The Orange County Tribune Nov. 12, 2022

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Printed in Garden Grove, California n orangecountytribune.com n Saturday, Nov. 12, 2022 n orangecountytribune@gmail.com

n WESTMINSTER CITY COUNCIL

No Decision on Quang Tri Monument

IT’S CHRISTMAS TIME, RIGHT?

Absentions block progress

By Amir Ghani Orange County Tribune

After over two years of back and forth, Mayor Tri Ta put his foot down and pushed forward a decision of no further action to be made regarding the Quang Tri Monument at Wednesday’s Westminster city council meeting.

This discussion about the location of the Quang Tri Monument was pushed back from a September city council meeting.

Talks took place in October between the Quang Tri Monument committee and the Westminster city council about the new dimensions and location choices. The reduced dimensions total to 880 square feet, for an overall

concrete footprint reduction of 17%.

Before the decision to stop discussion was made, Westminster residents voiced their opinions about the memorial during a public hearing at the city council meeting.

“It’s wrong for Westminster. We don’t need a graveyard of Vietnamese monuments,” said one resident in harsh opposition to the building of the monument, before bringing forward to council a petition signed by 186 residents and veterans.

“My father dedicated his life to service, Westminster, Orange County...I would like to ensure the honor of our veterans is forever insured,” said Continued on page 2

What with COVID-19, an election and rising prices, maybe we could all use a little Christmas, right this very minute, like at this gaily-lit home on Shapell Avenue in Garden Grove (Orange County Tribune photo).

Fiery crash kills one, injures two others One person was killed and two others critically injured in a spectacular three-car crash early Friday morning in Garden Grove.

According to Sgt. Royce Wimmer of the GGPD,

the collision took place in the intersection of Magnolia Street and Garden Grove Boulevard. The call came in at 12:43 a.m.

Arriving officers found that one of the vehicles, a Continued on page 2

Two election races are still nail-biters

PROPOSED QUANG TRI MONUMENT

While the national political struggle over which party will control Congress is likely to rage on for days or even months, the West Orange County area only holds a couple of cliffhangers.

In the election for the Orange County Supervisor District 1, only 230 votes at our deadline separated the two candidates.

Santa Ana Mayor Vincente Sarmiento has 31,923 Continued on page 2

Inside “Wakanda” sequel mourns, rebuilds

A&L PAGE 5, 6

CIF-SS football playoff action

SPORTS PAGE 8

For breaking news and sports all week long, go to www.orangecountytribune.com

2 SATURDAY, NOV. 12, 2022/ORANGE COUNTY TRIBUNE

GG fiery crash kills one Continued from page 1

gray Tesla sedan, was engulfed in flames. Officers rescued the driver from the burning vehicle and he was taken to an area hospital in critical but stable condition.

A passenger in the Tesla was pronounced dead at the scene.

GGPD and Orange County Fire Authority firefighter paramedics treated one other injured driver

who sustained critical injuries and was taken to an area hospital in stable condition.

The driver of the Tesla is suspected of speeding and driving under the influence, and the GGPD will be pursuing DUI and vehicular manslaughter charges.

Anyone who may have witnessed the incident is encouraged to contact Investigator Dan Mihalik at (714) 741-5925.

Close elections remain Continued from page 1

votes over Garden Grove Councilmember Kim Bernice Nguyen’s 31,693.

In Westminster’s District 1 struggle, Amy Phan West leads John Gentile by 2,380 votes to 2,319.

The Orange County Registar of Voters says there are over 350,00 votes still to process and count.

Here are the likely winners in the Garden Grove, Huntington

Quang Tri Continued from page 1

Debby Johnson, the daughter of Sid Goldstein, a deceased veteran that won the distinguished service cross after the Vietnam War. She also stated that she believed the park named after her father is not an appropriate location for the Quang Tri Monument One resident, a former United States Coast Guard, noted the lack of Coast Guard insignia on the memorial, telling the council that many soldiers that died in the Vietnam War were enlisted in the Coast Guard.

After public comments, the council discussed the revised architectural plans for the monument.

“Up to this point, I’ve heard your concerns, I appreciate that.

I think all we want to do is be united...I honestly don’t see any other park,” said Ta, “When we do anything, it is for the community, not just the Vietnamese.”

“We need to move forward... it is very difficult being in our situation...please allow the VietContinued on page 6

Beach, Stanton, Westminster area.

State Senate 36th District: Janet Nguyen State Assembly 70th District: Tri Ta Orange County Supervisor District 1: Vicente Sarmiemto or Kim Bernice Nguyen Garden Grove City Council • Mayor: Steve Jones • District 1: George Brietigam • District 3: Cindy Tran • District 4: Joe DoVinh Westminster City Council • Mayor: Chi Charlie Nguyen • District 1: Amy Phan or John Gentile • District 4: Namquan Nguyen Stanton City Council • Mayor: David Shawver • District 1: Donald Torres • District 3: Gary Taylor Huntington Beach City Council • Pat Burns, Tony Strickland, Gracey Van Der Mark, Casey McKeon.

JIm Tortolano Editor and Publisher Marilyn Lewis Tortolano General Manager The Orange County Tribune is published on Wednesdays and Saturdays with some exceptions. Address is 9402 Luders Ave., Garden Grove, 92844.

E-mail is orangecountytribune@gmail. com.

Our website is www.orangecountytribune.com.

Phone: (714) 458-1860.

Established Aug. 6, 2016. All opinions expressed in The Tribune, unless otherwise stated, are those of the individual writer or artist and not necessarily those of The Tribune.

Member: Associated Press, Garden Grove Downtown Business Assn.and the Garden Grove Chamber of Commerce.

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NEW SURF CITY ROYALTY ORANGE COUNTY TRIBUNE/SATURDAY, NOV. 12, 2022 3

News&Views

n GARDEN GROVE CITY COUNCIL

Navigation Center on Tuesday’s agenda POLITCAL SIGNS WERE EVERYWHERE And now the results (mostly) are over.

Election 2022: what voters have wrought With the elections over … well, mostly over … it’s time to take a look at what that portends and what 2023 might bring to us in the West Orange County area.

The biggest – and most welcome – result to come out of the voting is the overwhelming approval of Measure Y, the one-cent sales tax in Westminster.

That penny on the dollar will literally rescue the city from catastrophic cutbacks or, at worst, bankruptcy.

What’s less pleasing is that because of political gameplaying by the council, the city will nevertheless lose millions of dollars in tax revenue because the accrual to the municipal treasury doesn’t start until April, a result of a lack of political courage at 8200 Westminster Blvd.

Another development to come out of Tuesday’s voting Jim Tortolano is the emergence of a new majority on the Huntington Beach City Council.

A foursome running as a slate – Pat Burns, Tony Strickland, Gracey Van Der Mark and Casey McKeon – swept to victory under the banner of “Save Huntington Beach.”

City Attorney Michael Gates – who has recently clashed with the council majority – won re-election easily and a ballot measure to bring that office under more control of the council was rejected by voters.

We’re not sure exactly what that means, but it seems that we will see a much more conservative bent to the council, which had tended to skew more liberal as a result of the 2020 election.

Some of the folks backing this slate had been advocates for the controversial Tito Ortiz, a coronavirus skeptic who resigned from the council and then moved to Florida.

Retorts

Continued on page 4

A special meeting of the Garden Grove City Council has been called for Tuesday, Nov. 15 with an agreement with the County of Orange to provide funding to the planned Navigation Center for the homeless on the agenda.

The Central Cities Navigation Center will be a joint operation of Garden Grove, Fountain Valley and Westminster. The

center is to be located in an industrial area in the southeast of city.

It would provide not just shelter for homeless persons, but will also provide drug counseling, mental health and employment services..

A total commitment of $11.55 million is promised.

Also on Tuesday, the council will consider a final tract map for the

News Briefs

second phase of a residential development at the northwest corner of Garden Grove Boulevard and Brookhurst Street.

The site was formerly developed as a furniture store and a car dealership.

The meeting will be held at 6:30 p.m. in the Community Meeting Center, 11300 Stanford Ave., Garden Grove. n GARDEN GROVE PLANNING COMM.

Two housing projects are considered

OCFA FIREFIGHTERS WORK QUICK Knocked out Diane Street fire in 11 minutes

Thanks for smoke alarms It took Orange County Fire Authority firefighters just 11 minutes to knock down a residential structure blaze in the 12100 block of Diane Street (near Nelson Street and Chapman Avenue) in Garden Grove on Thursday morning.

The 911 call at 10:19 a.m. reported a garage fire with all residents out and no injuries.

The cause is under investigation and all the smoke alarms in the house were working and activated.

A two-time loser arrested

Westminster Police Department stopped a female motorist on Wednesday in the area of Newland Continued on page 4

Two public hearings are scheduled for next week’s meeting of the Garden Grove Planning Commission.

One is a request for a site plan to construct six three-story multi-family residential units on the south side of Stanford Avenue at 12771 Lorna St. The second is a request for a site plan and tentative tract map to build a 20-unit three-story townhome project on the south side of Garden Grove Boulevard, between Newland Street and Yockey Street.

The meeting is scheduled for Thursday, Nov. 17 at 7 p.m. in the Community Meeting Center, 11300 Stanford Ave., Garden Grove.

4 SATURDAY, NOV. 12, 2022/ORANGE COUNTY TRIBUNE

Retorts: What’s impact of what voter’s decided Continued from page 3

It should all make for some interesting meetings on Tuesday nights.

Still up in the air as we go to “press” is the Orange County Supervisors 2nd District seat race in which Santa Ana Mayor Vicente Sarmiento has a 48-vote lead over Garden Grove Councilmember Kim Bernice Nguyen.

The Registrar of Voters reports that there are over 350,000 more ballots left (county-wide) to process, so that situation could cartwheel a few times before coming to a conclusion.

In Garden Grove, Mayor Steve Jones ran without opposition and incumbent George Brietigam (District 1) won easily.

There will, however, be some

new faces on the council with Cindy Tran prevailing in a field of five candidates in District 3.

Leading in the District 4 race is Joe DoVinh, who has a lead of 194 votes over Duy Nguyen.

That’s how the outcome of the 2022 election looks, which – of course – represents the starting gun of the 2024 election campaign.

News Briefs Continued from page 3

Street and Hazard Avenue for a vehicle code violation.

She was on probation, so the vehicle was searched and 87 grams of methamphetamine was found in her purse.

She was arrested for sales of meth for the second time by WPD.

ORANGE COUNTY TRIBUNE/SATURDAY, NOV. 12, 2022 5

Arts&Living

THE DEATH OF CHADWICK BOSEMAN creates an undercurrent of mourning in this movie.

“Wakanda” Mourns, Rebuilds Chadwick Boseman’s depature a challenge, inspiration for film

By Jake Coyle AP Film Writer

Movie Review

Made in the wake of tragedy, “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” reverberates with the agony of loss, piercing the usually less consequential superhero realm. Like someone going through the stages of grief, Ryan Coogler’s movie is at turns mournful and rootless, full of rage and blessed with clarity.

In the fantastical Marvel Cinematic Universe where mortality is almost always a plaything, wrestling with the genuine article, in the death of T’Challa star Chadwick Boseman, makes for an unusually uncertain, soulsearching kind of blockbusterscale entertainment.

It’s a fine line, of course, be-

tween paying tribute and trading on it. I did cringe a little when the Marvel logo unspooled with images of Boseman within the letters: Eulogy as branding.

That “Black Panther,” a cultural phenomenon and a box-office smash, would get a sequel, at all, was momentarily in doubt after Boseman’s unexpected death from colon cancer in 2020. Radically reworked by Coogler and co-writer Joe Robert Cole, “Wakanda Forever” pushed ahead in hopes of honoring both Boseman and the rich Afrocentric world of the landmark original. In its admirably muddled way, it succeeds in both.

Part of the profound appeal of

Coogler’s first “Black Panther” resided in its deft channeling of the real world into mythology. It fed centuries of colonialism and exploitation into a big-screen spectacle of identity and resistance. In an invented African nation, Coogler conjured both a fanciful could-have-been history and emotional right-now reality.

“Wakanda Forever,” which opens in theaters Thursday, expands on that, weaving in a Latin American perspective with a similar degree of cultural specificity in the introduction of the Aztec-inspired antagonist Namor (Tenoch Huerta), king of the ancient underwater world of Talokan.

At the same time, Boseman’s death is poignantly filtered into

Good HHH the story from the start, beginning with off-screen death throes.

“Time is running out,” we hear whispered while the screen is still black. Shuri (Letitia Wright), T’Challa’s tech-wiz sister, is frantically trying to craft something in her AI lab to save her brother. But in a moment, their mother, Queen Ramonda (Angela Bassett), informs her: “Your brother is with the ancestors.”

He’s laid to rest in a glorious, celebratory procession, carried through a multi-tiered channel of white-clad, singing-anddancing Wakandans.

Continued on page 6

6 SATURDAY, NOV. 12, 2022/ORANGE COUNTY TRIBUNE

“Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” Continued from page 5

It’s as stunning as anything Coogler has shot.

After this prologue, “Wakanda Forever” shifts to a year later.

“Black Panther” took some of the spy-thriller shape of a Bond movie, and the sequel carries that on in a new geopolitical context. At the United Nations, the United States and France are pressuring for access to vibranium, the rare metal that Wakanda has built its empire on.

Soon after, a U.S. military expedition discovers vibranium at the bottom of the ocean. But just as they’re celebrating, a mysterious tribe of blue underwater people, led by Namor, a pointyeared monarch in green shortshorts with wings on his ankles, ruthlessly wipe out the entire expedition.

You can feel “Wakanda Forever” searching for a way forward in these early scenes. After such an anguished beginning, how much care can we summon for the whereabouts of magical ores? And more blue people?

“Avatar,” you might think, has already laid claim to them. What steadies the film is Bassett.

Her awesome presence leads “Wakanda Forever” through grief with a staunch defense of Wakanda that rebalances the newly king-less kingdom. She carries on.

What follows is a globe-trotting plot that draws the film away from perhaps its greatest asset in Wakanda but uncovers new places of latent power

among historically exploited people. Shuri and Okoye (Danai Gurira), the Dora Milaje general, travel to Cambridge, Massachusetts, to seek the student (Dominique Thorne) who created a vibranium detector.

In the Washington D.C. area, Wakanda’s friendly CIA officer (Martin Freeman) experiences new scrutiny from his boss, played by an unannounced comic actress familiar to Beltway politics.

But, mostly, a series of exchanges draw Wakanda and Talokan closer. Are they friends and foes? They are, at least, a captivating tweak to the mythology of Atlantis. Talokan, dark and watery, is no Wakanda,

Quang Tri monument Continued from page 5

namese, everyone, to express themselves,” said Councilmember Kimberly Ho. She then put forward a proposal for the city attorney to create an ordinance to restrict the future number of monuments on city property except in certain limited circumstances.

“It’s sad this statue has divided our already divided city even further,” said Vice Mayor Carlos Manzo.

“We agreed as a council we are going to pick a public park.

That is still my intention, not Sid Goldstein...Let’s just make a decision, the community is so tired,” said Councilmember Tai Do. Do then proposed that the council approve the smaller dimensions and to place the monument at Westminster Park, with the Quang Tri Committee being responsible for all costs and upkeep.

During the discussion regarding this proposal, Ho was seen

slumped off to the side of her seat, browsing her phone, and had to be asked multiple times for her attention during voting.

The proposal failed with one yes, two no votes, and two abstentions.

Public hearings opened back up after this and community members took the chance to direct their comments towards the counsel for their constant delays and their using of the subject for political gain.

One resident called out Ho’s attitude, saying, “Kimberly, look at me when I’m talking to you.”

“We are now back to round zero,” said Ta after the public hearings closed. He then made a motion to defer the decision to the new year, when a new council would be seated. The motion failed.

Another motion that was brought forward mirrored a previous one that had failed. This one also failed while groans from the audience filled the chambers.

Ta sighed in defeat, bringing up again the need to defer this public hearing to the second meeting in January. He then created a motion based on this which failed.

“We’ve tried everything, we take no action on this item,” said Ta, moving the meeting onto the next item.

though, and there’s less hint this time of a larger society.

Still, Huerta brings a magnetism to Namor. In many ways, he’s a corollary to Michael B. Jordan’s Killmonger, a non-villain whose fury is in many ways justified.

His anger appeals to the stillgrieving Shuri who finds herself ready, after T’Challa’s death, to “burn the world.”

As in the first “Black Panther,” the question again hangs in the balance of whether, in a painridden and prejudiced world, rage is the answer. This time, it applies to another powerful civilization, too. “Wakanda Forever,” where the role of Black Panther is passed down, is in more ways than one about the transfer of power.

Wakanda and Talokan are brought together a little haphazardly in conflict, as Namor pressures the African nation to join his brewing surface war.

“Wakanda Forever” proceeds as a murky, middle-act film that may ultimately serve as a bridge to future “Black Panther” chapters.

But along the way, there are countless marvels that Coogler conjures with returning magicworkers like production designer Hannah Beachler and costume designer Ruth E. Carter.

How the Talokan are flung into the air by whales. The fierce friendliness of Gurira’s performance. Lupita Nyong’o is unfortunately less central here, but every time her Nakia (who has been laying low in Haiti) is present, she graces the film.

“Wakanda Forever” is overlong, a little unwieldy and somewhat mystifyingly steers toward a climax on a barge in the middle of the Atlantic. But Coogler’s fluid command of mixing intimacy with spectacle remains gripping.

He extends the rich detail and non-binary complexity that distinguished “Black Panther” in sometimes awkward but often thrilling ways. “Wakanda Forever,” grappling in the aftermath of loss, ultimately seeks something rare in the battle-ready superhero landscape: Peace.

“Black Panther: Wakanda Forever,” a Walt Disney Co. release, is rated PG-13 by the Motion Picture Association of America for sequences of strong violence, action and some language.

ORANGE COUNTY TRIBUNE/SATURDAY, N0V. 12, 2022 7

Chargers winning most of the close ones Continued from page 8

get going and then finish the game playing our best.”

The Bolts are over .500 despite their top two receivers – Keenan Allen and Mike Williams – being sidelined and outside linebacker Joey Bosa not expected to be back until early December.

Cameron Dicker, who made the game-winning field goal from

37 yards, is the third kicker they’ve used this year because of injuries to Dustin Hopkins and Taylor Bertolet.

While the Chargers have shown fortitude in rallying, none of their wins have come against teams with winning records.

Los Angeles’ .329 strength of

victory winning percentage is the second lowest in the league.

“I’d much rather have a boring win where we beat a team by a lot of points than having sweet victory where we didn’t play our best football,” wide receiver Josh Palmer said.

UP NEXT The Chargers head to San Francisco for a Sunday night game against the 49ers before returning home to face the Kansas City Chiefs on Nov. 20. Four of the final nine opponents on Los Angeles’ schedule are at or over .500.

Stafford is in the concussion protocol

By Greg Beacham AP Sports Writer

THOUSAND OAKS (AP) – Los Angeles Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford is in the

MATTHEW STAFFORD concussion protocol, and coach Sean McVay is uncertain whether the Super Bowl winner will be ready to play Sunday against Arizona.

Stafford entered the protocol Tuesday afternoon after consultation with the Rams’ medical staff, the team announced Wednesday. The Rams believe Stafford’s condition resulted from action in last Sunday’s 1613 loss at Tampa Bay, and the team decided to put him in the protocol after the usual weekly round of postgame health evaluations.

“Nobody wants to be out there more than Matthew Stafford,” McVay said. “Nobody is a greater competitor, tougher, that I’ve ever been around. However, it was in terms of some of the questions that were asked (to Stafford after the game) in terms of getting to this point.’’

Stafford has been one of the NFL’s most durable quarterbacks for most of his professional career, but he has been sacked 28 times this season –just two fewer than in all 17 games last season – while playing behind a mostly terrible offensive line that has used eight different starting combinations in eight weeks of action. Stafford was sacked four times last weekend

by the Buccaneers, who were credited with eight quarterback hits.

Stafford’s wife, Kelly, reacted to the news with a post on the Instagram account of her podcast.

“The head is not something to be messed with,’’ Kelly Stafford wrote. “And I hope as this sport develops so does the concern for head health and the research around it. And no, I’m not ok. I have every emotion running through me. Concerned, angry, sad, tired ... all of them.”

John Wolford, a Rams backup since 2019, is likely to start against the Cardinals at SoFi Stadium if Stafford can’t go. “(We’re) still anticipating and having the optimistic approach that there’s a possibility that (Stafford) will be ready to go,’’ McVay said. “John has been our backup, but the reality is we’ll take it a day at a time.”

Stafford has missed only eight games over the past 12 seasons, and all eight occurred in 2019 with Detroit because of a midseason back injury.

Stafford hasn’t yet missed any of his first 29 games with the Rams, including four playoff contests last year. After leading Los Angeles to a championship in his first season, he has passed for 1,928 yards and eight touchdowns with eight interceptions this season while completing a career-high 68.4% of his throws.

“You put the priority where it’s about the person first,” McVay said. “This is so important, but when you think about it in the big picture, it’s a temporary moment in time. He’s got a beautiful family, wife, four daughters, there’s a lot of other responsibilities that these guys have.”

8 SATURDAY, NOV. 12, 2022/ORANGE COUNTY TRIBUNE

The Sports Page

And Then There Were Two Western and Orange move to semifinals Two of the remaining five high school football teams in The Tribune’s coverage area won their quarterfinal games Friday night and will advance to the CIF-SS semifinals on Nov. 18.

Orange defeated San Juan Hills 34-18 in Division 6 play. The Panthers (10-2) will meet Loyola, a 17-14 winner over Culver City.

Western (10-1) beat Martin Luther King High of Riverside, 2614 in a Division 7 contest.

The Pioneers will take on Laguna Hills, which beat Ontario Christian 35-14.

Prep Football Division 6 Orange 34, San Juan Hills 18 Division 7 Western 26, ML King 14 Division 9 Notre Vista 33, G. Grove 27 Division 10 Rim/World 20, Westminster 13 Division 14 Whittier Christian 28, Bolsa Grande 21

In a high-scoring Division 9 game, Norte Vista of Riverside outlasted Garden Grove 33-27 in overtime.

The Argonauts finish the season with a 9-2 mark and as champions of the Big 4 League.

Westminster fell to Rim of the World of Lake Arrowhead 2013 in Division 11.

The Lions finish the season at 9-2 and run-

LEADER OF THE PACK Bolsa Grande’s Phu Nguyen outpaces tacklers in Friday’s CIF-SS second round game vs. Whittier Christian (Tribune photo).

ners-up in the Big 4 League.

Bolsa Grande led twice in the first half but ended up losing 28-21 to Whittier Christian.

The Matadors compiled a 6-6 record, the best for the school in over a decade.

With a third-place finish in the Garden

Grove League, Bolsa made schoolhistory by qualifying for the CIF-SS playoffs for the first time in 34 years.

Chargers still in close games, but this time, winning most

By Joe Reedy AP Sports Writer

Instead of bringing up the past, Brandon Staley would like everyone to focus on the here and now when it comes to the performance of his Los Angeles Chargers team.

The problem though is that this year isn’t looking much different from previous seasons.

No matter the coach, the Bolts continue to be blindsided by injuries and most games coming

down to the final possession. The difference this time is that they are winning most of them.

Two years ago, the Chargers became the second team in league history to lose three games when leading by at least 17 points.

With Sunday’s 20-17 victory at Atlanta, they are the fifth team to win three games when trailing by double digits at the end of the first quarter.

The victory put Los Angeles at 5-3 for the sec-

ond straight season as it tries to make the playoffs for the first time since 2018.

“Since I’ve been the head coach, we’ve played in a bunch of close ones, and we’re comfortable in this space.

“When you have as many people go down as we have throughout the season and you go on the road, it’s not going to be poetic,” Staley said.

“We’ve been able to hang tough together and Continued on page 7

JUSTIN HERBERT TO JOSHUA PALMER (Chargers photo by Mike Nowak)