, includes last week’s decision by his one-time colleagues to order an external audit of certain county contracts made between January 2019 and August of this year.
The TimesOC story on the board’s decision to seek bids from outside firms to conduct the audit explains that while the cost of the undertaking won’t be known until accounting firms provide their own forecasts, estimates for the work range from $1 million to $2 million.
And so, the costs of Do’s illegal actions are continuing to add up. As readers may remember, Do admitted in his October guilty plea to have steered $10 million in federal pandemic relief funds through contracts with a nonprofit connected to his daughter for personal gain. He admitted to receiving more than $550,000 in bribes diverted from assistance meant to provide meals for elderly and needy residents during the pandemic.
The contracts that will be audited are those undertaken for the County Executive Office, Health Care Agency, O.C. Community Resources and Social Services Agency, particularly the agreements funded by federal pandemic relief funds, the county’s general fund and the state’s Mental Health Services Act, according to the story.
Board Chairman Donald Wagner, voted against the audit and asked why it would have to date back to 2019, before the pandemic started. Supervisor Vicente Sarmiento, who had been advocating for the audit, endorsed the broader timeline.
“There are some contracts that are not COVID-related that came out of Supervisor Do’s office that could be suspect and worth looking into,” Sarmiento said. “We tried to narrow it to those COVID dollars and to make sure that we captured those that may have been ramping up in advance.”
The scope of the task is daunting. When Supervisor Katrina Foley asked how many potential contracts could fall under a forensic audit, the county’s internal audit director, Aggie Alonso, replied they could number in the hundreds, if not thousands. Alonso’s department will have to inventory them.
According to the coverage of the meeting, the supervisors also updated the ethics policy that leverages censure or referral for criminal prosecution against any county staff or elected officials found in violation.
“What we’re trying to do is put in one simple place, a strong statement of where we stand and what our duties are and what our consequences may be if we don’t follow that,” Supervisor Doug Chaffee said.
MORE NEWS
Pat Burns, the new mayor of Huntington Beach, flashes the “shakra” with his supporters as they pose for pictures at the Huntington Beach City Hall on Dec. 3.
(James Carbone)
• In a triumphant display, the newly constituted Huntington Beach City Council, now with all seven seats filled by MAGA-leaning candidates, donned red “Make Huntington Beach Great Again” hats, which had “7-0” written on the side, for the council’s annual reorganization meeting held Dec. 3. Chad Williams, Butch Twining and Don Kennedy were sworn in as the new council members, joining conservative holdovers Gracey Van Der Mark, Pat Burns (who was named mayor for the coming year), Casey McKeon and Tony Strickland. Strickland, who intends to be on the 2026 ballot as a candidate for the state Senate, dubbed the group the “MAGA-nificent 7.” Williams, Twining and Kennedy, who campaigned together as a conservative bloc, garnered more votes in the November election than the three council members, all to the left of center who were regularly at odds with the conservatives. According to ocvote.gov, the city has 41,946 voters registered as Democrats and 57,080 Republicans.
• After years of litigation dating back to 2019, Costa Mesa officials were pleased last week when the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals issued an opinion in the city’s favor in a dispute between it and operators of the Ohio House, a sober living facility on Wilson Street. According to the Daily Pilot article on the case, the panel agreed with an earlier ruling that the city’s ordinances in regards to group homes — laws to preserve the character of neighborhoods and address the noise, traffic and parking impacts — “did not unlawfully interfere with Ohio House’s right to provide housing for disabled individuals” as the facility’s operators had claimed.
• An official ribbon cutting was held Thursday for the Illumination Foundation’s Children and Families Recuperative Care Center in Santa Ana. As its name suggests, the center offers a safe place to rest and recover for unhoused children and their families after being discharged from the emergency room or a hospital stay. According to this TimesOC story, the center, the first of its kind in the nation, was made possible through a $3.5-million community grant CalOptima Health awarded the nonprofit foundation.
PUBLIC SAFETY & COURTS
A man from South Los Angeles was arrested last Wednesday in connection with violent armed robberies that took place in mall parking lots during the summer, including a lot at South Coast Plaza in Costa Mesa.
(Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)
• A 21-year-old South Los Angeles man was in custody Thursday in connection with a series of violent armed robberies in parking lots in Los Angeles and Orange counties from Aug. 25 to Sept. 22, including a heist in which he allegedly shot a victim twice outside the South Coast Plaza shopping mall in Costa Mesa.
• Authorities in Florida arrested George Philip Foord, 54, a former Huntington Beach resident suspected of molesting multiple victims between the ages of 12 and 16 during the 1990s, police announced in a statement last Wednesday. Investigators suspect other people might have been victimized by the suspect and ask anyone with information that might be relevant to the case to contact Huntington Beach Police Det. M. Eskes at (714) 536-5967.
• A 22-year old man led police on a chase that began in Irvine and ended in Newport Beach Sunday after he got into a kayak and rowed to a boat in the harbor. Members of the Orange County Sheriff’s Department Harbor Patrol joined Irvine police in negotiating a surrender. The suspect, a San Diego resident who sustained self-inflicted wounds from a razor blade during the incident eventually gave up and was taken to a hospital.
SPORTS
New York Rangers defenseman Jacob Trouba skates during an NHL hockey game against the New Jersey Devils on Dec. 2 in New York. Four days later it was announced Trouba will be playing for the Anaheim Ducks, following a trade deal.
(Julia Demaree Nikhinson / Associated Press)
• The Anaheim Ducks announced Friday the team had acquired New York Rangers captain Jacob Trouba in exchange for defenseman Urho Vaakanainen and a conditional fourth-round pick in 2025. Rouba, also a defenseman, is in the sixth season of a seven-year, $56-million contract the Rangers had been angling to ditch.
• In gridiron action, the Edison High School Chargers held off El Cajon Granite Hills 34-28 Saturday in the CIF State Southern California Regional Division 1-A final at ‘Cap’ Sheue Field. Edison standout Julius Gillick, a transplant from Seattle, had 39 carries for 238 yards and three touchdowns. Edison (11-4) will face Fresno Central (12-2) in the Division 1-A state championship game at 3:30 p.m. this Saturday at Saddleback College.
LIFE & LEISURE
Ryan Rustan holds his pet, Sugar the Surfing Dog, a five-time world champion, as he is inducted into the Surfers’ Hall of Fame during a special ceremony in front of Huntington Surf & Sport in Huntington Beach last Thursday.
(Don Leach / Daily Pilot)
• Sugar the Surfing Dog, a five-time world champion who has also been awarded Surf City Surf Dog and Purina Pro Plan Incredible Dog Challenge titles, was inducted Thursday into the Surfers’ Hall of Fame in Huntington Beach. After putting her paws in the wet concrete, Sugar, 14, became the first animal to be so honored. “Sugar will be forever immortalized in the Surfers’ Hall of Fame, that’s pretty amazing,” said Mayor Pro Tem Casey McKeon.
• A grand opening was held last week for Travel OCC — a new full-service travel agency at Orange Coast College, where students, led by faculty, seek out the best rates and book itineraries, all while gaining internship hours. The new agency, open for business from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Tuesdays through Thursdays, can be found on the third floor of the campus’ College Center, 2701 Fairview Road, Costa Mesa. For more, visit travelocc.com, call (714) 432-5821 or email [email protected].
CALENDAR THIS
The Snoopy boat is one of the popular and regular Newport Beach Christmas Boat Parade entries each year.
(Don Leach / Daily Pilot)
• The venerable Newport Beach Christmas Boat Parade is coming up. The 116th iteration of the annual nighttime event will run from Dec. 18 through Dec. 22. A pair of great places to take in the event are at the Balboa Bay Club north of Lido Isle on Pacific Coast Highway and the Balboa Fun Zone on the peninsula, Newport Beach Christmas Boat Parade Committee Co-Chair Chris Delfs told the Daily Pilot. From 4 to 8 p.m. on opening night, Dec. 18, Marina Park will be teeming. There will be goods available for purchase from more than 35 local artisans, food vendors, live music and activities for children, not to mention a fireworks show scheduled for 6:15 p.m.
Big Wave Carwash in Anaheim will be taken over this Friday and Saturday to offer holiday season thrills and chills.
(File Photo)
• Chills may travel up your spine — and it will have nothing to do with the weather — if you visit The “Haunted Holidays” carwash, a takeover of over Big Wave Carwash in Anaheim that’s happening this Friday and Saturday only. Drivers, according to this TimesOC story, “will line up for themed thrills beginning with a festive toy store that soon descends into a scary blizzard before entering the dreaded tunnel. A gang of creepy elves and truly abominable snowmen deliver jump scares all along the way.” Tickets are priced at $55.20 and can be purchased here.
Mid-century modern style Christmas card art from California scene painter and Disney artist, Ralph Hulett, at the Hilbert Museum in Orange.
(Sarah Mosqueda / TimesOC)
• “Merry and Bright: Christmas Card Designs by Ralph Hulett,” is the new exhibit in the Burra Family community room at the Hilbert Museum of California Art at Chapman University in Orange. The show, which runs through Jan. 11, features the mid-century modern Christmas card art of the California scene painter and Disney artist. Hilbert Museum of California Art is located at 167 N. Atchison St., Orange.
Until next Wednesday!
Best,
Carol
KEEP IN TOUCH
I appreciate your help in making this the best newsletter it can be. Please send news tips, your memory of life in O.C. (photos welcome!) or comments to [email protected].