REFLECTING ON THE YEAR 2004
Shark bites surfer. Surfer rides whale. Talega grows. Marblehead Coastal plan moves forward.

December 31, 2004  OC Register

Byline: FRED SWEGLES   

January

Casa Romantica Cultural Center launched a $1 million fund drive to finish landscaping the grounds at 415 Avenida Granada. The first garden -- featuring native California plants -- was planted.
The Heritage of San Clemente Foundation selected a Pier Bowl site for a proposed bronze monument to the Marine Corps. By year's end, a fund drive had reached $75,000 toward a $125,000 goal.

Jim Johnson, San Clemente land developer and philanthropist, died.

An 18-year-old visitor from Missouri, walking along the railroad track with a friend, reportedly decided to see how long he could wait before jumping out of the way of a train and miscalculated. He survived.

A $151,000 donation from the Leonard Family Foundation helped Las Palmas Elementary School improve its library and enhance the learning experience in every classroom.

Movie director and former San Clemente High student Rian Johnson returned to town to feature San Clemente students and locales in a movie he was shooting, "Brick." It's nearing completion now.

Parents at San Clemente elementary schools scrambled to raise money to preserve a 20:1 student-teacher ratio in the third grade, hoping to offset Capistrano Unified School District funding shortages.

Friends rallied around Don Edwards, a San Clemente cycling enthusiast seriously injured when two groups of bicyclists accidentally tangled on a curve between San Clemente and Oceanside.

February

Jimmy Ku, 10, was killed while crossing Camino de los Mares in a Friday night tragedy that mobilized the community to improve children's safety and supervision outside Krikorian movie theaters.

Army Sgt. Eliu Miersandoval, a San Clemente High graduate, was killed in Iraq when the vehicle in which he was riding hit a homemade explosive.

Sony Pictures withdrew a request for permission to use the San Clemente Pier as a prop in "Lords of Dogtown," a movie about the 1960s, after running into local opposition to building facades on the pier and filming during spring break.

John Carroll, a retired firefighter, was credited with saving a neighbor's home after discovering that the house on Calle Pescador was on fire.

Congestion at the Avenida Pico/I-5 interchange got some relief when Caltrans -- at the city's request -- added a second left-turn lane onto the southbound freeway ramp.

Julia DiGiovanni was named Citizen of the Year and Jim Johnson was posthumously accorded a Lifetime Achievement Award by the Chamber of Commerce. Jerry Lehman was named Volunteer of the Year, Sandy Vierra Educator of the Year and Don and Shelly Kindred Business of the Year.

March

Acting on a citizen's complaint, the California attorney general's office launched an investigation into the state of San Clemente's sidewalks and the city's practice of allowing parked cars, hedges and other obstructions to block public right-of-way.

The City Council voted down a disputed plan to install lights on soccer fields at a proposed Marblehead Coastal park.

Graffiti appeared at 300 S. El Camino Real after the city forced property owners to paint over two colorful murals that the owners had added to the property without proper city permits.

The City Council increased the parking fine to $45 for blocking the street sweeper's path on posted streets. The fine is $10 higher.

Dead or dying raccoons turned up around town, suffering canine distemper. Residents were told to not feed raccoons and to protect pets my making sure their vaccinations are up to date.

Our Lady of Fatima School's academic decathlon team beat 21 other Catholic schools at the Diocese of Orange's annual junior high academic decathlon.

Two Pepsi vending machines that help raise money for the city park system were booted from the Ole Hanson Beach Club, the city deciding that the flashy looking machines detracted from the appearance of the historic city pool complex.

The San Clemente High School Dance Team won the hip-hop title in the USA Nationals competition at the Anaheim Convention Center.

April

Friends of San Clemente Animals and the Animal Rescue Foundation of Dana Point merged, forming the Pet Project Foundation to support the San Clemente-Dana Point Animal Shelter.

Col. Aaron Bank, founder of the Green Berets and a longtime San Clemente resident, died at 101.

The City Council rejected residents' call for a moratorium on second-story additions in Shorecliffs. The city later launched a study in Shorecliffs and southwest San Clemente to see if new building standards are needed.

Deputy Daniel P. Missel was honored for valor for his role in a 2003 incident, subduing an armed man in San Clemente.

Downtown merchants braced for months of inconvenience as the city launched a $3 million renovation of El Camino Real.

The City Council banned the use of Styrofoam containers from city facilities and at city-sponsored events.

The county installed a pair of ultraviolet filtration systems in a storm drain channel at Poche Beach to clean the water and prevent beach pollution. It didn't: The cleaned water continued to pond on the beach, stagnating and becoming polluted again.

May

More than 70 San Clementeans swapped ideas at a workshop to lay groundwork for a downtown strategic plan. It's under preparation.

The TCA released a 3,200-page environmental study analyzing options for relieving growing traffic congestion on I-5. It sparked a public debate over a plan to extend the Foothill (241) toll road south to I-5 at or near San Clemente. A decision is due in 2005.

A San Clemente brewery -- Oggi's -- was named best small brewing company in the world at the World Beer Cup competition in San Diego.

A video starring Trevor Hills, 6½, and Jake Feiner, 7, won this season's America's Funniest Home Videos national competition. It featured the Little Leaguers testing out their protective cups to see if they really worked.

After five years of planning and bureaucratic wrangling, San Clemente won state regulators' approval of a coastal trail from North Beach to Calafia Beach.

June

A 23-year-old Stanton man tied up southbound traffic on I-5 for nearly four hours when he threatened to jump from an overpass near Avenida Pico.

San Clemente Presbyterian Church completed a $9 million renovation.

Matt Stollenwerk was named Triton of the year and Iva Patel scholar of the year at San Clemente High.

Fifteen years after construction of Calafia Beach Park, the city built a stairway from a railroad crossing down to the beach, over rocks. It was left out of the original park for monetary reasons.

Doris Gardner was honored as volunteer of the year in the Retired senior Volunteer Program.

For the fourth time in 15 years, the City Council voted down a request from dog owners to allow leashed dogs in parks citywide. Three of the city's 18 parks are okay to take Bowzer -- plus the city's new dog park.

The city honored Rachel Barge and David Bargueño with 2004 Human Relations Leadership Awards for outstanding community service.

The Orange County Teachers Federal Credit Union honored San Clemente's Jacky Kriskey and David Stoffle with Educators First awards.

San Clemente High won its fifth national surfing title in the last six years. Patrick Gudauskas was the national scholastic men's champion, succeeding his twin brother Patrick, who had won in 2003.

July

Caltrans launched an $8 million repaving of I-5 from Beach Cities through San Clemente promising a smoother ride.

A smoking ban went into effect on city beaches.

Francisco Mota Cabrera, 21, died at his West Escalones home when he tunneled underneath the house to repair the plumbing and was trapped in a cave-in, authorities said.

Ballet dancer Brieana Pagliaro, 9, was named Young Dancer of the Year at the American Dance Awards in Orlando, Fla.

Deborah Williams, 49, was found slain in her bedroom. Her boyfriend, 47-year-old Maynard Hatleberg, was charged.

The long-awaited Avenida Vista Hermosa bridge opened, providing a direct link from Talega to I-5 as an alternative to Avenida Pico.

After years of planning, debate, tradeoffs and refinement, the City Council gave final approval to a plan for 313 homes and a 642,000-square-foot retail and entertainment center, the Marblehead Coastal development. It now is being reviewed by the Coastal Commission.

Trying to spur more play by out-of-town golfers who pay higher fees, the Municipal Golf Course terminated a reservation advantage that the golf course has for years given locals.

Ashley Downes, 15, entered her first fashion pageant and won -- named Miss Hawaiian Tropic 2004 in her age group.

Residents in Forster Highlands held a birthday party for seven 1-year-olds born within five months of each other on the same street.

San Clementeans fondly remembered Sgt. Rich Corder, who left San Clemente Police Services for a new sheriff's assignment in Santa Ana after 25 years here.

August

Route 193, a new OCTA bus running from North Beach to Kmart by way of Wal-Mart, made its debut.

The Downtown Business Association locked horns with the Chamber of Commerce over the future of the San Clemente Fiesta, an annual downtown block party organized by the chamber.

Journey School, a 140-student charter school, was forced to relocate for the fourth time in five years, moving from Ole Hanson Educational Services Center in San Clemente to Wood Canyon Elementary School in Aliso Viejo.

City Hall took a stand on the controversial Foothill-South toll road proposal, asking the TCA to rule out any routes that cut through town, including a widening of I-5. In a letter to the TCA, the city declared that the San Clemente General Plan supports a route that would skirt the south end of town.

A 9-foot-long juvenile Great White Shark sent surfers scurrying to shore at Cotton's Point, the first in a series of late-summer shark sightings that included a sighting off Riviera Beach and a baby white shark grabbing a surfer's foot at 204 Beach.

San Clemente High graduate Kristen Caverly competed in the Olympic Games at Athens, Greece.

Lloyd Hanson, son of San Clemente founder Ole Hanson, died at 87, leaving a local legacy in the form of a book about his adolescent years spent in the Casa Romantica.

Tony Louch described how he celebrated his 60th birthday this year by climbing Africa's Mt. Kilimanjaro, highest free-standing mountain in the world.

September

A blown tire sent a pickup truck and its utility bed onto opposite sides of I-5, snarling traffic for hours on both sides of the freeway.

Facing rumors of an impending Chevron Texaco permit application to the state or federal government, the City Council came out against any effort to develop a liquefied natural gas terminal off Camp Pendleton.

The City Council imposed a temporary freeze on issuance of residential building permits at Talega until a required public park is completed.

Some 250 friends and family gathered at Lesneski Mortuary to salute Lance Cpl. Derek Gardner, a 20-year-old Marine killed on Labor Day when a bomb ripped through a U.S. convoy in Iraq.

Rosemary Kabel died at age 75, remembered as a San Clemente weather-watcher, a Friends of the Library volunteer, an outspoken advocate of recycling and a volunteer at St. Andrew's Methodist Church.

San Clemente High celebrated the completion of a $1.3 million football stadium renovation.

There's no cemetery in town, but St. Andrew's Methodist Church broke ground to create a cinerarium where San Clementeans will be able to inter loved ones' ashes.

For the second time in a month, a car crashed into San Clemente's dog park at the end of Avenida La Pata.

Kade Boisseranc was honored by the Exchange Club as city lifeguard of the year.

Our Savior's Lutheran School was named a California Blue Ribbon school.

Surfer Spyros Vamvas, 60, got the ride of his life when a whale lifted him out of the water at Lasuen Beach.

October

Casa Romantica Cultural Center & Gardens opened its first homegrown exhibit, "The Allure of South Orange County."

St. Clement's Episcopal Church celebrated its 75th anniversary, oldest church in San Clemente.

The City Council voted to spend $180,000 to import beach sand dredged from the Santa Ana River. Trucks could roll in January, bringing 5,000 cubic yards of sand to North Beach.

Coral Thrift Shop celebrated 40 years' service.

R.B. Alexander, a 55-year-old retired surf shop manager, described how he went back into the Army this year. spending 36 days in Iraq as a weapons advisor.

Ending a three-year neighborhood spat, the City Council gave Shorecliffs Mobil Home Park permission to erect a 40-foot-high fake pine tree housing cell phone antennas.

The city's redevelopment agency loaned Casa Romantica Cultural Center & Gardens $350,000 to help complete a parking lot and greenbelt, coming on top of $416,000 in pledges raised so far.

November

Jim Dahl and Stephanie Dorey were re-elected to the City Council in a three-person race. Businessman Michael Kaupp finished third.

The San Clemente Exchange Club honored Deputy Scott Baker, Community Services Officer Yolanda Topete, Firefighter/Paramedic Geoff Hull and Reserve Firefighter Arthur Camarena at its annual public safety officer of the year fete.

County supervisors approved a Rancho Mission Viejo plan for 14,000 homes in the foothills behind San Clemente, including 1,200 homes, a golf course, business park and commercial center bordering Talega.

The San Clemente Historical Society published "From Fishcarts to Fiestas," a 143-page history of San Clemente to be used as a third-grade textbook but also available to San Clementeans who want to learn more about their town. It's on sale ($20) at the society's museum.

The City Council created a Downtown Noise Task Force to see if changes are needed in restaurant music levels or other concerns.

Tom Armstrong, 54, challenged the city's ban against sleeping in a parked car. The City Council refused to back down. Armstrong, from Escondido, accepted a plea bargain on his ticket in court but vowed to fight the city over the ordinance.

Ending a lengthy debate, the City Council voted to let Jack and Marvin Selcer commission a mural on a concrete trash enclosure in their parking lot behind Hollywood Video.

After running San Clemente's beaches, parks and recreation programs for 17 years, Bruce Wegner resigned to spend more time with his family. Al King succeeds him.

December

At a memorial service, San Clemente officials provided roses to the families of 34 Marines killed in Iraq, members of San Clemente's adopted unit at Camp Pendleton, the 2nd Battalion, 4th Marines.

Family Assistance Ministries lost its lease at 616 S. El Camino Real and found itself searching for a new home.

Rafael and Mariana Caro were in for an astonishing sight when a deer tried to slip through the bars of their wrought-iron gate, got stuck, tore the gate off its hinges and entered their Avenida Salvador courtyard, frantically trying to free itself. After the deer passed out, animal services officers were able to free it and guide it back to the wild.

After months of work, Big League Dreams, a Chino Hills firm that wants to operate a renovated sports park at Richard T. Steed Memorial Park, submitted a new proposal. City staff expects to make it public in January.

Local resident Hal Pollack told City Council members that the city got duped, paying $325 apiece for tiny trees that now line El Camino Real. Pollack said they should have cost $29 or less.

An exotic dancer and the owner of a Bellflower escort service were convicted in the 2001 murder of a San Clementean who reportedly had argued with the dancer in his apartment over services anticipated but not delivered.

The City Council selected Joe Anderson as mayor for the coming year. He succeeds Susan Ritschel.

The city avoided filing a lawsuit over the Rancho Mission Viejo development by reaching a settlement with the ranch owners, placing a cap on the amount of housing on San Clemente's side of the 23,000-acre ranch.

Residents on South Ola Vista petitioned the city to slow down traffic on the residential thoroughfare.

A $2.1 million grant from the Orange County Transportation Authority raised funding to $8 million toward construction of a $10 million San Clemente Coastal Trail. Construction begins in 2005.

The City Council approved a conceptual plan for a 44-acre Avenida Vista Hermosa sports park featuring a three-pool aquatics complex, three baseball fields, five soccer fields, a football field, a community center, gymnasium and more. A dilemma: The city only has $20 million toward the $46 million plan.

Elie Parent, unofficial mayor of the Pier Bowl, died at 88.

To contact Fred Swegles, call (949) 492-5127. You may also e-mail him at fswegles@ocregister.com or sunpostnews@ocregister.com.