Ex-basketball coach charged with having sex with O.C. student

John Tran Nguyen. (Courtesy Fountain Valley Police Department)

Authorities in Orange County Thursday night were looking for possible additional victims of a former high school coach charged with having a sexual relationship with a student that started when she was 14.

John Tran Nguyen, 21, is charged with having sex with the girl while she was a student at Los Amigos High School in Fountain Valley and while he was a contract assistant basketball coach there, the Orange County district attorney’s office said.

The alleged sexual relationship began in December 2011 and continued during the next year, the district attorney’s office said in a statement.

— Robert J. Lopez, @LAJourno, Los Angeles Times

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Fountain Valley back to exploring shared services

After opting to keep its own Fire Department intact, the loss of redevelopment funds has led Fountain Valley to reconsider sharing fire services with neighboring Huntington Beach.

The potential loss of up to $1.4 million in redevelopment funds from the general budget is forcing Fountain Valley to reexamine its options of sharing services, said Fountain Valley City Manager Ray Kromer.

“With us losing redevelopment money, we’re just kind of making sure we’re reexamining everything,” he said. “We’re just making sure we didn’t miss anything with our preliminary discussion with Huntington Beach.”

Sharing services at this time, however, will be done on a smaller scale from what was previously discussed. Fountain Valley is looking to only share the fire chief, a part-time nurse and a training officer, Kromer said. The three positions are vacant in Fountain Valley.

The city in October explored sharing some of Huntington Beach’s command staff or partnering with the Orange County Fire Authority to provide services, but backed out when Fountain Valley officials realized their department staff would miss out on promotions and that the response time could be delayed, and began looking to hire a new fire chief.

–Mona Shadia, @MonaShadia, Huntington Beach Independent

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Survey: Majority supports college district bond

A majority of residents surveyed in the Coast Community College District support a potential 2012 bond measure for building repairs and job training, according to a poll financed by the district.

The district, which released the results last week, is ramping up its exploration of a bond that an initial ballot summary says would support the Orange Coast, Golden West and Coastline Community campuses, but not toward the district’s administrative salaries or Sacramento.

The poll’s preliminary numbers show that about 60% of voters surveyed would definitely, probably or are leaning toward voting in favor of a 2012 general obligation bond measure, said Richard Bernard, a research associate with Fairbank, Maslin, Maullin, Metz & Associates, during a Feb. 1 presentation to the district Board of Trustees.

– Britney Barnes, @BritneyJBarnes, Daily Pilot

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O.C.’s ‘hidden minority’ celebrates Prop. 8 ruling

Same-sex couple Agustin Gonzalez, far left, and Roman Beltran, second from left, attend a rally hosted by the Orange County Equality Coalition and the Gay Neighbors, Families, and Friends of Santa Ana. The rally celebrated a federal court's ruling that could be a step toward overturning Proposition 8. It was held at Episcopal Church of the Messiah in Santa Ana. (KEVIN CHANG, Daily Pilot / February 7, 2012)

Supporters of same-sex marriage called Tuesday’s federal court ruling negating Proposition 8 a step in the right direction while opponents argued that the will of California voters should stand.

“It is incredible, marvelous,” Newport Beach Dr. Jorge Rodriguez said of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals’ decision to overturn the proposition on constitutional grounds. “I’m really reminded of that Martin Luther King quote that I love: ‘The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.’”

Rodriguez, a Laguna Beach resident who works at Orange Coast Medical Group, said that as a doctor he sees health problems, including depression, in patients who do not feel validated.

As someone “who’s in the people business,” he said he has noticed that “the wellness of society influences the wellness of the individual.”

– Lauren Williams, @lawilliams30, Daily Pilot

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Veteran educational leader talks goals

Newly appointed Coast Community College District Chancellor Andrew C. Jones, center, meets with employees during a private gathering at Coast Community College in August. (KEVIN CHANG, Daily Pilot / August 26, 2011)

As community college budgets continue to decline and the statewide conversation of changing the colleges’ purpose continues, Andrew C. Jones doesn’t see the situation for education getting better for several more years.

Still, the 62-year-old Coast Community College District chancellor took the top spot despite everything and believes the district can be successful and thrive in this environment.

“The thing about it is, it’s exciting — it’s full of opportunity,” he said. “It is a time when people are more open at looking at things than they might have been in a more complacent environment.”

Jones was tapped in May to oversee the 60,000 students across the district’s three colleges — Orange Coast, Golden West and Coastline — after former Chancellor Ding-Jo Currie announced her retirement in January 2011.

– Britney Barnes, @BritneyJBarnes, Daily Pilot

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CHP responds to two crashes on 405 at Euclid

Multiple people were sent to the hospital after two separate vehicles crashes on the San Diego (405) Freeway on Thursday morning, according to California Highway Patrol.

The first crash occurred at 8:57 a.m. on the northbound lanes at Euclid Street when an SUV struck the center divider, partially blocking the left lane. There were no known injuries, according to CHP.

A second crash occurred at 9:12 a.m. at the same location, involving two taxi vans, with possible injuries.

Costa Mesa Fire crews responded and were still at the scene as of 10:15 a.m. Thursday.

It is not known if the two crashes were related.

— Sarah Peters, @speters01, Daily Pilot

Police: Man sold iPhone boxes filled with tiles

Luther Clayborn Dawson, 41 (Courtesy Irvine Police)

A San Marcos man was arrested on suspicion of selling iPhone boxes stuffed with tiles to unsuspecting customers he met on Craigslist, police said Tuesday.

Luther Clayborn Dawson, 41, on was arrested Monday after detectives spotted him allegedly selling an Irvine man boxes containing rectangular ceramic tiles and user manuals, the Irvine Police Department said.

Dawson first appeared on Irvine police’s radar when another resident said he was sold three boxes that he believed contained cellphones.

– Lauren Williams, @lawilliams30, Daily Pilot

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Sisters rock around Kit-Cat Clocks’ parade float

When Lauren Anne Clement heard that one of her local retailers was hosting a talent show, she felt like a longshot.

The Pensacola, Fla., dance instructor hadn’t competed in years, and she had less than a day to throw together a costume, find a partner, pick a song and choreograph a routine.

Racing against deadline, Clement and her sister, Tori Siddall, chose the Bill Haley classic “Rock Around the Clock,” assembled 1950s-style outfits out of dresses and pearls and worked out a swing-dance duet.

And all they got out of it was a part in the Rose Parade.

The sisters won a nationwide competition sponsored by Kit-Cat Clocks, a Fountain Valley-based company that has produced iconic cat-shaped wall clocks since 1932.

The company celebrated its 80th birthday Monday at the parade, and it sought devoted customers to ride on the float — whose theme song just happened to be “Rock Around the Clock” as well.

The song runs slightly over two minutes, but as the Kit-Cat float rolled through Pasadena, the sisters ended up dancing to it for more than five hours straight, according to Siddall.

“I don’t think I’ve ever had so many blisters on the bottom of my feet,” said the 21-year-old event coordinator. “You should have seen me walking through the airport. But it was all worth it.”

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St. Mark’s preschool head to retire

Mary Hornbuckle will retire from ST. Mark Community Preschool. (Daily Pilot File Photo)

Mary Hornbuckle has gone by lots of titles over the years: Costa Mesa mayor, city councilwoman, school director, community college district trustee.

Next summer, she’ll have a new one: retired.

Hornbuckle will serve her last day as director for St. Mark Community Preschool on June 30. She has served as director of the Newport Beach since 1988 and taught there for a decade before that.

“I don’t know what I’m going to do when the new school year begins,” the 68-year-old said. “I’ve been doing this for 24 years and the timing just seemed right.

“We have a wonderful staff. The school is running well. We moved into a new location about five years ago and everything seems to be settled here, so it’s a good time to leave and let someone step into a well-running school.”

– Joseph Serna, @JosephSerna, Daily Pilot

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Fountain Valley school board votes to close Moiola

The Fountain Valley School District board voted unanimously Thursday night to close Fred Moiola K-8 School, despite protests of parents and students who urged the district to spare the campus.

The five-member board’s regular meeting was well-attended but mostly subdued. Dozens from the Moiola community have gathered at earlier meetings to voice support for their school.

Thursday, though, just three parents addressed the board before the members voted. Board President Judy Edwards called the decision “one of the toughest things” she has had to do in her years on the board.

The school at 9790 Finch Ave. is scheduled to close July 1. It opened in 1971 and was named after a former Fountain Valley city councilman who died in an airplane crash in 1963.

Outside the boardroom, some parents said they were disappointed by the vote and felt the district and board made their decision irrespective of the community’s feelings.

“I just feel the process was deeply flawed,” said Michelle Holbrook, a mother of two Moiola students and three others who graduated from there. “And truly, the agenda was set before the plan was put into motion. I don’t think we ever stood a chance to keep our school open.”

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