October 29, 2020

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October 29-November 4, 2020 N EWS

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Tales of Bootleggers in Early San Clemente PAGE 22 VOLUME 15, ISSUE 44

Survey Says:

Voters Opposed to Relaxing Restrictions on Cannabis E Y E O N S C / PAG E 3

While most voters who participated in a city-initiated survey said they aren’t in favor of loosening restrictions on marijuana cultivation and delivery services, a majority did express support for enacting a cultivation tax. Photo: Manish panghal on Unsplash

Contribution Reports Give Edge to Duncan, Smith EYE ON SC/PAGE 4

California Gets an A Grade in Annual Beach Report EYE ON SC/PAGE 4

sanclementetimes.com

Local Developer Completes Ten10 Santiago Project EYE ON SC/PAGE 8

San Clemente Times October 29-November 4, 2020

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sanclementetimes.com

SC EYE ON SC San Clemente

LOCAL NEWS & IN-DEPTH REPORTING

What’s Up With...

Five things San Clemente should know this week City Survey: Voters Opposed to Relaxing Restrictions on Cannabis THE LATEST: Though voters in San Clemente remain largely opposed to the city loosening its ban on marijuana cultivation and home cannabis deliveries, a majority would vote in favor of a cannabis cultivation tax if one appeared on a ballot, a city survey revealed.

The city-initiated survey of 300 likely voters this past spring found that 40.3% of those polled opposed the city allowing the indoor cultivation, manufacturing and testing of marijuana within industrial zones, such as the San Clemente Business Park and Talega Business Park.

Only 37.7% of the voters said they would support industrial cannabis cultivation, while 13.3% said it makes no difference to them, and 8.7% said they were unsure or didn’t want to answer the question.

When the voters were asked to provide input on whether the city should allow businesses to offer door-to-door cannabis deliveries in San Clemente, the results were fairly similar, with 42.3% opposed and 37.3% in support. About 6% said they were unsure, and 14% said it didn’t make a difference.

Though the sale of marijuana is permitted for recreational and medicinal use to those 21 and older in the state of California, the city of San Clemente prohibits commercial dispensaries, industrial cultivation and delivery services.

San Clemente does allow people to grow up to six marijuana plants in their homes or accessory structures on the same property, and there is no permit application process for that.

When asked what members of the Rancho San Clemente Business Park Association thought about the city allowing marijuana cultivation in the industrial zone, there were some mixed reactions, with the primary concern being safety.

In an email to San Clemente Times from the association’s president, Bob Adams, on Monday, Oct. 26, he explained that most board members would be against cultivation in the business park, citing previous experiences with such tenants on other properties they own.

“A (board member’s) friend has a marijuana grower in his park, and it has been robbed and has now caused them to hire San Clemente Times October 29-November 4, 2020

San Clemente

TOTAL CASES

COVID-19 UPDATES as of 10/27/20 TOTAL LAST 30 DAYS

cases

deaths

601

8

73

3

LAST 30 DAYS

est. population • 65,405 Follow us on Facebook & Instagram for daily local & county statistics. Source: Orange County Health Care Agency

While most voters who participated in a city-initiated survey said they aren’t in favor of loosening restrictions on marijuana cultivation and delivery services, a majority did express support for enacting a cultivation tax. Photo: Courtesy of iStock.com/Barringtonhd

armed guards, very concerned,” Adams said in the email.

One member also told Adams, “No, unless they paid the water bill and had security. The developer took short cuts and only has used one water meter for the 11 buildings, leaving the association with a large water bill each month. This would increase the cost a lot.”

Another member said it was the “wrong kind of business and clientele for the park,” and one other pondered why the business park would want a gateway drug.

The few who didn’t outright oppose the notion of the city allowing cultivation said they would be OK with it if it was legal, safe and the grower “took responsibility,” as well as installed property security measures.

Some of the members did tell Adams, though, that a cultivation tax “sounds good for the city.”

While the voters polled in the survey

were largely against amending the city’s restrictions, the survey found that more than half of the participants were in support of a cannabis cultivation tax if it meant the city generated $2 million to $3 million in new annual revenue “that could be used to improve city services.”

More than 55% of the voters said they would vote yes on a ballot measure approving the tax, while 28.7% said they would vote no, and 16% said they were unsure.

Among Republican voters in the poll, 45.7% said they would vote yes and about 39.3% said they would vote no. Democrats, meanwhile, overwhelmingly supported the tax with 73.4% of them saying they would vote yes. Only 11.4% of them said they would vote no.

The majority of no-party-preference voters also were more likely to support the tax, with 57.1% saying they would vote yes.

Just 27% of them said they weren’t in favor

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of the tax.

Across the board, the younger adults polled—those between the ages of 18 and 39—largely favored the idea of allowing cultivation in the industrial zones, cannabis delivery and the cannabis cultivation tax.

There was a stark difference in opinion on the overall subject between genders, the survey showed. About 46% of male voters said they supported cultivation in the industrial zones, while roughly 30% of females supported it. More than 43% of females opposed it, as did 37% of males.

The divide was also seen on the question of the cannabis tax, with 64.4% of males and 46.8% of females saying they would vote yes to support the tax. And regarding cannabis delivery, 44.5% of males were in favor of such services, along with only 30.5% of females.

The survey, which was done in early March, came at a time when the city was working to end a marijuana delivery service that was operating through a local partnership with Vix Vapes in Downtown San Clemente.

SC Times previously reported that the city in late January had sent a cease-anddesist letter to The Joint, a Santa Anabased marijuana dispensary, which had installed a digital kiosk inside the vape shop where patrons could order cannabis products to be delivered to them outside the store.

According to the city at the time, operations had continued for weeks, prompting officials to issue citations to The Joint, Vix Vapes and the property owner, IDEN, for failing to comply with the cease-and-desist letter.

Courtney Vickery, the owner of the shop, told SC Times on Tuesday, Oct. 27, that she and The Joint had agreed to remove the kiosk before the coronavirus pandemic halted the nation’s economy.

But, she also said, they did want to fight the citations.

“We wanted to fight it, because the citizens of San Clemente actually really liked it. There were no underage children, it was all legal, tested, it was outside, and it was bringing in new business,” Vickery said.

She added that the partnership had been beneficial for the city’s economy, as well as the customers—specifically senior citizens, who were able to purchase marijuana products locally without having to drive to Santa Ana, where dispensaries are permitted.

“Those guys were killing it here . . . they had all the money in the marketing, so they were driving people to San Clemente, there were people going to dinner, it was a really energetic crowd,” Vickery said, noting that her shop wasn’t filled with people smoking inside the store.

Vickery said if the city ever does permit (Cont. on page 4) sanclementetimes.com

EYE ON SC (Cont. from page 3) marijuana delivery services in San Clemente, she would partner with The Joint again.

“I’m not out to harm anyone; I don’t want to be the villain. So if (the city) wants to make more money and do something safely . . . having something secure and guarded, legalized and taxed, it would be a smart move. But they currently don’t want that,” Vickery said.

Neither a representative for The Joint, nor city officials, had responded to San Clemente Times’ requests for comment as of press time.—Shawn Raymundo

Contribution Reports Give Edge to Duncan, Smith in Council Race THE LATEST: Chris Duncan and Charlie Smith continue to outearn the rest of their fellow opponents in the races for city council, as the war chests for both campaigns collectively account for more than 42% of all monetary contributions made to the 18 candidates since the start of the elections, the latest financial reports show.

As of Oct. 17—the end of the last filing period for campaign statements—the Duncan campaign had received a total of $46,958 in cash contributions, while Smith had received just less than $40,000 in contributions.

In total, Smith’s campaign had received $39,547 in monetary donations—an increase of $18,047 from the previous reporting period that covered contributions and spending through Sept. 19.

“Chris has over 250 individuals who are supporting him,” said Kevin Sabellico, Duncan’s campaign manager. He added that the level of contributions the campaign has received “says that Chris has a very wide base of support. We’re proud that so many people are supporting Chris: donors, volunteers (and) surrogates.”

Sabellico noted that Duncan did have an edge over his opponents as he started his campaign much sooner than the others, and he was able to build a base of support from his unsuccessful campaign for California’s 73rd Assembly District this past spring.

“So, he wasn’t just starting from scratch,” Sabellico said. He noted that Duncan, as a former attorney and prosecutor for the Department of Homeland Security, has worked with both Democrats and Republicans. “He met a lot of people along the way, and he’s proved himself to those people, so they were ready to contribute when he asked.”

Smith, who sits on the city’s Beaches, Parks and Recreation Commission, acknowledged that he entered the race late. But the level to which he’s raised funds says “that people saw value in our candidacy.”

“We came into the race pretty late; didn’t start campaigning till about a week San Clemente Times October 29-November 4, 2020

As the race for the city council nears the finish line, Chris Duncan and Charlie Smith maintain a wide lead in collecting monetary contributions toward their campaigns, according to the latest financial statements. The chart represents candidates in both General and Special Election races who have received at least $1,000. Graphic: Shawn Raymundo

before we filed, so it wasn’t a matter of catching up,” he explained when asked what made the difference between the previous filing period and the latest one.

“It’s a matter of talking to people who we knew would provide us support, and that’s exactly what happened.”

The 13 General and Special Election candidates who filed the latest pre-election report with the California Fair Political Practices Commission cumulatively raised more than $205,308 in monetary contributions alone, as of early last week. The sum grows to about $287,095 when including non-monetary contributions and loans the candidates have secured.

Councilmember Gene James, the incumbent looking to retain his seat after winning last year’s Special Election race, is currently in third in terms of donations received, as he’s collected $21,824 in cash.

Behind him are fellow General Election candidates Bill Hart with $16,277 and Aaron Washington, who reported a total of $13,510 in donations.

In the previous filing period, Steven Knoblock, who’s running for the two-year seat to fill the open spot vacated by former Mayor Dan Bane, was more than $7,000 behind opponent Tyler Boden, who had received $12,874 by late September.

Based on the latest financial reports, Knoblock has more than made up the difference, surpassing Boden in total monetary contributions. Last week, Knoblock reported a total monetary collection of $21,652, while Boden reported receiving $17,454 toward his war chest.

“I got in (the race) kind of late when I decided to run, so when I got in, I started campaigning,” Knoblock explained. “I don’t know that there was a difference (in campaigning). The first report was because I had not started early, and when I finally

started to run, I started campaigning.”

Jeff Wellman, a General Election candidate for the four-year term, has so far collected $10,853, a considerable jump from the $2,200 he had reported receiving late last month. And Zhen Wu, a two-year candidate, similarly saw a substantial increase, having raised a total of $11,708 as of Oct. 17, up from the $513 he reported earning in late September.

None of the remaining candidates for both elections reported receiving more than $4,000 as of last week.

Collectively, the candidates have spent about $235,617 toward their campaigns, with both Duncan and Smith again leading the way. Duncan reported total expenditures at roughly $38,195, while Smith has spent $32,665.

With the Nov. 3 finish line approaching, many of the candidates stepped up their spending in the latest filing period—from Sept. 20 to Oct. 17. Duncan outspent his opponents by reporting $25,180, but James, who had only spent about $8,660 in the previous period, was right behind, spending $17,745.

Hart spent $16,731 in the last period, slightly more than the $11,270 he had spent in the previous filing. Smith, who was the biggest spender by late September when he had reported $17,491 in expenditures, cut back in the past month, spending only $15,174.

After receiving that surge in contributions over the past month, Knoblock upped the ante, spending $12,350 by midOctober, after spendig only $2,808 by late September.

The reports show that Boden has dialed back on his spending, which amounted to $6,340 during the latest period—down from the $11,478 he had spent in the prior filing period.

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As for political action committees (PACs) and unions, such groups have collectively spent more than $66,100 in the city council races, largely to support some candidates, while a few have opposed some candidates..

According to FPPC filings as of Sunday, Oct. 25, the Atlas PAC has spent nearly $27,988 in mailers to support Knoblock and Washington, as well as mailers to oppose Boden and James. The Association of Deputy Sheriffs has spent about $25,960 on automated calls and mailers to support Knoblock, James and Washington.

The Business for a Better San Clemente PAC has spent $9,000 in cash contributions toward the campaigns of Knoblock, Boden, James, Hart, Smith and Jim Dahl, a former councilmember running for the two-year seat.

The California Homeowners Association reported a $1,155 expenditure on a newspaper advertisement to oppose James, while the California Taxpayers Coalition similarly spent $2,000 on a newspaper ad to oppose Duncan.

Asked whether the amount of money in a candidate’s war chest will have an impact on the outcome of an election, Sabellico said, “You have to raise enough money to get your message out; that’s part of the system of campaigning.”

He added that Duncan’s “been dialing, talking to voters every day for the last 150 days almost. So, it’s come down to really hard work and at the end of the day, I think hard work is going to defeat some of these monied interests that play into elections.”

Responding to the same question, Knoblock said that historically speaking, the amount of money a candidate has raised does have a bearing on an election’s results.

“Not 100% of the time, but quite frequently,” he said, also stating that his level of contributions says “I am supported by a lot of people who believe in limited government, less taxes and more freedom in San Clemente would be a good thing.”

Smith echoed that sentiment, stating that there’s a correlation between those who win and the money they raised.

“It is incredibly hard to tell,” Smith said after being asked what he felt his chances were of winning next Tuesday, Nov. 3.

“We would be honored. I think we’ve got a good chance.”—SR

California Gets an A Grade in Surfrider’s Annual Beach Report THE LATEST: Continuing a recent trend, Surfrider Foundation’s annual report on state beaches in the U.S. gave California an A grade, as the state has led the nation in ocean protection efforts, coastal management policies and sea level-rise planning.

(Cont. on page 6) sanclementetimes.com

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EYE ON SC The city, Ward said, will be “announcing our protest on further collection and transfer of the impact fees now that the TCA has voted to stop the toll road extension of 241, which presently ends at Oso Parkway—and that is not in the San Clemente area.”

(Cont. from page 4) According to the 2020 State of the Beach Report, which surveyed 31 coastal and Great Lakes states, as well as the U.S. territory of Puerto Rico, California earned the highest grade in the country amid a year that saw rising issues related to climate change.

“In addition to leading in ocean protection, (California) remains at the forefront of trailblazing coastal management policies focused on preservation,” the San Clemente-based environmental nonprofit said in the report. “These include the 1976 California Coastal Act, which set the stage for balancing development demands and the need for coastal preservation.”

Stefanie Sekich-Quinn, coastal preservation manager for Surfrider, said the Coastal Act has helped to maintain the beauty of the state’s coastline from overdevelopment, unlike other states back East, where communities are built right up to the water’s edge.

“For the most part, our coastline has not been overdeveloped, and that’s because of the Coastal Act,” she said.

Looking at the U.S. as whole, however, roughly three-quarters, or 74% of the states assessed, “are doing a mediocre to poor job of responding to coastal erosion and seal level-rise planning, especially in areas that are most impacted by extreme weather events,” according to the report, released earlier this month.

Surfrider noted that the findings of the report marked another year in which most coastal and Great Lakes states should be doing more to respond to climate change—the impacts of which were particularly felt during the latest wildfire season along the West Coast, where about six million acres of land burned.

On a regional basis, West Coast states, comprising Alaska, California, Oregon and Washington, collectively earned a B grade.

Surfrider gave Oregon a B-minus, and Washington received a B, while Alaska received a D for “fairly poor policies.”

The West Coast states’ grades have remained consistent since 2018, according to Surfrider’s previous reports. California has received an A grade since 2017, when Alaska and Oregon had worse grades—an F and a C-minus, respectively.

According to the 2020 report, Surfrider credited the state’s Coastal Commission (CCC) for its efforts to protect infrastructure from future coastal erosion and “requiring local communities to look at complicated issues like managed retreat.”

Surfrider grades each state on four categories—sediment management, coastal armoring, development and sea-level rise— for a total of 12 possible points. California got 3s in the sediment, development and sea level categories, while getting a 2 in armoring—giving the state a total of 11 points.

Surfrider noted that California’s score on coastal armoring was largely due to the CCC administering emergency permits for seawalls that are meant to be temporary San Clemente Times October 29-November 4, 2020

WHAT’S NEXT: During the council’s Oct. 20 meeting, James confirmed the Nov. 5 date of the town hall, with acting City Manager Erik Sund announcing it would take place at 5:30 p.m.—SR

The city is slated to hold a virtual town hall on Nov. 5 to give residents an update on issues related to the 241 Toll Road. Photo: Shawn Raymundo

stabilization measures, many of which have become permanent.

Sekich-Quinn explained that these seawalls are supposed to only be temporary— like a “Band-Aid”—to address coastal erosion, and should eventually be replaced with long-term fixes. However, they’ve instead become permanent fixtures that block the natural flow of sand and sediment to the coast.

Some progressive long-term approaches that should be considered, she said, include managed retreat—a process in which threatened homes are condemned and relocated to preserve the beach—or implementing living shorelines.

As a recommendation, Surfrider, in the report, encouraged the CCC to set “strict time limits” for removing temporary seawalls whenever emergency permitting is offered. The group also said the state should increase its efforts to have natural sediment flow to the coasts.

Sekich-Quinn noted that there were some promising findings from this year’s report. Eight states—North Carolina, New Jersey, Florida, Maryland, Louisiana, Michigan, Oregon and California—took additional steps to address climate change by passing laws to either address greenhouse gases or sea-level rise.

Those regulations, she noted, didn’t necessarily impact their grades this year, but they are likely to help those states’ grades in next year’s report.

“It was still very encouraging to see eight states double down on primarily sea level-rise planning—just kind of planning for climate change impacts,” she said.—SR

City to Host Virtual Town Hall on Toll Road Update THE LATEST: The city in early November is slated to hold a virtual town hall to provide the community a formal update on issues related to the 241 Toll Road and ongoing battles against the Transportation Corridor Agencies (TCA), Councilmembers

Kathy Ward and Gene James announced this month.

The town hall, scheduled for Thursday evening, Nov. 5, will come nearly a year since the city last held a toll road town hall, which included representatives from the TCA, state elected officials and was led by then-acting-Mayor Dan Bane “The city will be providing an update to the public on the status of the toll road extension, what progress the city has made and various other information about that,” Ward had said during the council’s Oct. 6 meeting, initially announcing the plans to conduct the town hall. “We will also be introducing the issue of development impact fees that San Clemente collects and has been sending to the toll road.”

In early September, the city council voted to initiate a challenge to the TCA’s development impact fees (DIF) that San Clemente residents and developers pay.

The city argues that because the southern alignment of the 241 was never completed, residents never benefited from the road.

Property owners of new development built within the cities and unincorporated areas that benefit from the toll roads pay the impact fees.

“These fees are applied to the costs incurred in constructing and improving the roads, which have undoubtedly benefited the residents and businesses of the member agencies, including San Clemente’s,” the TCA has previously stated.

In 2016, the TCA abandoned plans to complete the southern alignment, or “green alignment,” of the 241 to Interstate-5. The initial alignment was contested by environmental groups that eventually led to a settlement agreement establishing an “avoidance area” that included the San Mateo Watershed and Trestles south of San Clemente.

Following the settlement, the TCA considered alternative routes to connect the 241 to I-5—some passing through San Clemente and parts of San Juan Capistrano. However, this past spring, the TCA’s boards of directors abandoned those plans to instead focus on the untolled extension of Los Patrones Parkway.

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Black Lives Matter Discussion Continues During CUSD Meeting THE LATEST: Students and alumni with the group CUSD Against Racism again called on anti-racism action from the Capistrano Unified School District (CUSD) during a Board of Trustees meeting on Wednesday, Oct. 21.

Advocates who commented during the meeting took issue with the alleged banning of “Black Lives Matter” merchandise on campuses, which made Black and indigenous people of color feel unwelcome.

Susan Holliday, associate superintendent of education services, clarified that the district has not said Black Lives Matter merchandise is prohibited, but rather was addressing a poster that was inconsistent with a policy on approved political and non-instructional material.

“Merchandise for students, or if students want to wear something, that is something they can wear if it’s not disruptive,” Holliday said. “If it’s disruptive, then that’s tied to our dress code policy.”

CUSD Against Racism members and supporters over the past several months have urged the district to act against explicit and implicit racism and bigotry, and during the Oct. 21 meeting called on the district to go further. The Board of Trustees passed a resolution denouncing acts of racism in June following protests, but anti-racism advocates took issue with the district not releasing a statement explicitly saying black lives matter.

“First and foremost, our goal is to ensure that all students and families feel welcome in CUSD,” Holliday said. “We want all classrooms and all office spaces— whether they’re virtual or they’re in-person or in our facilities—to be welcoming and professional.”

The district has updated handbooks and training materials to clearly address discrimination, define racism and highlight how to report on and respond to it, Holliday said. A Cultural Proficiency Task Force will share a report addressing these issues during a workshop on Nov. 4.

“It is extremely extensive and thorough and it will take us a few years, but it addresses many of the items you’ve heard this evening, specifically around implicit bias,” Holliday said.—Collin Breaux sanclementetimes.com

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EYE ON SC

Local Developer Completes Ten10 Santiago Project

BY SHAWN RAYMUNDO, SAN CLEMENTE TIMES

I

n 2013, Nick Buchanan, a local developer, purchased the site of a longshuttered gas station at the corner of El Camino Real and Avenida Santiago. It was on that deserted property where he hoped to capitalize on the city’s incentive for property owners to construct mixedused developments.

“This particular part of town is just great real estate: southwest San Clemente, near the I-5 freeway, across the street from Ralphs,” Buchanan described. “Just a very well-located area and for the longest time, it’s suffered from neglect.”

Fast-forward to today, and his vision is just about complete.

The development, referred to as the Ten10 Santiago Project, includes seven single-family condominiums, each with ocean views, office space for subleasing, and two spots for retailers facing El Camino Real.

The seven homes, located on the second and third floors, ranging in price from just north of $1 million to about $1.9 million, recently went on the market, with one already sold. And on the ground floor, two eateries, a gelato shop and a restaurant are preparing to set up shop.

For Buchanan, who lives in San Clemente and has developed properties up and down the coast, the project is not only an investment to improve the area, but to also show how this type of development—referred to as infill housing—could solve the state’s housing crisis.

“To me, I think this is a much more sustainable way of providing housing, meeting California’s housing needs. You can live here and walk across the street to the grocery store,” Buchanan said, adding: “This is the future of housing development, I think.”

1010 SANTIAGO

When Buchanan purchased the property seven years ago, he didn’t anticipate the project taking as long as it did to be completed.

Around the time, the city was in the process of updating its General Plan, which would initially include an allowance for landowners of mixed-use projects to build up to 45 feet. The General Plan was San Clemente Times October 29-November 4, 2020

Offering ocean views from each of the single-family condominiums, the Ten10 Santiago Project—a mixed-used housing and commercial development on El Camino Real—aims to be an example of what the city was hoping to accomplish when it updated its General Plan in 2014. Photos: Courtesy of Nick Buchanan

adopted by the city council in February 2014.

The update, Buchanan said, was intended to incentivize developers to invest in property along San Clemente’s main highway and refurbish certain areas, particularly where abandoned gas stations sat.

“There’s a handful of abandoned gas station sites in the area … this was an old Thrifty Gas Station,” Buchanan said when he gave San Clemente Times a tour of the property. “They closed the gas station in 1986; it was just sitting here, abandoned, with graffiti on the wall in the alley.”

“So, when the city decided to amend the General Plan, they wanted to incentivize development down here,” he continued.

“This was, in my mind at least—based on the wording of the plan—the type of development I thought ultimately they visualized or contemplated.”

Based on the updated General Plan, Buchanan began to conceive his initial proposal for the structure, which was set at the 45-foot height limit. It also included the seven homes, which he had hoped would have offered 10-foot vaulted ceilings.

However, in 2015, after hearing the council was looking to drop the height limit back down to 33 feet, he adjusted the project to fit within 35 feet in the hopes the city would grant him the extra two feet through a special permit.

MEASURING UP

The council in early November of that year officially reduced the allowable height to 33 feet, believing anything more would eclipse a motorist’s view

of the ocean while traveling south on Interstate-5. Property owners, however, could apply for the special permit of two additional feet if the project called for it.

In Buchanan’s case, the council didn’t feel the exemption was justified, instead voting to deny the zoning change that would have allowed him to move his plans forward.

“I was hoping to have 10-foot ceilings.

Human beings are inherently ergonomic, so we feel more comfortable with bigger spaces, so I was hoping to have 10-foot ceilings, something to have a little more space in here,” Buchanan said.

“I would’ve been fine with them dropping to 35 feet, just to give us that extra 24 inches, but because we dropped it to 33 feet, I had get creative and find ways to get that volume,” he said.

Buchanan had told the council at that time that he already made previous concessions on the project, including lowering the height from its original design and omitting amenities in order to make more space for parking.

But councilmembers said it still wouldn’t conform to the city’s prescribed zoning and could cause commercial overflow of traffic in the area.

Eventually, Buchanan said, he found the volume and was able to vault the ceilings.

He noted that he would have still liked at least an extra six inches, but “we did the best we could with what we have.”

FURTHER DELAYS

In early 2017, when Buchanan “finally got all of our approvals,” he went to pull Page 8

the building permit, only to encounter a new hindrance.

“We had an issue with the city because the city’s housing element wasn’t in compliance with state laws, and the city had been sued by the homeless coalition, and they had gotten a judge to prevent the city from giving building permits,” Buchanan said.

That lawsuit, filed by Emergency Shelter Coalition, alleged that the city failed to comply with the state’s homeless shelter law, Senate Bill 2. The law, enacted in 2007, requires cities to create zones, referred to as SB2 zones, where groups can establish shelters for the homeless.

In February 2017, the Orange County Superior Court issued an order barring the city from approving building permits and zoning changes, among other things, unless it came into compliance with SB2.

Buchanan said he was shut out from getting his permit until about July 2017, when he signed an agreement with ESC. “After that, we started construction,” he said, noting that it took “a fair amount of work in getting that done, but once we started, everything went pretty smoothly.”

That is, until the coronavirus pandemic hit the U.S. Buchanan said that in March, he got his certificate of occupancy, but then the state issued its stay-at-home orders, preventing him from showing the condos to potential buyers.

“I couldn’t do open houses or anything like it to sell the condos, so, yeah, that impacted us,” he said, before expressing a (Cont. on page 11) sanclementetimes.com

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EYE ON SC

(Cont. from page 8) more optimistic outlook.

“But not withstanding that, we have been able to lease it up,” he said, referring to the Lucky Dog Gelato, which “stuck with us even despite the coronavirus.”

COUNCIL COMMENTS

During the council’s meeting in early November 2015, former Councilmember Lori Donchak had voiced opposition to limiting the project to 33 feet, making the case that the extra two feet was an imperceptible difference.

Councilmember Chris Hamm, who was mayor at the time, pushed back against Donchak’s remarks on the imperceptibility of the additional feet, stating that it “isn’t a fire sale of San Clemente and our community.”

“It’s not the 1960s, when we allowed whatever development they wanted. It’s not 1999, when we developed Fort Knox on the hill,” the Orange County Register had reported Hamm saying. “Stuff doesn’t happen anymore. We have a more informed City Council that takes into account the integrity and heart of the community.”

Speaking with SC Times last week to address the length of time in getting the project done, Donchak acknowledged that she hadn’t had a chance to see the (mostly) completed building in person yet, only online, but called it a “very thoughtful project.”

She also stressed that “development is not for the faint-hearted.”

Asked whether she had any concerns with how long it took to get done, she said she didn’t, explaining that councilmembers are tasked with evaluating projects on the merits, so the process should “reflect the unique characteristics of that parcel.”

“I think it’s incumbent on any councilmember to evaluate projects on their individual merits, and the Ten10 Santiago project was arguably an infill project. It was near historic properties, and it was in a view corridor,” she said. “So, the process, and I believe the developer, went into

San Clemente Times October 29-November 4, 2020

it with eyes wide open.”

Hamm last week echoed Donchak, explaining that the town wants to see that projects stay in line with the rest of the city’s aesthetics, as well as the 90-year history of San Clemente.

“Ultimately, your job as councilmember is to make sure every project has your stamp of approval for the next 90 years, so it’s not just your four-year term, your eight-year term,” Hamm said, adding: “Those are the things you need to be thinking about when you’re putting your name one someone else’s development.”

In terms of what the project will mean for the South El Camino Real area, Hamm said he hopes it can help get similar mixed-use developments greenlit and moving forward.

“I think ultimately, at the end of the day, while the project was messy and took time, we have a project that’s going to fit in the community for the next 90 years that we’re all going to be happy with,” Hamm said.

As for Donchak, she said she supported the project because she believes mixedused developments allow for residents to both live and work in San Clemente.

“Mixed-use paves the way for that vision, because you’ve got jobs being created on the first floor and housing being created above it,” she said. “I would hope it sets an example that mixed-use can be a successful idea in San Clemente.”

NEIGHBORHOOD OPPOSITION

Don Brown has been on the city’s planning commission throughout the length of the project. He noted that there was support from many local businesses, as well as neighborhood members, who wanted to see the unused gas station property get developed.

However, he added, the project was a hard one to get completed, and one made difficult by a number of issues, including Buchanan’s push to accelerate the zoning change and opposition by neighbors.

One such neighbor is Sandra Maring, who lives on Santiago. She did state that

since 2015, when she first was made aware of the project, she thought Buchanan’s draft was beautiful. However, her main concern has centered on parking and how it will be impacted when more restaurants open and more tenants move in.

“My concern has been that it’s a little too big for southwest San Clemente and not designed in a way to support itself, parking-wise, without creating a parking impact on the community,” she said.

According to Maring, there’s currently a concern that Buchanan will ask for a parking waiver, which would allow the businesses in the project to accommodate more customers without implementing additional parking stalls on-site.

“We would encourage that he would lease that section out to a type of business that could be successful at a 20-customer capacity, as opposed to asking for more,” she said. “We really do want him to be successful. We think the building is beautiful, but we really do want him to not negatively impact our standard of life that we’re accustomed to.”

Buchanan told SC Times on Tuesday, Oct. 27, that he currently does not have a request to the city for a parking waiver.

According to the city, Buchanan previously requested a parking exception in December 2018, but it was withdrawn.

Buchanan had previously noted that during the process of getting everything approved, the city required him to create additional parking spaces on-site, because it felt he wasn’t providing enough, as required under the mixed-use regulations.

Hamm briefly touched on the subject of how mixed-use developments often collide with the nearby residents, noting that such projects “have a clash of actions the first day it opens.” He said while the businesses want to thrive, the residents want to continue living quietly.

FUTURE FOR INFILL HOUSING

When talking about his mixed-use project, Buchanan emphasized the hope that it will set an example for what the General Plan update was trying to accomplish.

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But he has also often referred to the project as an example infill housing—a method in which already developed areas that have gone unused get repurposed and turned into new housing.

“I’m a firm believer this infill housing is a good way to build housing in California,” he said. “It’s much more sustainable . . . you’re close to the beach, close to restaurants; you can live much closer to all these amenities.”

Brown said that “other developers are watching” how the Ten10 Santiago Project wraps up, as it “will be a litmus test for other properties along that stretch” of El Camino Real. He noted there are currently two similar developments on the city’s list of projects that aim to repurpose existing sites on the highway.

One is a two-story office building for Shoreline Dental, which is proposing to demolish the existing Tommy’s restaurant. The other project, referred to as the Valencia Building, looks to redevelop the former Top Tune site, on the corner of Camino Real and Avenida Valencia, and construct a two-story commercial building.

The ground floor, according to the city, would be used as restaurant space with outdoor dining, while offices would be located on the second floor.

“Going forward, things are happening on South El Camino Real,” Brown wrote in an email.

Hamm acknowledged that he hasn’t always been a fan of mixed-use housing because of the potential for clashes he had referenced earlier. But he added that he thinks there is an opportunity and places in San Clemente that would support them.

“There are councilmembers and people in the community who think it’s a great idea,” said Hamm, who’s wrapping up his second term in office and isn’t seeking reelection. “I would hope that any councilmember,” who supports infill housing projects, would make sure “that it’s going to be built to the same standard this was built to.” SC sanclementetimes.com

EYE ON SC

NEWS BITES COMPILED BY SAN CLEMENTE TIMES

Dana Hills High Interact Club to Hold Food Drive for FAM Dana Hills High School’s Interact Club is kicking off a food drive for Family Assistance Ministries. Volunteers are asking that the community donate a shopping bag of goodies—and that members of the community ask their friends, neighbors and families for donations.

Donations can be given in one of two ways. Interact members can pick up donations from the donor’s porch before 10 a.m. on either Saturday, Oct. 31, or on Monday, Nov. 2. Donors can also drop off their donation at the collection site in the parking lot of the high school on Monday, Nov. 2, between 11 a.m. and 1 p.m.

Items needed (new, unopened, unexpired): bottled water, canned beans, canned fruit/fruit cups, canned soup, canned vegetables, cereal, chili, crackers, cookies, Ensure drinks, jelly (plastic jars), juice boxes, mac & cheese, pasta, peanut butter, Pop-Tarts, instant coffee, coffee pods, pudding cups, rice, protein bars,

San Clemente Times October 29-November 4, 2020

trail mix, canned tuna, baby wipes, empty egg cartons, diapers, soap, deodorant, sunscreen, shampoo, razors, floss, toothbrushes and shaving cream.

Email danahillsinteractclub@gmail.com to set up a pickup time or to get more information.

Community Meetings WEDNESDAY, NOV. 4

Art & Creativity for Healing Announces 20th Anniversary Award Recipients Two San Clemente couples are being recognized for their contributions to a nonprofit that seeks to heal trauma through creativity.

Fine artist, educator and author Laurie Zagon formed the nonprofit organization Art & Creativity for Healing 20 years ago upon discovering the powerful effect of art on stress, grief and other traumatic life experiences.

Today, more than 80,000 individuals served by more than 40 nonprofit partner agencies have participated in exercises specially designed to encourage emotional responses, leaving participants with enhanced clarity and insight.

Zagon, Art & Creativity for Healing’s founder and executive director, was recently selected as the 2020 National Philanthropy Day Outstanding Founder and was to be honored this month in a virtual

PLANNING COMMISSION 6-10 p.m. The city’s Planning Commission will conduct its regularly scheduled meeting via teleconference and can be streamed through the city’s YouTube channel. 949.361.8200. san-clemente.org.

Markus and Sandy Bohi hold their award. Photo: Courtesy of Art & Creativity for Healing

ceremony hosted by the Association of Fundraising Professionals of OC. “The National Philanthropy Day Award comes during this special time as we reflect on the past 20 years,” Zagon said. “And while I conceived of the initial idea for this organization, it wouldn’t have become a reality without the support of 13 key individuals who believed in this mission and put their heart, souls and other invaluable resources into getting us started.”

Board member Sandy Bohi and hus-

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band Markus Bohi of Impress Realty LLC, along with former board member Andi Mandel and her husband Richard Mandel, founders of the HeARTS for Healing Women’s Guild, were among the 13 recipients of the 20th Anniversary Awards for helping to start the organization 20 years ago.

Have something interesting to submit to our News Bites section?

Submissions are due by 10 a.m. the Monday of the week you’d like published. Email sraymundo@picketfencemedia.com.

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San Clemente Times October 29-November 4, 2020

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EDITORIAL

ART + DESIGN

City Editor, SC Times Shawn Raymundo

Art Director Jasmine Smith

Senior City Editor, DP Times Lillian Boyd

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City Editor, Capo Dispatch Collin Breaux

General Manager Alyssa Garrett

O P E R AT I O N S

Sports Editor Zach Cavanagh

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Columnist Fred Swegles

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Finance Director Mike Reed Accounting & Finance Manager Tricia Zines

SC SOAPBOX San Clemente

VIEWS, OPINIONS AND INSIGHTS

GUEST OPINION: By Bart Ziegler of the Samuel Lawrence Foundation

On Radiation Risks, Don’t Trust an Edison Employee

I

n an Oct. 1 Guest Opinion, “Surfing Community Deserves Truth from Activists,” author Greg Becker makes the kind of case you would expect from a Southern California Edison employee— that discharges of irradiated water from San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station are perfectly safe.

We disagree.

And while we admire Becker’s resume— licensed mechanical engineer, former reactor operator, yacht captain, writer and, above all, a surfer—his credentials don’t qualify him to speak to toxicology and the risk of cumulative exposure to radiation in the human body.

Our concern is about beachgoers exposing themselves over the course of their lives to the plant’s so-called liquid radioactive batch releases.

Women, children and human fetuses are especially vulnerable, much more than the “standard male body” government regulators use as a control when setting “allowable limits” of radiation exposure.

Exposure to radiation can damage the DNA in cells of the human body. The nation’s top scientists, those at the National Academy of Sciences, have concluded that there is no such thing as safe exposure.

As reported this month in the Orange County Register, European scientists have identified cancer clusters among people living near nuclear power plants. We stand behind the scientists, physicians and 1,200

signatories of a petition pressuring lawmakers to fund research on possible cancer clusters near SONGS. For 50 years—and for most of that time, in secret—SONGS has bombarded the environment with radioactive isotopes.

Bowing to pressure from some of the same activists Becker disparages, the utility only recently began notifying the public of its atmospheric and liquid batch releases.

Emissions at San Onofre have waned since the plant quit making electricity in 2012, but they are expected to increase with the planned demolition of contaminated domes and GUEST OPINION spent fuel pools, accordBy Bart Ziegler ing to a qualified whistleblower from San Onofre who came forward and will remain anonymous.

Meanwhile, Edison continues to contaminate the information stream with obfuscation, misinformation and self-congratulations.

To be clear, Southern California Edison is unable to say for sure whether liquid batch releases are safe or even estimate the repercussions of radioactive material accumulating in the atmosphere and ocean, on the sea floor and in the seafood we eat, especially tuna.

We scoff at what regulators, the utility and Becker cite as allowable limits of

Letters to the Editor

If you’re in a vehicle and a police officer is attempting to stop you, abiding by these steps will ensure your safety: • Pull over when safe in a well-lit area, as opposed to leading the officer on a high-speed pursuit.

• Keep both hands on the steering wheel so the officer sees that you’re not holding a perceived weapon.

• Be as polite as possible, always saying, “Yes, ma’am,” “No, ma’am,” “Yes, sir,” “No, sir.”

• Never argue with an officer even if you believe you are in the right.

• If you know you have an outstanding warrant for your arrest, be honest about it.

• If you’re carrying a concealed weapon in your vehicle, immediately inform the officer.

• Truthfully answer all questions posed

exposure. Coal plants can discharge carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, mercury, arsenic, and benzene, but that doesn’t mean kids should play near the smokestacks.

Likewise, surfers, swimmers, and fishermen should not be encouraged to recreate in the water a few hundred yards from SONGS’ outflows that release cesium-137, cobalt-60, iodine-131, strontium-90, tritium, among other radioactive isotopes. Edison identifies these isotopes in its own reports.

We also question Becker’s reference to Dr. Ken Buesseler’s oceanographic research. Dr. Buesseler is a world-renowned marine radiochemist, but he is not a medical expert on the human health effects of radiation.

Radioactive isotopes from SONGS remain deadly for more than 200,000 years.

For the most reliable information on what is safe at San Onofre, we must trust physicians and relevant science, not employees of Southern California Edison.

Bart Ziegler received his doctorate degree in community and environmental medicine with an emphasis in inhalation toxicology. He has a background in chemistry and neuroscience. He is the president and cofounder of the Samuel Lawrence Foundation. For the past 10 years, he has advocated, on behalf of the public interest, for improved environmental health and safety measures at nuclear power plants and for the high-level radioactive waste left behind at each site. He appreciates the ocean in his free time by sailing California waters on an old schooner. SC PLEASE NOTE: In an effort to provide our readers with a wide variety of opinions from our community, the SC Times provides Guest Opinion opportunities in which selected columnists’ opinions are shared. The opinions expressed in these columns are entirely those of the columnist alone and do not reflect those of the SC Times or Picket Fence Media. If you would like to respond to this column, please email us at editorial@sanclementetimes.com. The San Clemente Times and Picket Fence Media do not publish content that is defamatory.

CONTRIBUTORS Megan Bianco Jake Howard Tim Trent

San Clemente Times, Vol. 15, Issue 44. The SC Times (sanclementetimes.com ) is published weekly by Picket Fence Media, publishers of the Dana Point Times (danapointtimes. com) and The Capistrano Dispatch (thecapistranodispatch. com). Copyright: No articles, illustrations, photographs or other editorial matter or advertisements herein may be reproduced without written permission of the publisher. The publisher assumes no responsibility for return of unsolicited manuscripts, art, photos or negatives. Copyright 2020. All rights reserved. Printed in the USA.

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San Clemente Times October 29-November 4, 2020

POLICE SHOOTINGS JEFFREY HERMAN, San Clemente

The Washington Post tracks, among other statistics, police shootings of unarmed suspects.

Nationally, during 2019, police shot and killed 15 unarmed Black suspects, and 25 unarmed White suspects. This certainly does not indicate the existence of racial bias among law enforcement.

Yet, those 40 suspects would all be alive today if they had followed some very simple common-sense rules.

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by the officer.

• If you are placed under arrest, do not resist in any way; fully comply with the officer’s orders.

• Never verbally assault an officer.

• Never physically assault an officer.

• Never attempt to grab an officer’s firearm.

• Never flee on foot from an officer.

Even if you’re not in a vehicle but are stopped on the street, following these common-sense rules will guarantee that each and every encounter will end safely.

CANDIDATES’ MAILER STATEMENTS BETSY SCHULTZ, San Clemente

Never trust what some of the city council candidates running for office say on (Cont. on page 16) sanclementetimes.com

San Clemente Times October 29-November 4, 2020

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sanclementetimes.com

SOAPBOX

(Cont. from page 14) their mailers and brochures—beware.

I attended a luncheon and heard from several of them about their platforms, and was quite surprised to hear one of them state that we should stop all litigation against the toll roads.

Now we certainly need to be judicious when it comes to spending our tax dollars for legal issues, but many of these lawsuits in the past have been for “quality of life issues” such as drug houses, vacation rentals and, of course, the toll road.

So, doing some investigation, I discovered that this particular candidate worked in the legal department for the Outlets at San Clemente. The Outlets was responsible for suing San Clemente for the sign program, costing the city thousands of our dollars. It would have seemed that instead of costing thousands of dollars, the Outlets would have gone into mediation.

This city needs to continue the fight against the toll road, and the only way TCA will respond is through legal means, and not laying down as a puppy dog.

Who is this candidate? None other than Steve Knoblock, who was also previously on the city council and who lost his reelection bid back in 2008. So, beware of wolves in sheep’s clothing.

EDITOR’S NOTE: According to Steven Knoblock, he’s in favor of reducing litigation costs against the toll roads.

HOUSING RESTORES DIGNITY AND SAVES LIVES MAURA MIKULEC, Capistrano Beach

Earlier this month, at the San Clemente City Council meeting, commenting on the city’s Housing Plan and its RHNA numbers, I contributed a public comment that reiterated the idea that San Clemente needs more affordable and supportive housing for residents who are disabled, for seniors, and for people experiencing poverty.

One commenter in the YouTube chat scoffed, asserting that housing like this does not go to seniors or the disabled, but rather to “homeless vagrants.” It needs to be said that that commenter is factually wrong. And let’s not forget that the entire council recently voted to defer a decision on whether to take grant money for a full year, with the caveat that a small portion of the money, as proposed, would not go to Permanent Supportive Housing.

Around the time of that meeting, there were several dozen people at the Laguna Hills Inn alone, part of Project Room Key, who needed supportive or affordable housing. These people are mostly longterm residents of South County, about half of whom are seniors, and most of whom have disabilities and/or significant San Clemente Times October 29-November 4, 2020

medical conditions.

These are people who were homeless, who were living on the streets and in their cars. These are the people waiting for supportive and affordable housing that does not exist, and who will be shuffled around to shelters and other substandard places in the following weeks, now that Project Room Key has come to an end.

Sadly, many will land back on the street because too many people think that Permanent Supportive Housing is for people they consider unworthy, or like the present city council, who think that somehow Permanent Supportive Housing is not something we should have in San Clemente.

Permanent Supportive Housing, and Affordable Housing, are for people experiencing poverty, for seniors, and for people with disabilities. Housing ends homelessness. Housing ends suffering.

Housing restores dignity. Housing saves lives.

When is this community going to stand up against ignorant narratives espoused by some in this community, and be willing to help those members of the community who need this kind of help?

Hopefully, in the upcoming election.

Find out where the candidates stand on housing and vote.

Lands Commission (at the request of Surfrider Foundation) now requires 48-hour advance warnings. We just learned that there were four in October, with the last one scheduled on Oct. 29.

The nuclear industry attempts to trivialize these releases by focusing on the radiation in a single release. The problem is that the effects of radiation are cumulative, so each exposure adds to previous exposures. One X-ray may not be harmful, but would you want 1,000 X-rays? There are generally no immediate effects from ionizing radiation, because DNA cell damage takes years or decades to become cancer.

In the five years before the plant was shut down, SCE conducted over 1,000 releases. They pumped over 100 billion gallons of radioactive water into the ocean through giant pipes 18 feet in diameter.

Air ejectors blasted radiation into the atmosphere, and prevailing winds carried it over our cities. Some releases went on continuously for 28 hours.

No one knows for sure if there are cancer effects, but let’s support the research designed to find out. Let’s also urge elected officials at all levels to show some leadership in pressuring authorities to get the thousands of tons of highly radioactive uranium and plutonium moved to a safer location.

RADIATION

DON’T LET SPECIAL INTEREST GROUPS RUN OUR CITY

ROGER JOHNSON, San Clemente

Now that we are the official home of a nuclear waste dump, how does this threat affect our lives?

Even if there is no catastrophic accident, scientists have long worried whether just living near a nuclear power plant can cause cancer, especially in women and children (and the human fetus) who are much more vulnerable to radiation exposure. Research in Europe reports an increase in cancer risks.

The prestigious National Academy of Science spent five years studying this issue and issued two lengthy reports entitled Cancer Risks in Populations Near Nuclear Facilities. They singled out the 50 km radius around San Onofre as one of the regions to be studied. That means everyone from Huntington Beach around to Solana Beach. Unfortunately, the NRC stepped in and terminated the research before it could begin.

Eager to restart this research, 1,200 area residents recently signed a petition requesting congressional funding to make it happen. Cancer is the No. 1 killer in California. Could all the radioactive releases be a contributing factor?

Edison has been conducting radioactive releases in secret for over a half-century. Starting this year, they are no longer done in secret, because the California

JOE JANIS, San Clemente

Two weeks ago, I wrote a letter to the editor about negative ads, warning candidates that if they become frontrunners, special interest groups will be out to discredit them. Sure enough, the negative ads have been delivered.

I am sure most of you have received these pathetic mailers during the past week. So far, three strong candidates have been targeted by special interest groups: Tyler Boden, Gene James and Chris Duncan. A few more top contenders may be added to their hit list.

I hope all of our residents can see through this very expensive propaganda.

Atlas, an out-of-town political action committee, is spending tons of money to attack front-runners and convince you to vote for their candidates: Steve Knoblock and Aaron Washington.

I do not personally know Aaron or Steve, and I have nothing negative to say about them, but this is a giant red flag, folks.

Political action committees spend this kind of money only to influence future votes of future councilmembers. Does anyone think this out-of-town PAC has our best interest in mind?

Throw those flyers away, and in this election, let’s convince them that they are

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wasting their money in San Clemente.

FEED MY SPIRIT HABIB HOSSEINY, public information officer for The Baha’is of San Clemente

When my wife and I moved to San Clemente about 10 years ago to be close to our daughter’s family, I sought to get involved in the life of my new community and be of service to its people.

Among other acts of service, I helped administer an Essay Scholarship for San Clemente High School, centering on subjects of unity, social justice, and an optimistic vision for humanity.

This is why I am so concerned about the sad situation of Sept. 23 and how it will affect our entire community.

I believe the best cure for any problem is education, which bears its fruits gradually. Let us learn together.

Thus, I warmly invite the SC community to the friendly “Feed My Spirit” dialogues on a variety of subjects from 10 a.m. to noon on Sunday mornings and/or the limited series specifically on racial issues entitled “Towards Oneness” beginning on Thursday, Nov. 5, at 7 p.m. —both temporarily on Zoom.

For information on how to join, call 201.306.2226 (mobile) and ask for me, Habib.

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR POLICY

Have something you’d like to say? Email your letter to letters@sanclementetimes.com no later than 8 a.m. on Monday. San Clemente Times reserves the right to edit readersubmitted letters for length and is not responsible for the claims made or information written by the writers. Limit your letters to 350 or fewer words. Please send with your valid email, phone number and address for verification by staff. Your address and phone number will not be published. The San Clemente Times and Picket Fence Media do not publish content that is defamatory. In the interest of fairness, SC Times will not publish letters submitted by candidates running for elected offices between the time they file for candidacy and the date of the election.

Virtual Beachside Chat, Friday, Oct. 30, at 8 a.m., via Zoom Join SC Times for a virtual Beachside Chat on Friday, Oct. 30, at 8 a.m.

Beachside Chat is a spirited, town hall forum on community issues, hosted by SC Times Editor Shawn Raymundo every Friday. Email Shawn Raymundo at sraymundo@picketfencemedia.com for a link to the Zoom video meeting.

sanclementetimes.com

San Clemente Times October 29-November 4, 2020

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San Clemente Times October 29-November 4, 2020

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SC GETTING OUT San Clemente

YOUR SEVEN-DAY EVENT PLANNER

EDITOR’S PICK

Sinister in San Clemente will host its complimentary, socially distanced haunted house through Halloween weekend. Photo: Courtesy of Sinister in San Clemente

THURSDAY, OCT. 29-SATURDAY, OCT. 31: SPOOKY & SINISTER IN SAN CLEMENTE 5-9:30 p.m. This free haunted attraction through Halloween weekend offers two versions: the Spooky haunted house for children 8 years old and younger, running from 5-6 p.m., and then the Sinister haunted house starting at 6:30 p.m. that promises to be bigger and better than last year. Sinister participants should beware, as this isn’t the typical “wander through a garage” style haunted house; rather, a full-fledged attraction incorporating scares probably not seen in a home-based haunted house before. Social distancing precautions will be in place, and all performers will be temperature-checked daily and will be masked (scary and face coverings). Head to sinistersanclemente.com to reserve spots for the live or virtual experience. 1203 Cerca, San Clemente. 240.426.3084. sinistersc@gmail.com.

The List

What’s going on in and around town this week COMPILED BY STAFF

HAVE AN EVENT? Submit it to San Clemente Times by going to sanclementetimes.com, and clicking “Submit an Event” under the “Getting Out” tab.

Thursday | 29 PUMPKIN PATCH AT ZOOMARS 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Pick out a Halloween pumpkin at ZOOMARS Petting Zoo. The patch event runs through Oct. 31. ZOOMARS Petting Zoo, 31791 Los Rios Street, San Juan Capistrano. 949.831.6550. zoomars.com.

Friday | 30 STARLITE MOVIES DRIVE-IN: ‘CASPER’ 6-10:30 p.m. The ultimate drive-in movie experience comes to the Outlets at San Clemente. Experience the nostalgia of a drive-in movie, featuring current, classic and quintessential favorites. Rediscover (or discover) films from the ’80s, ’90s and today. It’s the perfect evening for couples, families and friends. Thursday night’s feaSan Clemente Times October 29-November 4, 2020

ture film will be Casper. Outlets at San Clemente. 101 West. Avenida Vista Hermosa, San Clemente. starlitemovienight.com.

Saturday | 30 SOUTH OC CARS AND COFFEE 9-11 a.m. South OC Cars and Coffee, dubbed the world’s biggest weekly car meet, attracts a mix of 500-1,000 hypercars, supercars, exotics, vintage, classic, muscle and sports cars, hot rods, rat rods, pickups, 4x4s and motorcycles. Those attending are encouraged to practice responsible social distancing. The Outlets at San Clemente, 101 West Avenida Vista Hermosa, San Clemente. southoccarsandcoffee.com.

Sunday | 01 ANESTHESIA-FREE DENTAL AND LOWCOST VACCINATION CLINIC 9 a.m.-2 p.m. Qualified Pet Dental will be at Bow-Wow Beautiful Pet Spa for its monthly Dental and Vaccination Clinic. All services include a complimentary minor veterinary exam. Other services offered include flea prevention RX, microchipping, vaccinations and airline travel certificates. Teeth cleanings will be by appointment only, and all other services are available by walk-in.

Bow-Wow Beautiful Pet Spa, 364 Camino De Estrella, San Clemente. 949.702.3130. bowwowbeautiful.com.

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sanclementetimes.com

SC SC LIVING San Clemente

PROFILES OF OUR COMMUNITY

GUEST OPINION: Historical Happenings by Tom Marshall

Entertainers Quick to Discover San Clemente

Y

es, President Richard Nixon is San Clemente’s most famous former resident. But Hollywood stars discovered our special charms almost from the beginning.

The first female movie star, Gloria Swanson, built a second home here in 1926 before the city was even officially born. The 2,600-square-foot house is still standing on Cazador Lane in the Pier Bowl, which according to a newspaper ad was originally known as the “Pasadena Colony” historic district. The asking price in 2009 was $3.2 million.

Starting in silent films, Swanson went on to become one of the highestpaid actors in Hollywood, commanding $250,000 per picture. A three-time Oscar nominee, she is perhaps best known for her work in 1950’s Sunset Boulevard.

Another early Hollywood icon, Lon Chaney, Jr., moved from Capistrano Beach to a small home on Calle de Anza, near the old San Clemente city hall. That home is also still standing.

Anne Debbs got to know Chaney, who was best known for starring in The Wolfman movies of the 1930s. At 6 feet, 3 ½ inches tall, he was one big wolf. That apparently didn’t worry the guy who stole Chaney’s car from in front of his home one night in 1966.

Debbs said Chaney didn’t talk much about his movies, but contrary to his scary film image, “he was the sweetest man.”

Musician Jerry Velasco has lived in San Clemente for decades. He was a

favorite of the Nixons when they were in town. He also worked in films with Elvis Presley and Sammy Davis, Jr., among others.

Comedian Martha Raye was a frequent visitor and actually ended up in the local hospital after attending one of Velasco’s parties.

Back in the 1930s, Bing Crosby’s car broke down here as he was traveling between L.A. and San Diego. Legend has it, while the car was being repaired, ‘der Bingle’ got in a short round of golf.

Actor James Arness, Marshal Matt Dillon of TVs Gunsmoke, used to surf here in his younger days. The 1930s band leader Fred Waring (Fred Waring & the Pennsylvanians) owned Casa Romantica for a time, though it was HISTORICAL used mainly by his HAPPENINGS ex-wife.

By Tom Marshall And, of course, dozens of stars including Judy Garland performed at Casino San Clemente over the years.

I’m not aware of any Hollywood royalty living here now, but a couple of near “A-listers” do. Jazz singer/songwriter Elizabeth Lamers has performed all over the world, including London’s Royal Albert Hall, New York’s Radio City Music Hall and the Sydney Opera House in Australia.

“I moved here from L.A. years ago.

Contributor: San Clemente Historical Society

FROM THE ARCHIVES San Clemente musician Jerry Velasco, pictured

here following a performance at the Western White House, was a favorite of President Richard Nixon when the Nixons lived here in the 1970s.

Every week, the San Clemente Times will showcase a historical photo from around the city. If you have a photo you would like to submit for consideration, send the photo, your name for credit as well as the date and location of the photo to editorial@sanclementetimes.com.

I’m never moving back,” she promised.

Country singer Kelly Rae Roemer (Kelly Rae Band) also lives here. She performs across the country, including in Las Vegas and at Disneyland, and doesn’t know why more performers aren’t based here.

It used to be that you had to be in Nashville or Bakersfield if you wanted to make it in country music.

“But now with internet booking, you can live anywhere and continue working,” she said.

So, Pitt, Streisand, what are you wait-

ing for—an invitation from the mayor?

Oh, wait, we don’t have one. That must be the problem.

Tom Marshall is a member of the San Clemente Historical Society and a retired journalist. SC PLEASE NOTE: In an effort to provide our readers with a wide variety of opinions from our community, the SC Times provides Guest Opinion opportunities in which selected columnists’ opinions are shared. The opinions expressed in these columns are entirely those of the columnist alone and do not reflect those of the SC Times or Picket Fence Media.

If you would like to respond to this column, please email us at editorial@sanclementetimes.com. The San Clemente Times and Picket Fence Media do not publish content that is defamatory.

Sudoku

Adoptable Pet of the Week: Willow

BY MYLES MELLOR Last week’s solution:

SAN CLEMENTE TIMES

W

illow is a happy girl who loves to have fun. Only a year old, Willow is full of energy, and her favorite game to play is fetch. She is coming along well in her training and enjoys learning new commands. Willow would do best in an active home with an experienced owner to continue with her training.

If you are interested in adopting Willow, please visit petprojectfoundation. org/adoptions/adoptadog to download an adoption application form. Completed

San Clemente Times October 29-November 4, 2020

Willow. Photo: Courtesy of San Clemente/Dana Point Animal Shelter

forms can be emailed to animalservices@ scdpanimalshelter.org, and you will be contacted about making an interaction appointment. SC

Each Sudoku puzzle consists of a 9x9 grid that has been subdivided into nine smaller grids of 3x3 squares. To solve the puzzle, each row, column and box must contain each of the numbers 1 to 9. Puzzles come in three grades: easy, medium and difficult. Level: Medium

Page 20

See the solution in next week’s issue.

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San Clemente Times October 29-November 4, 2020

Page 21

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SC LIVING CoastLines by Fred Swegles

Tales of Bootleggers in Early San Clemente

“I

could’ve been a millionaire if I’d wanted to,” Harry Comber once said.

He was San Clemente’s first motorcycle cop, hired in 1929. Two years later, he was appointed the third chief of police in San Clemente history.

He made San Clemente famous, writing notorious numbers of speeding tickets along old Highway 101 in San Clemente.

Meanwhile, patrolling the streets and coastline of San Clemente, he busted bootleggers trying to sneak illicit liquor through San Clemente during Prohibition.

“Every cop in the country was on the take in those days,” Comber would tell me decades later during the final chapter of his life.

He resisted the bribe attempts, he proudly declared.

As we related in the San Clemente Times on Oct. 8, Comber became embroiled in a political controversy over his traffic tickets, which local merchants complained were sullying San Clemente’s reputation and driving away business. He COASTLINES resigned in 1933 to “preBy Fred Swegles serve harmony,” he said.

Comber went on to a successful law enforcement career in Los Angeles. He happily returned to visit San Clemente in the 1970s to share recollections—his liveliest stories being about bootleggers trying to sneak illegal whiskey up and down the coast.

one high-powered motorboat recovered 300 feet north of the pier, abandoned in the surf line, evidently having been “seen, chased and the liquor dumped in the ocean.”

Other bootleggers smuggled the goods by car, up or down Highway 101.

HOW IT WORKED

Clandestine shipments often would arrive by sea in speedboats. Shipments might land at Cotton’s Point, Calafia Beach or the San Clemente Pier, local historian Doris Walker wrote in her book The Heritage of San Clemente.

“Large ocean-goINTRIGUE IN ing Canadian warehouse ships filled SAN CLEMENTE with cartons of fine In 1931, El vat-cured whiskeys Heraldo reported a and West Indies seizure of 75 cases rum, among other of liquor by federal tempting types, officers from three anchored legally in cars at San Cleminternational waters ente—one of the three miles or more biggest busts in the Former San Clemente Police Chief Harry Comber offshore,” Walker town’s history. is pictured with his badge collection, after retirewrote.

Another article ment, in a clipping of a 1970s profile written by “Many fishermen told how Chief of Fred Swegles. along the isolated Police Comber Orange County coast and Officer Earle were recruited to serve as rumrunners, Coleman pulled over a suspiciously slowshuttling the bottled goods from ship to moving car, finding 15 gallons of “moon” shore,” Walker wrote. “It became an honin the back seat. orable as well as lucrative profession, espe“Well, boss, I guess you all got me,” the cially coming as it did at the start of what suspect was quoted as saying. “And it was would develop into The Great Depression. good stuff.”

The rummies were even admired for the Comber said he once halted a gasoline danger they faced and the coveted goods tanker truck, its tanks full of contraband they delivered.” booze.

El Heraldo de San Clemente described He said he refused bootleggers’ offers,

San Clemente Times October 29-November 4, 2020

HAPPIEST PLACE ON EARTH?

So, what did Comber do with the bootleg liquor he seized? To hear him describe it, evidently The Great Depression in San Clemente wasn’t quite as depressing as it could have been.

“I used to give liquor to the citizens,” Comber said. “I’d say, ‘Take it out and destroy it for me!’ ” He insisted he only gave it to citizens he was confident wouldn’t sell it.

“Everybody knew everybody,” he said.

“We were one big family. It was a wonderful game in those days.”

And maybe, by some stretch of the imagination, Comber could rationalize his giveaways. Prohibition, which lasted from 1920 through 1933, merely outlawed the manufacture, transportation and sale of booze—not drinking it.

“By law, any wine, beer or spirits Americans had stashed away in January 1920 were theirs to keep and enjoy in the privacy of their homes,” history.com reported. “For most, this amounted to only a few bottles, but some affluent drinkers built cavernous wine cellars and even bought out whole liquor store inventories to ensure they had healthy stockpiles of legal hooch.”

NO HARD FEELINGS

Comber held no grudges over the political spat he said had cost him his job. During his senior years, he told only happy memories of San Clemente.

He insisted back in 1933 that he had issued a slew of speeding tickets along Highway 101 on instructions of the city council.

ORIGINS IN S.C.

Hailed for his “honesty, integrity and efficiency” when named police chief, Comber said he originally got the job of San Clemente traffic cop because he’d been a motorcycle officer in Seattle, where San Clemente founder Ole Hanson had been mayor.

Comber said the first speeder he ticketed in San Clemente turned out to be a city councilmember and, instead of reprimand or dismissal, he got a commendation.

Earlier, in Seattle, his first assignment as a traffic cop was just as memorable. He said his motorcycle, pursuing a speeder, slipped on a slick of cow manure and crashed.

Fred Swegles is a longtime San Clemente resident with five decades of reporting experience in the city. Fred can be reached at fswegles@picketfencemedia.com. SC

RUM RUNNERS

“Instead of collecting millions,” I wrote in a Daily Sun-Post profile, “Comber says he collected adventures. Time and again, he got shot at, got offered bribes, and arrested bootleggers who couldn’t believe he wasn’t on the take.”

In one case, Comber claimed to have captured 14 smugglers on the beach in San Clemente with a stash of liquor, turning down a $5,000 bribe to return the contraband.

If you convert that online into 2020 dollars, $5,000 in 1930 would translate to about $78,000 today.

Another time, Comber said, he turned down an ongoing offer of $3,750 per week to turn his eye from contraband.

All he had to do, he said, was just “stay away.”

“very much satisfied” with his job as police chief.

“San Clemente paid a better salary than any other city,” he told me.

Clockwise from top: A 1931 issue of El Heraldo de San Clemente describes a bootlegging seizure, next to stories about the city council wanting to donate 20 acres for a high school site, Ole Hanson being named chairman of a countywide hotel promotion association, three Spanish Village residents being injured in a crash, and more. Harry Comber was named police chief in this issue of El Heraldo de San Clemente. El Heraldo de San Clemente reported this recovery of a high-speed bootlegging boat abandoned in the surf line near the pier. Newspaper clippings: Courtesy of S.C. Historical Society Page 22

PLEASE NOTE: In an effort to provide our readers with a wide variety of opinions from our community, the SC Times provides Guest Opinion opportunities in which selected columnists’ opinions are shared. The opinions expressed in these columns are entirely those of the columnist alone and do not reflect those of the SC Times or Picket Fence Media. If you would like to respond to this column, please email us at editorial@sanclementetimes. com. The San Clemente Times and Picket Fence Media do not publish content that is defamatory.

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San Clemente Times October 29-November 4, 2020

Page 23

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SC LIVING

BUSINESS BEAT

News from San Clemente’s business community

BY SAN CLEMENTE TIMES

New businesses (and owners) have come to town to open up shop in recent months.

Below are just a couple of the handful of new San Clemente shops and storefronts. SC

A ticket stub from the Feb. 25, 1996 Johnny Cash House of Blues appearance. Photo: Courtesy of Jake Racker

GUEST OPINION: On Life and Love After 50 by Tom Blake

Discovering a Small World in the Neighbors’ Backyard

T

wo months ago, our next-door neighbors in Monarch Beach—Jake and Kresta Racker— invited Greta and me and our across-the-street neighbors, Alex and Colleen Torres, for a socially distanced happy hour in the Rackers’ backyard.

It was a spur-of-the-moment pleasant break for all of us after being isolated from people for months.

The Rackers, along with their son, Ethan, moved in nearly five years ago.

They are ideal neighbors, friendly, fun, and considerate—but we had never socialized.

The happy hour conversation turned to Johnny Cash. Whenever the subject of Johnny Cash comes up, I always add my two-cents worth, having worked with Johnny for two years in the 1970s. I also co-produced an album with him.

Jake said he saw Johnny Cash in concert only once. Jake remembered that he and his buddy Quinn from Utah saw Johnny perform at the House of Blues on Sunset Boulevard in Los Angeles in the mid1990s.

I had a vague recollection of seeing Johnny perform at the House of Blues, but I wasn’t sure when it was.

After the happy hour gathering, I didn’t think much more about when I had seen Johnny at the House of Blues, until Oct. 16, when Jake sent me a text.

His text included a picture of a ticket stub from the Feb. 25, 1996 Johnny Cash House of Blues appearance, which his buddy Quinn had found in a drawer and sent to him.

I started to wonder: had I been at that

San Clemente Times October 29-November 4, 2020

same show? If I had, I probably would have written about it. At that time, I had been a newspaper columnist for less than two years, writing about “Middle Aged and Dating Again” for community newspapers owned by the Orange County Register.

I had a box of old columns in the garage.

I found a manila envelope from 1996. I started leafing through the articles and was thrilled to find the 89th column I had written, dated March 14, 1996 and titled, “Dream of a date includes an evening enjoying the music of Johnny Cash.” (Today’s column is number 4,143—give or take a hundred).

So, I had been to the same concert that Jake and Quinn had been to nearly a quarter-century before. The article stated that it was the 31st Johnny Cash concert I had attended.

I printed out a copy and placed it on Jake’s frontdoor mat. He emailed a copy to Quinn in Utah.

An hour later, Jake stopped by and said the ON LIFE AND article helped him and LOVE AFTER 50 Quinn “fill in the details”

By Tom Blake they had forgotten about the concert—facts such as The Freewheelers had been the opening band and that Red Hot Chili Peppers also had performed.

The Racker family has lived next door for five years. It took Jake and me that long to discover we had both enjoyed the same special night at the House of Blues 24 years before.

Jake and Kresta framed the article and the ticket stub and presented it to Greta and me as a remembrance.

The world is, indeed, small—even in the neighbors’ backyard.

Tom Blake is a retired Dana Point business owner and resident who has authored books on middle-aged dating. See his website at findingloveafter50.com. To comment: tompblake@gmail.com. SC PLEASE NOTE: In an effort to provide our readers with a wide variety of opinions from our community, the SC Times provides Guest Opinion opportunities in which selected columnists’ opinions are shared. The opinions expressed in these columns are entirely those of the columnist alone and do not reflect those of the SC Times or Picket Fence Media. If you would like to respond to this column, please email us at editorial@sanclementetimes.com. The San Clemente Times and Picket Fence Media do not publish content that is defamatory.

Photo: Shawn Raymundo

NEW BUSINESS THE WICKER BEE 211 Avenida Del Mar, Unit A, San Clemente 949.272.8120, thewickerbee@gmail.com, facebook.com/thewickerbee New to Downtown San Clemente, The Wicker Bee sells vintage clothing, beeswax candles and living arrangements.

Photo: Courtesy of SoCal Boot Camp Photo: Shawn Raymundo

NEW OWNERS SOCAL BOOT CAMP 1030 Calle Sombra, Suite B, San Clemente, 949.218.2267, socalbootcamp.com SoCal Boot Camp, which has locations in both San Clemente and Dana Point, recently welcomed its new owners Arthur Morin and Mazl Ohayon. Both have a passion for fitness, as well as goals to change lives and make an impact that can be passed down through generations.

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San Clemente Times October 29-November 4, 2020

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PUBLIC NOTICES TO ADVERTISE: 949.388.7700, EXT. 111 • LEGALS@PICKETFENCEMEDIA.COM PUBLIC NOTICE FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT 20206584064 The following person(s) is (are) doing business as: LUNA NATURAL MEDICINE 116 WEST EL PORTAL, SUITE 102 SAN CLEMENTE, CA 92672 Full Name of Registrant(s): DAYNA K. KOWATA 1437 WEST 11TH AVENUE ESCONDIDO, CA 92029 This business is conducted by An Individual.

The registrant commenced to transact business under the fictitious business name or names listed above on: n/a /s/DAYNA K. KOWATA This statement was filed with the County Clerk of Orange County on 9/09/2020.

Published in: San Clemente Times October 8, 15, 22, 29, 2020 PUBLIC NOTICE ORDINANCE NO. 1705 NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that the City Council of the City of San Clemente, at its Regular Meeting of October 20, 2020, adopted the following ordinance: Ordinance No. 1705 entitled AN ORDINANCE OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF SAN CLEMENTE, CALIFORNIA, AUTHORIZING AN AMENDMENT TO THE CONTRACT BETWEEN THE CITY OF SAN CLEMENTE AND THE BOARD OF ADMINISTRATION OF THE CALIFORNIA PUBLIC EMPLOYEES’ RETIREMENT SYSTEM AND REPEALING ORDINANCE #1703.

Persons interested in receiving an inspection copy of the Ordinance are invited to call the Deputy City Clerk at (949) 361-8301 or by email at campagnolol@san-clemente.org. Copies will be emailed or mailed to you at no cost.

NOTICE IS FURTHER GIVEN that the abovereferenced Ordinance was introduced at the City Council meeting of October 6, 2020 and was adopted at the Regular City Council meeting of October 20, 2020 by the following vote: AYES:

JAMES, WARD, MAYOR PRO TEM FERGUSON

NOES:

NONE

ABSENT: HAMM JOANNE BAADE City Clerk and Ex-Officio Clerk of the Council PUBLIC NOTICE Order to Show Cause For Change of Name Case No. 30-2020-01162481 To All Interested Persons: Petitioner Shu Cheng Liu Huang filed a petition with this court for a decree changing names as follows: PRESENT NAME A. Shu Cheng Liu Huang PROPOSED NAME A. Nora Shu-Cheng Liu Huang The Court Orders that all persons interested in this matter shall appear before this court of the hearing indicated below to show cause, if any, why the petition for change of name should not be granted. Any person objecting to the name changes described above must file a written objection that includes the reasons for the objection at least two court days before the matter is heard and must appear at the San Clemente Times October 29–November 4, 2020

hearing to show cause why the petition should not be granted. If no written objective is timely filed, the court may grant the petition without a hearing.

Notice of Hearing Date: 11-19-2020 Time: 08:30 a.m. Dept.: D100 Window: 44. The address of the court is Central Justice Center, 700 Civic Center Drive West, Santa Ana, CA 92701. A copy of this Order to Show Cause shall be published at least once each week for four successive weeks prior to the date set for hearing on the petition in the following newspaper of general circulation, printed in this county: San Clemente Times.

Date: September 28, 2020 JUDGE JAMES J. DI CESARE, Judge of the Superior Court Published: San Clemente Times October 15, 22, 29, November 5, 2020

This business is conducted by an individual.

The registrant commenced to transact business under the fictitious business name or names listed above on: n/a /s/TEDRA LEE This statement was filed with the County Clerk of Orange County on 10/2/2020.

Published in: San Clemente Times October 22, 29, November 5, 12, 2020 PUBLIC NOTICE FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT 20206585920 The following person(s) is (are) doing business as: BEACH SILVER

123 CALLE AMISTAD, APT 18302 SAN CLEMENTE, CA 92673 Full Name of Registrant(s): JANAINA LOPES BRAMEN 123 CALLE AMISTAD, APT 18302 SAN CLEMENTE, CA 92673 This business is conducted by an individual.

The registrant commenced to transact business under the fictitious business name or names listed above on: n/a /s/JANAINA L BRAMEN This statement was filed with the County Clerk of Orange County on 9/30/2020.

Published in: San Clemente Times October 29, November 5, 12, 19, 2020

PUBLIC NOTICE FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT 20206585437 The following person(s) is (are) doing business as: INTENT PHYSIO 221 VIA PRESA SAN CLEMENTE, CA 92672-9267 Full Name of Registrant(s): INTENT PERFORMANCE PHYSICAL THERAPY, INC. 221 VIA PRESA SAN CLEMENTE, CA 92672-9267 This business is conducted by CA Corporation.

The registrant commenced to transact business under the fictitious business name or names listed above on: 9/19/2019 /s/INTENT PERFORMANCE PHYSICAL THER, NATHAN GORDON JEFFRIES/PRESIDENT This statement was filed with the County Clerk of Orange County on 9/23/2020.

Published in: San Clemente Times October 15, 22, 29, November 5, 2020

Complete your required legal or public notice advertising in the San Clemente Times.

• Fictitious Business Notice (FBN/DBA) • Name Changes • Lien Sale • Alcoholic Beverage License • Notice to Creditors

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PUBLIC NOTICE FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT 20206584855 The following person(s) is (are) doing business as: 13 STRIPES WINERY 625 VIA GOLONDRINA SAN CLEMENTE, CA 92672 Full Name of Registrant(s): WESTERLY WINE COMPANY, LLC 625 VIA GOLONDRINA SAN CLEMENTE, CA 92672 This business is conducted by a CA Limited Liability Company.

The registrant commenced to transact business under the fictitious business name or names listed above on: n/a /s/WESTERLY WINE COMPANY, LLC /s/MICHAEL SPEAKMAN, MANAGING MEMBER/MANAGER This statement was filed with the County Clerk of Orange County on 9/16/2020.

Published in: San Clemente Times October 8, 15, 22, 29, 2020 PUBLIC NOTICE FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT 20206586223 The following person(s) is (are) doing business as: TA•DA / TEACHING ART • DOING ART 4901 CALLE VIDA SAN CLEMENTE, CA 92673 Full Name of Registrant(s): TEDRA LEE 4901 CALLE VIDA SAN CLEMENTE, CA 92673 Page 26

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SC n te S a n C le m e

BUSINESS DIRECTORY

San Clemente Times October 29-November 4, 2020

Page 27

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San Clemente Times October 29-November 4, 2020

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& SC SPORTS OUTDOORS San Clemente

SC San Clemente

LO C ALS O NLY

BUSINESS DIRECTORY

STORIES, SCORES, SCHEDULES AND MORE

ADDICTION RECOVERY TREATMENT

Scoreboard

BY ZACH CAVANAGH, SAN CLEMENTE TIMES

Our City Scoreboard keeps you updated on all of the local San Clemente youth and community team accomplishments and special individual performances of the week. Email zcavanagh@picketfencemedia.com for submission.

TRITON ALUMNI OPEN COLLEGE FOOTBALL SEASONS STRONG As college football slowly gets back to a full schedule conference by conference, former San Clemente High School stars are making their way back to the collegiate gridiron and making impacts.

The Mountain West Conference finally got its COVID-delayed season underway over the weekend, and Boise State boasted a handful of former Tritons in its opening win.

Senior linebacker Riley Whimpey, a 2015 SCHS graduate, registered a sack and seven tackles as the Broncos dominated Utah State, 42-13. Whimpey was named a defensive captain for Boise State this season after being named AllMountain West Second Team in 2019.

Redshirt junior Jack Sears, an early graduate at SCHS in December 2016, did not win the quarterback competition for the Broncos, but Sears still figured into the game plan against Utah State. The graduate transfer from USC completed 2 of 3 passes for 11 yards and carried the ball twice for 8 yards.

For now, Sears will remain the backup to sophomore starter Hank Bachmeier, whom Sears and the Tritons beat for the CIF-SS title at Murrieta Valley in 2016.

Bachmeier completed 20 of 28 passes for 263 yards and three touchdowns and ran for another score in the seasonopening win.

Boise State has a third Triton on the roster in redshirt senior offensive lineman Donte Harrington, a 2016 SCHS graduate. Harrington, who redshirted his freshman season, did not get on the field against Utah State and is coming off missing the entire 2019 season due to a preseason injury.

Boise State’s opening win moved the Broncos into the AP Top 25 at No. 25.

BSU follows up at Air Force on Saturday, Oct. 31, at 3 p.m. on CBS Sports Network.

San Clemente Times October 29-November 4, 2020

Elsewhere in the Rocky Mountain region, another Triton is following up the family legacy at Brigham Young University.

After serving his Mormon mission in Samoa, freshman tight end Isaac Rex is making himself known in his first full season at BYU. Rex, whose father Bryon was an All-American tight end at BYU, has improved and become more involved in the Cougars offense with each passing week.

In six games, Rex has caught 12 passes for 175 yards and three touchdowns, with bigger yardage totals each successive week. On Saturday, Oct. 24, Rex had his best game of the season with five receptions for 66 yards and two touchdowns in a 52-14 win over Texas State.

BYU has rolled over its competition in a 6-0 start on the way to a No. 11 ranking in the AP Top 25. BYU next hosts Western Kentucky on Saturday, Oct. 31.

Boise State and BYU clash in two weeks on the blue turf in Boise on Nov. 6 at 6:45 p.m. on FS1.

FORMER SADDLEBACK COLLEGE COACH, LOCAL BROADCASTER BILL CUNERTY DIES Former Saddleback College and Dana Hills High School football coach Bill Cunerty died from complications of Parkinson’s disease on Thursday, Oct. 22. Cunerty, 74, was diagnosed with the disease in April of 2017 and had been in hospice care for more than a year.

Cunerty first made his name locally as the head football coach at Dana Hills in 1975 and at Capistrano Valley High School in 1977. Cunerty later was a quarterback coach and offensive coordinator at Saddleback College before becoming head coach in 1995. Saddleback went undefeated and won a national championship under Cunerty in 1996.

Cunerty may be known more locally for his time as a high school football broadcaster for the local Cox 3 Game of the Week. From 2003 to 2017, Cunerty worked alongside broadcaster Kevin Turner and former Los Angeles Rams quarterback Vince Ferragamo covering and highlighting South Orange County football.

Cunerty is survived by his wife of 51 years, Claudia, daughter Kelly, sonin-law Cameron, daughter Shannon, son-in-law Ben, three grandchildren and sister Patty. SC

Body Mind Spirit Intensive Outpatient Program 665 Camino De Los Mares, Ste. 104, 949.485.4979, bodymindspiritiop.com

ATTORNEY Aaron Lloyd Bankruptcy Attorney 949.544.9355, 2377 S. El Camino Real, lloydlegal.com Rosen Law Offices, P.C. 34118 Pacific Coast Highway, Suite 5, Dana Point, CA 92629, 949.335.0020, snrosenlaw.com

DENTISTS Benjamin Stevens, D.D.S. 3553 Camino Mira Costa, suite B, 949.493.2391, benstevensdds.com

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Braker Electric 949.291.5812, Lic# 719056 Insured

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Danman’s Music School 949.496.6556, danmans.com Rock Club Music School 73 Via Pico Plaza, 949.463.1968, beachcitiesrockclub.com

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PROSTHODONTICS

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SC SC SURF San Clemente

SCOOP ON THE LOCAL SURF COMMUNITY

The Case for Surf Heroes

GROM OF THE WEEK

REX HENNINGS

From Edwards to Curren to Florence, some surfers capture our imagination

BY JAKE HOWARD, SAN CLEMENTE TIMES

W

ith Halloween arriving this weekend, here’s a little tribute to the surf superheroes—the ones we all will forever aspire to emulate riding the waves.

I was recently having a conversation with someone about how two-time world champ John John Florence is like the modern-day Phil Edwards. During surfing’s “Golden Era” in the early to mid-1960s, Edwards was unequivocally the man. Nobody touched his style then, and few have come close since.

By ’66, he had the top-selling surfboard model with Hobie and was the first surfer sponsored by a surfwear brand, Hang Ten. He was Surfer magazine Surfer Poll winner and featured on the cover of Sports Illustrated. Then he was done. He found sailing and stepped out of the wave-riding limelight.

Florence, who grew up surfing and skating on Oahu’s famed North Shore, is a stylist in much the same regard. There’s no wasted movement or flailing around—just clean, pure lines. His love of sailing has only continued to blossom in recent years, and like Edwards, he’s too humble to thirst for stardom. He’d just as soon be behind the helm as he would be at the top of a podium.

A couple of weeks ago, I was interviewing 14-year-old Oceanside phenom Caity Simmers for the World Surf League. We got to talking about what she thinks makes good style. Her answer was the same as just about every surfer who’s ever been asked that question.

“I don’t know how to describe it; you just know it when you see it,” Simmers said.

Rex Hennings. Photo: Courtesy of NSSA

BY JAKE HOWARD, SAN CLEMENTE TIMES

Tom Curren and Maurice Cole with replicas of the infamous logoless Semi-Guns. Photo: Courtesy of the WSL

A product of the ’80s and ’90s, my surf hero has always been Tom Curren. Hands down. No question. He’ll always be the one I look to when measuring the caliber of other surfers—both in and out of the water.

I believe it’s a similar kind of thing for those from an older generation and how they use Edwards as their gold standard or how today’s surfers look toward Florence.

Even before I really understood how technically perfect Curren’s surfing was, his wandering, barefoot vibes captured my imagination. I had the film Searching for Tom Curren on repeat, fell in love with weird boards and, hell, even learned to play guitar because of his weird experimental jazz riffs.

In 1991, when I was an impressionable high school student listening to Rage Against the Machine, Curren did the unspeakable. He paddled out in a contest in Hawaii without his sponsors’ stickers on his board. Whether it was an act of rebellion against the surfing industrial complex or just forgetfulness, it remains a topic of conversation.

But the beauty of surf heroes is that most are accessible if you aren’t afraid to ask a few questions. When legendary Aussie surfboard shaper Maurice Cole was in town awhile back, I had the opportunity to ask him if he remembered why Curren

Tom Curren defined how to ride Jeffreys Bay in South Africa, the perfect union of surfer and surf spot.

Photo: Courtesy of the WSL San Clemente Times October 29-November 4, 2020

went “logoless” in ’91.

“Like a demon, I was roaring up the wrong side of the Kam Highway in my van, laying on the horn, yelling out the window, carrying on like it was the bloody zombie apocalypse,” Cole explained.

Only minutes earlier, he’d convinced Curren to step up from a 7’3” to a 7’8” in the quarters at Haleiwa. The catch was that the longer board was back at the Kuilima condos on the other side of the North Shore.

When they’d left earlier in the morning, they’d forgotten just about everything—including stickers. With Tom’s heat coming up quickly, Cole, a man of perpetual action, charged himself with retrieving the nowfamous, yellow-railed Semi-Gun in record time.

“I came screaming back into the car park, hopped the curb, pulled right up to the scaffolding, and there’s Tom, just waiting. His heat’s already out in the water.

He’s just standing there. He’s just patiently waiting, like a kid whose mom told him not to move,” Cole said. “So, I give him the board and tell him to get out there.”

“He looks at me, and asks, ‘Got any wax?’ ” For me, that innocent punchline makes Curren even more of a hero. Of course, he didn’t have any wax! Curren was later captured riding that board at Backdoor Pipeline in what may be one of the most iconic surf photos of all time by master lensman Tom Servais.

If there’s a moral to this story, it may be to pick your surf heroes wisely; they may just be with you the rest of your waveriding life.

Jake Howard is local surfer and freelance writer who lives in San Clemente. A former editor at Surfer Magazine, The Surfer’s Journal and ESPN, today he writes for a number of publications, including the San Clemente Times, Dana Point Times, Surfline and the World Surf League. He also works with philanthropic organizations such as the Surfing Heritage and Culture Center and the Positive Vibe Warriors Foundation. SC

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t’s been a challenging year for all those groms who thrive on throwing on the jersey and battling it out in NSSA contests every weekend.

With most of the comps canceled for the year due to the pandemic, staying focused on dreams and goals hasn’t always been easy, but last weekend, the NSSA National Championships was held at Nags Head, North Carolina.

Blessed by consistent hurricane swell, surfers from all around the country made the arduous trip back East.

For San Clemente’s Rex Hennings, all the hard work and dedication paid off, as he was crowned the 2020 NSSA Open Boys National Champion. Henning, in his first NSSA national title event, is taking home a trophy nearly as big as he is, for the effort.

One of the most massive accomplishments of Henning’s young career, he tapped into the zone in North Carolina, tearing through heat after heat en route to the top of the podium.

Other big results from the North Carolina competition included Sawyer Lindblad of San Clemente, who captured the 2020 National Open Girls title, and Max Beach of San Clemente, who wrapped up his NSSA career with a very respectable second-place finish in the Open Men’s division. SC

SURF FORECAST Water Temperature: 65-67 Degrees F Water Visibility and Conditions: 6-10 ’ Thursday: Mix of small South/southwest and Northwest swells, for thigh to waist high surf, (2-3’). Light/ variable morning winds, turn westerly 6-11kts in the afternoon, then ease by the evening.

Outlook: On Friday, the minor mix of South/southwest and Northwest swells weakens, with waves down in the knee-thigh-waist high zone, (1-2-3’).

Light/variable winds in the morning, become a light+ sea breeze during the afternoon. A fresh South/ southwest swell fills in over the weekend, setting up waist to stomach high surf, (2-3’+) on Saturday, then waist to chest high waves, (3-4’) for Sunday. The weekend has light/variable morning winds, followed by light+ to moderate westerly afternoon onshores.

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San Clemente Times October 29-November 4, 2020

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sanclementetimes.com

San Clemente Times October 29-November 4, 2020

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