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  Thursday, February 19, 2009 Kudos and bravos for this year's Mayor's Dinner By BARBARA VENEZIA CONTRIBUTING COLUMNIST The Newport Beach Mayor's Dinner Feb 11 was fun this year. I was honored to be asked by Speak Up Newport President George Schroeder to present the SUNshine Award for outstanding contributions to the City of Newport Beach to my dear friends John and Donna Crean. Donna attended with daughter Susie to accept the award. Now on the surface that seems like no big deal, but Donna's in the throes of Alzheimer's and that is a big deal. As we watched funny clips of John on "At Home on the Range" during the presentation, she seemed to remember it all. Her gratitude for the award overwhelmed her with emotion. Kudos to George and the SUN committee for an awesome job producing the night, politicians, business owners, residents, lobbyists – you name it, the who's who of Newport was there. It's always interesting schmoozing during cocktail hour. I especially love those folks, who after a few glasses of wine; lose their "edit" button. Bravo to Mayor Ed Selich, his speech was stellar as he shared his vision of the future neighborhood by neighborhood highlighting how unique and diverse a community we really are. I chatted with Sheriff Sandra Hutchens, who looked lovely I might add. She's been getting heat lately about the whole concealed weapon thing. To be honest, I paused for a moment and wondered how many in this crowd might be "packing"? But I think the majority of folks out there, like me, agree she's doing the right thing reviewing these carry permits that Carona was handing out like candy. I don't mind people owning guns, but do they really need to carry them everywhere, like I do my purse? The vast majority of permit holders are men. Why do so many think they need protection 24/7? Do they know something we don't … or is this just plain old paranoia? Or is it as simple as boys wanting to keep their toys? When you write a column as I do, inevitably you run into people you've written about and sometimes they're not happy. Such was the case when I ran into Civil Service Board member Debra Allen who was miffed about my article regarding her board's slow action when the NB Police Management Association asked for an investigation into promotional practices. She defended their belaboring conversation about the issue claiming to be "taken by surprise" getting the cop's legal letter so late Dec. She had no idea there was unrest in the NBPD! I like Deb, but did she miss the controversy last April when the NBPD Employees Association was claiming foul about that too? How could anyone have missed it? It was all over the newspapers. Heck when I was running for office in 2006 these same cops were rumbling about unfair practices within the department! When I reminded her of that she said the board had to take into consideration they needed to bring the new HR Dir. up to speed and "we do have a new city attorney". Well, that's kind of lame too because the "new" city attorney was standing with the cops asking for an investigation at the board meeting. Apparently he was a bit better informed than Deb and group. Yeah, sometimes at these events, you should just smile, air kiss and keep on walking. |
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