Coastal Gardener: How to Kill a Lawn

Ron Vanderhoff, Daily Pilot columnist

The lawn that just won’t die! Surprisingly perhaps, that’s exactly the fear that many people have when contemplating switching their lawn to something else.

We fuss and labor over our lawns. If we miss a watering, forget to fertilize or ignore our little green oasis, we quickly see the outcome: browning, dieback, weeds, disease and so on. So, when the time comes, you’d think it would be easy enough to murder them.

Not so. Grass lawns, especially those in California, can be tenaciously persistent, refusing to die, returning months later to haunt the executioner. Even the idea of removing a lawn leaves many stricken with fear.
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Letters from the editor: Time for a Cinderella season

My daughter just started playing AYSO soccer.

She had two rounds of parks and recreation tot soccer under her belt and did so well we felt she was ready for the bigtime.

But she’s skipping a step — the coed team of mostly 4-year-olds — and going straight to a girls’ team.

A friend’s dad is the coach and he had an opening on his squad. My daughter’s 4, but the other girls are 5 or turning 5. Nevertheless, my wife and I figure she’s ready, and can only get better playing with bigger kids.

At the first practice the girls gathered to name the team. I thought this was cool because in my day, our team names were assigned. I played for toughs like the Rogues, Aztecs and Earthquakes.

So when it came time for the girls to make their pick, I was hoping for something that honored the heritage of “the beautiful game.”
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In the Pipeline: A look at Endless Food & Fun, which is coming to Huntington Beach

By Chris Epting, Huntington Beach Independent columnist

“The buffet will be about 100 feet long and will extend down that way.”

Andrew Pereira, a local entrepreneur, is guiding me through the vast space of a single-story structure that seems to stretch for miles. The building is adjacent to the Thomasville Home Furnishings store at 7227 Edinger Ave. in Huntington Beach, and though it is hot and sunny outside, inside it is cool and dark and small earthmovers are clearing mini-mountains of dirt.

Construction workers are making like busy bees throughout the complex, welding, hammering, sodering and, in general, converting the empty space into something Pereira hopes will help transform the city – or at least this part of the Edinger corridor.

But I ask to ask again. A 100-foot buffet?
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City Lights: H.B. elections are upon us

I’m a political junkie, and one of the greatest thrills I have is watching the excitement that surrounds an election. Years ago, I volunteered for a presidential campaign in New Hampshire and took part in what we called “visibility,” which meant driving up and down the icy streets at 5 a.m., sticking our candidate’s signs in the ground and trying to dominate entire blocks.

In most elections, it’s easy to draw a line between the contenders who have a chance and those who don’t. But when those colorful signs dot every corner downtown, it’s hard not to grin at democracy in action.

Right now, the spectacle has hit Surf City. Drive down Warner Avenue and surname-bearing signs leap out from both sides of the road. Given the 20 candidates’ vastly different budgets, though, it’s unlikely that they’ll get equal exposure.
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It’s A Gray Area: Government needs to step out of center debate

James P. Gray, Daily Pilot columnist

So should the Muslim community be “allowed” to build a mosque or religious center two blocks away from the former World Trade Center site? Actually President Obama gave us the answer. Numbers of times in these pages I have been critical about some of Obama’s comments and policies, mostly dealing with economic issues, but this time he got it exactly right!

Obama said that the government should not interfere in this decision because it is a question of religious freedom. But he also said that, under the circumstances, building a mosque or religious center in that place would be insensitive, and the Muslim community should show the grace to decide to put it somewhere else. This may be a subtle distinction, but it is a critically important one.

First of all, this issue presents a wonderful teaching opportunity to show the world that we really do have religious freedom in the United States — and make no mistake, the world is watching! Because the Muslims own the land and the zoning is in their favor, they have the clear legal and constitutional right to build the center on this site, and that should end the government’s involvement. The idea of “I support religious freedom, but not in my back yard” is not what the Bill of Rights stands for.
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Getting to know alleged murder victim through her surviving work

I never met Marcia Forsberg, who wrote features for this newspaper in the 1970s and 1980s.

Now it looks like I never will.

Her husband of 39 years, Richard Forsberg, was charged this week with killing her in their Rancho Santa Margarita home and hiding her remains in Ventura County. Marcia Forsberg’s body has not been recovered.

She was — or if still alive, is — 61.

Now the only way to get to know Forsberg is through her writing. By rummaging through the Daily Pilot and Los Angeles Times’ archives, I could find only three of her old columns, though she wrote many more pieces for us. But even from this small sample, I feel like I got a sense of her colorful writing style and the enthusiasm she brought to the trade.
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Sunbather run over by Newport Beach lifeguard files claim

A sunabther run over by a Newport Beach lifeguard last month has filed an $850,000 claim against the city.

About 12:50 p.m. Aug. 4, Janice Cola, 55, of Orange, was relaxing in her beach chair reading a book on the sand at 54th Street and Seaside Drive, not far from a lifeguard truck, her attorney Jay Weitzler said.

As she read, a lifeguard truck nearby slowly turned right in the sand toward her and drove its front right tire over her thighs, breaking her pelvis.

City officials don’t dispute her account.
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The college conversation: Her daughter is headed off to school

LISA McLAUGHLIN, Daily Pilot columnist

My 5-year-old heads off to kindergarten this week, and even though she’s been in preschool and pre-K for three years, I’m a mess.

This transition is the real deal, and I’m beside myself wondering if I’ll have enough tissues the first day.

She, on the other hand, is ecstatic. The thought of new friends. New clothes. What her new teacher will be like.

And, more than that, she can’t wait to get back to school and learn. The Montessori school that she attended for three years called the time when students were focusing on academics “work,” so she’s really excited for new “work.”
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City Life: Spend time with your kids — now

By Steve Smith, Daily Pilot columnist

My father was not a wealthy man. Not even close. But he now has something in common with Donald Bren, the billionaire chairman of the Irvine Co.

A few days before my father passed away 10 years ago, he told me he wished he’d spent more time with his four boys.

During Bren’s testimony in the trial to determine whether he owed more money to two children born out of wedlock 18 and 22 years ago, Bren was asked by one of his lawyers whether he regretted not having spent more time with them.

“I do,” he replied.
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O.C. Bargainista: Pretty in pink, lipgloss that is

By Cadice Baker, Daily Pilot columnist

Freebie of the Week: A free lip gloss from Express stores! Better hurry if you want to cash in on this one — the offer only is active today, to receive a coupon to redeem Sept. 8 to 10. Go to www.facebook.com/expresshttp://www.facebook.com/express and select the “New Fans” tab, saying you want to be a fan, then fill out the form for your personalized coupon.

While the kids are away, Mommy can play

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