The Orange County Tribune May 24, 2023

Signs of prosperity on the electronic horizon?

A proposal to build and operate electronic billboards on city-owned property that could bring in $121,763,330 in revenue over 30 years goes before the Westminster City Council when it meets on Wednesday.

At issue is the selection of Branded Cities Los Angeles as the firm that would conduct this business and directing city staff to move ahead with

the drafting of a lease agreement.

According to a staff report, Branded Cities proposes to construct two such billboards along the San Diego (405) Freeway, one near the intersection of Beach Boulevard and Edinger Avenue and the other along “old Edwards Street.”

Potential advertisers could include Apple, Amazon,

Rock festival gets the OK for August 2024

Rock on, says the Garden Gove City Council.

At Tuesday’s meeting the city council voted 7-0 in favor of approving a two-day “High and Mighty” music festival on

Aug. 17-18, 2024 at Village Green park.

That will be a revival of the “High and Mighty” event held in August 2017, which was well-attended and generally considered a success.

A man suspected of being under the influence of drugs was arrested after he smashed a car into two police vehicles Tuesday night.

According to Sgt. Nick Jensen of the Garden Grove Police Department, the suspect – described only as a male Asian in his 30s – has been charged

The original event involved creating a fencedin concert area which featured carnival rides, craft beer bars and a “vendor village.”

Organizer of the event is LFA (Large Format Assemblies), which operates the Garden Amp amphitheater in the Village Green.

Since then the LFA has staged hundreds of music concerts and other events in the facility which formerly housed Shakespeare Orange County.

By Jim Tortolano Orange County Tribune

For about a year, the name of Andrea Palladino Perez, president of the Garden Grove Strawberry Festival Association and the festival itself have been pretty much inseparable. So has the festival and the live representation of the “Strawberry,” Andrea’s daughter Taylor. She dons the costume and reminds people not only of the four-day event but also the good works it does by helping raise money for a wide variety of good causes.

“I’m a volunteer by nature,” said Andrea, 55, whose day job is as a librarian at Garden

n GARDEN GROVE CITY COUNCIL

The Orange County Tribune Every Wednesday & Saturday Strawberry Festival

Continued from page 1

Park Elementary School in West Garden Grove. “A professional volunteer.” She joined the GGSFA seven years ago and now is in charge of it all.

“It’s a very time-consuming job,” she said. Is this year’s festival going to be as big a hit as last year’s, with record attendance and funds raised? “Yes, I hope so. I’m a little nervous, honestly.”

Understandable, since the festival is one of the largest such events in the Western U.S. and is run entirely by volunteers who – like Andrea – receive no wages or salary for many hours, days and weeks of work. So why put that much effort into it?

“People love the festival,” she said. “This one is the 63rd year. People bring their families. Grandparents bring their grand-

children. It’s a family-friendly environment, it’s free and it brings the community together.”

Speaking of family, Taylor, 21, is a student at Cal State Fullerton who’s has been wearing the berry costume for years.

“I’m the only one who fits into it,” she said, smiling. Which goes both ways. “I like to make the kids smile. I like to see the excitement on people’s faces. Infants, babies, toddlers, grandparents come up and take photos of them with me. I feel like I’m a celebrity.”

The celebration starts on Friday and continues this Memorial Day weekend through Monday. You can see Andrea and Taylor in the parade on Saturday morning, mom riding in a car and daughter on foot, both doing their berry berry best to help continue a hometown tradition.

Westminster city council

Continued from page 1

Coca-Cola and Disney.

The developer is promising the city a minimum annual guarantee of $825,000 each year through the first five years, rising to $1.328 million in the 26th

K-9 unit puts bite on fleeing suspect in GG

Continued from page 1

with assault with a deadly weapon a police officer.

The incident began in the 8800 block of Garden Grove Boulevard at 7:43 p.m. when officers were called to an apartment complex. The suspect fled in a vehicle and he managed to evade pursuing units, hitting two police cars.

A spike strip disabled his automobile and he fled on foot.

A police K-9 was deployed and the suspect was arrested. He was taken to a local hospital for treatment.

The investigation into the incident is continuing, according to police.

through 30th years or 62.5 percent of all gross revenues received from advertising.

Branded Cities is offering to pay for all costs involved in building and operating the billboards.

The city wouldn’t receive any money until the billboards have been completed, some time in 2024.

The council will meet at 6 p.m. in its chambers at 8200 Westminster Blvd.

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 : orangecountytribune@gmail. com.

Website: 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.

A member of The Associated Press, the Garden Grove Downtown Business Association and Garden Grove Chamber of Commerce.

Welcome to Strawberry RFD in its 63rd year

Retorts

Jim Tortolano

Garden Grove Mayor Steve Jones often refers to his home town as “our little Mayberry.” Of course, the Big Strawberry is much closer to “big” than little, with a population of about 175,000 people. (Fun fact: Garden Grove has more people than 25 state capitals). But he’s right in the sense that it often has a smalltown feel and never more than on Memorial Day weekend. That’s when the Strawberry Festival –now in its 63rd version – turns the Village Green park in the downtown area into something out of, well, “Mayberry RFD.”

Organized and run entirely by volunteers, the event covers four days and brings as many as a quarter of a million people to town to experience something that’s a sweet throwback to a simpler time of cotton candy, Ferris wheels, parades and calliope music.

The event has survived changing times and ethnic mix, several recessions, a pandemic and more. As a testament to its enduring appeal, after two years of COVID-19 hiatus, the 2022 event was arguably the biggest and most successful ever.

This is the place for first dates, fun-scary rides, establishing and returning to traditions and – of course – a wide variety of strawberry-based desserts.

The folks who remember the good old days of the late 50s and 60s when Garden Grove was evolving from its rural past into its suburban next stage when there were strawberry fields (or strawberry stands) every third corner are now in their 70s and 80s. “Closing time” for that

Industrial fire closed Western Ave.

A fire involving hazardous materials closed traffic on Western Avenue in West Garden Grove on Saturday evening.

According to the Orange Coun-

ty Fire Authority, the fire was reported at 6:24 p.m. in the 12000 block. Crews knocked down the fire and investigated the blaze to determine which materials may

Anaheim motorcyclist is killed in crash Friday p.m. on Brookhurst near Bolsa

A 29-year old motorcyclist from Anaheim was fatally injured Friday afternoon in Westminster.

According to Commander Kevin MacCormick of the WPD, officers responded to a report of a traffic collision in the 15100 block of Brookhurst Street, near Bolsa Avenue, at 3:55 p.m.

At the scene, officers found that a motorcycle had collided with a passenger automobile. The cyclist was pronounced dead at the scene by Orange County Fire

Authority personnel. The driver of the automobile was taken to an area hospital with injuries that were not considered life-threatening.

Police believe that neither alcohol or drugs were a factor in this incident. The identity of the decedent is being withheld pending notification of the next of kin.

Anyone who may have witnessed the accident is asked to call Sgt. Anil Adam of the WPD Traffic Division at (714) 5483770.

have been involved.

Western was closed to public traffic from Chapman Avenue to Lampson Avenue. There were no injuries.

A FIRE in an industrial area in West Garden Grove that involved hazardous materials resulted in the closure of Western Street for several hours Saturday. There were no injuries (OCFA photo).

DeSantis to Announce His 2024 Run for White House

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis will reportedly launch his campaign for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination on Wednesday.

USA Today reports that he will hold a “Twitter Spaces” event with Elon Musk – owner of Twitter – and make the announcement.

DeSantis has been in the news recently for his battle with the Disney Corporation. After Disney criticized a bill restrict-

ing the discussion of alternative sexuality in lower public school grades – nicknamed “Don’t Say

Surgeon General warns of social media impacts

A warning from the U.S. Surgeon General on Tuesday sounded an alarm about the possible dangers to young people in using social media.

The New York Times is reporting that Att. Gen. Vivek Murthy has issued a 19-page “advisory” saying that while there are some benefits, “there are ample indicators that social media can also have a profound risk of harm

Sunny for Festival parade Saturday

The outlook for the West Orange County area in general and Garden Grove’s Strawberry Festival is a mix of clouds and sun. Wednesday and Thursday are expected to have morning clouds and afternoon sun with daytime highs of 67 and 68, and overnight lows of 58 and 57.

Friday – first day of the festival – should be partly cloudy with a high of 67 (56). Saturday – the day of the parade –is forecast to be “mostly sunny” with a high of 68 (57).

to the mental health and wellbeing of children and adolescents.”

In the report, Murthy recommends that mealtimes and other gatherings ban electronic devices and that boundaries on their use be established.

Also, he calls on companies to implement and enforce minimum age limits and other measures.

2,000 cases of abuse by Illinois clergy, says state atty. general

Almost 2,000 children may have been sexually abused by Catholic clergy in Illinois since 1950 according to an investigation by the state attorney general’s office.

The Associated Press is reporting that over 450 priests, deacons and others were involved in the abuse through 2019, the report claims. However, since the statute of limitations has expired in many of the cases, those accused “will never see justice in a legal sense,” according to Atty. General Kwame Raoul.

Gay” – he struck back with legislation that removed some of Disney’s power over its holdings in Florida. Legal battles have followed.

Former president Donald Trump has announced his candidacy and in recent public opinion polls is the favorite of around one-half of Republicans and DeSantis favored by about onefifth.

Also running are Nikki Haley, Mike Pence and Tim Scott, among others.

Arts&Living

‘White Men’ Remake Can’t Soar

Lacks the charm and originality of previous film

By Jake Coyle AP Film Writer

Nineties nostalgia has extended now to 1992’s “White Men Can’t Jump” returning to the blacktop courts where Wesley Snipes and Woody Harrelson hustled and Rosie Perez studied “Jeopardy!” answers for foods beginning with the letter “Q.”

Why, you ask? The principal reason seems to be giving Jack Harlow, a charismatic, fastrising white rapper making his acting debut, a vehicle for his laid-back charm.

The original “White Men Can’t Jump” thrived on Harrelson’s goofball energy and the “You can’t hear Jimi” trash talk of Snipes, a criminally underrated comic actor (see “Dolemite Is My Name”). The contributions of Perez, a hooped-earrings firecracker who makes any movie a little better, shouldn’t be minimized, either. “White Men Can’t Jump,” the rare sports movie where the woman (Perez) walks out on the guy (Harrelson), hinged mostly on its off-court drama.

This limp, half-hearted, breezy remake makes some modest improvements. The film, directed by Calmatic, bounces to a hiphop beat and the gameplay action is smoother. But the drop off in personality from that original trio is like going from the Lakers to the G-League.

Sinqua Walls stars as Kamal, a once highly touted prospect whose professional career derailed in a rage-fueled incident the film slowly reveals through flashbacks. (The late Lance Reddick plays Kamal’s father in one of his last performances.)

He’s now struggling through a job delivering packages while customers often ridicule him for

Movie Review

how low he’s fallen. His girlfriend, Imani (Teyana Taylor), though, lovingly supports him.

One day at the gym, Jeremy (Harlow) makes a loud entrance, dressed like, as one character later says, a Sierra Mist can. Kamal’s friend Speedy (Vince Staples) notices him and says, “They let yoga instructors into the gym now?” Jeremy, a former player at NCAA powerhouse Gonzaga now hobbled by knee pain, is there to hustle games and sell some detox drinks.

Harlow’s character is brash, as Harrelson’s was, but he’s sweeter. His trash talk is earnest. He meditates. The joke isn’t that he’s racially out of touch, it’s that he’s almost too sensitive.

Mostly, he’s a chatty, charming nuisance that Kamal reluctantly turns to as an on-court partner with hopes of a big cash prize in a three-on-three tournament. Jeremy, meanwhile, has a girlfriend, Tatiana (Laura Harrier), who’s pressing him to grow up and find a real job.

Calmatic worked in music videos (Lil Nas X’s “Old Town

Road”) before making his directorial debut earlier this year with a reboot of 1990’s “House Party.”

And he films “White Men Can’t Jump” with a polish that takes out some of the asphalt grit that the movie needs. If the original resided on the blacktop, as any pick-up basketball movie should, this remake curiously favors indoor hoops. Last year’s surprisingly good basketball movie, “Hustle,” with Adam Sandler, had the texture the game deserves.

Walls holds his own in “White Men Can’t Jump” and Harlow has an easy charm. His debut pales next to those of rappers like Ice Cube, Mos Def and Tupac Shakur. It’s asking too much, though, for him to supply so much of the comedy here. The jokes, too, are timid.

How is it possible that in today’s fraught America, the biggest debate Jeremy and Kamal get into is over whether Spike Lee or Paul Thomas Anderson is the better filmmaker?

There are a few suggestions that betting on pick-up basketball might not be the hustle it once was. Try crypto, one char-

Fair: HH

acter suggests.

Another says it’s clear now that white players can ball. I’m not sure it’s so different than in 1992, when Chris Mullin and John Stockton were in the league. Now there’s Luka Doncic, Nikola Jokic and Tyler Herro, who makes a cameo.

No mention is made of the recent NBA dunk champ, the 6’2’’ Mac McClung, but an older winner of that contest, Blake Griffin, is an executive producer.

But one thing should not have changed. This “White Men Can’t Jump” never gives its girlfriend characters much to do. They mostly recede as the on-court exploits take over, thus ignoring Perez’s wise words from the original: “Always listen to the women.”

“White Men Can’t Jump,” a 20th Century Studios release, is rated R by the Motion Picture Association for pervasive language and some drug material. Running time: 101 minutes.

JACK HARLOW (left) and Sinqua Walls star in a remake of “White Men Can’t Jump” (20th Century)

Angels, Dodgers both win

Continued from page 8

one earned run. He struck out five Braves and walked one. The Braves will host the Dodgers again on Wednesday with Tony Gonsolin (2-1) making the start for LA.

The Angels relied on the pitching prowess of Griffin Canning and three home runs to defeat the Boston Red Sox 4-0 in Ana-

heim. It was the Halos fifth win in six games. They are now 27-23 and in third place in the American League West, four games from first.

Canning worked seven innings and yielded only two hits. He struck out five and walked three. Mickey Moniak homered in the first, Matt Thaiss in the fifth and Mike Trout in the eighth.

Retorts: Strawberry RFD

Continued from page 3 generation is not too far off.

The Strawberry Festival, as much as anything else, was the red thread that took this place from town to city to almost-big

city.

If you want to revisit the good old days or discover what they were like, I’ll meet you at Main and Euclid for … here comes the pun … “Strawberry RFD.”

Mariners tops in CIF-SS and where else?

After Pacifica’s gritty’s 15-9 win over Norco in the CIF-SS softball title game on Friday, the Mariners are now ranked third in the state by Cal-Hi Sports.

The Orange County Register has the M’s number one in Orange County and, of course The Tribune has them first in our coverage area in West Orange County area.

Max Preps hasn’t yet posted its national and state rankings, but after defeating Norco – which had been rated fourth in the U.S. – the Mariners could well end up in the top three.

n PREP SPORTS SPOTLIGHT

Garden Grove Gold Rush

The seven high schools in the Garden Grove Unified School District brought home 31 league championships during the 202223 school year.

Garden Grove and La Quinta tied with six each, followed by Los Amigos and Santiago (five each), Bolsa Grande (four), Rancho Alamitos (three) and Pacifica (two).

It should be pointed out that these teams play in four different leagues – Big Four, Empire, Garden Grove and Golden West – with varying levels of competition, but all sports and levels require talent, effort and a lot of heart.

VIkings sign right here on the dotted line

Last Thursday, 20 student athletes at Marina High School in Huntington Beach signed national letters of intent to play sports at four-year colleges and universities.

Here’s the list:

1. Presley Anderson - Women’s Wrestling - University of the Cumberlands

2. Emmi Burdine - Field Hockey - Sweet Briar College

3. Jordyn Chrisco - Women’s Wrestling - Life University

4. Lily Ensley - Women’s Water Polo - Concordia University

5. Samantha Esparza - Women’s Soccer - Idaho State University

6. Ethan Faulkner - Men’s Soccer - Penn State Brandywine

7. Mia Grasse - Softball - Milligan University

8. Alexa Hartenberg - RugbyDrury University

9. Haden Hernandez - Men’s Wrestling - Missouri Valley College

10. Mika Ikemori - Women’s Tennis - University of California, Davis

11. Hailey Jamison - CheerAlma University

12. Adrian Jimenez - Men’s Wrestling - Missouri Valley College

13. Gabriella Lopez - TrackUniversity of California, San Diego

14. Destiny Marquez - Women’s

Wrestling - University of the Cumberlands

15. Makayla Mathis - SoftballEastern Kentucky University

16. Collin Miskelly - BaseballLong Beach State University

17. Khang Nguyen - TrackUniversity of California, Berkeley

18. Heather Nugent - SoftballTrinity College

19. Sai Preciado-Meza - Women’s Wrestling - University of the Cumberlands

20. Dominique VadeBoncoeur - Women’s Volleyball - Concordia University.

Sports Retorts

Continued from page 8 of another banner to hang in the rafters, but noteworthy in the sense of a great comeback after an awful start, a great recovery by injuries to their top-two players (LeBron James and Anthony Davis) and a great job by the front office in making late-season acquisitions that allowed them to (barely) make the playoffs and make it all the way to the “Final Four,” if you will.

MARINERS celebrating a victory earlier this season. They are tops in CIF-SS Division 1. Where else are they the top team? (GGUSD photo).

MARINA HIGH athletes signing national letters of intent for colleges and universities (HBUHSD photo).

Wild card that could really be a wild finish

One of the oldest cliches in the National Football League is that “on any given Sunday” any team in the league could beat any other team. Now, that may be true, but it’s a warm day in December when it does.

But it got me thinking … a team with the really outstanding talent in a short playoff series could really do some damage if it could only make it into the playoffs. For the Los Angeles Angels, this is kind of a make-orbreak season.

Sports Retorts

Jim

Tortolano

Was That James’ Final Act?

Future Hall of Famer wondering whether he’s ready to quit

By Greg Beacham AP Sports Writer

The Los Angeles Lakers hope LeBron James will decide to continue his career after he recovers from the difficult end to their season.

James didn’t meet with the media on the day after the top scorer in NBA history said he needed time to think about his basketball future following the Lakers’ elimination from the Western Conference finals.

If the Halos don’t at least grab a wild card spot –the most realistic goal at

this early point in the campaign – their future Hall of Fame

Shohei Ohtani could quickly be history as he becomes a free agent for the 2024 season.

But imagine if the Angels did manage to grab a wild card post.

And imagine if Mike Trout and Ohtani – with enough support from other solid teammates–went on an autumnal tear.

Ohtani is holding opponents’ bats to a miniscule .142 batting average and if Trout were to move from merely toasty – .276 – to closer to his hotter career average of .302, who knows how far they could go.

They are clearly an improved team over 2022’s version.

Maybe they’ll improve enough to keep Angel Stadium hopping in October.

The gritty great Lakers

Despite getting swept by the Denver Nuggets in the NBA Western Conference finals, the Los Angeles Lakers really have had a great season.

Maybe not great in the senses

Dodgers and Angels win

The Los Angeles Dodgers and Los Angeles Angels wear different colored uniforms, but both teams are now red hot.

The Dodgers won their second straight game against another division leader on Tuesday as they defeated the Braves 8-1 in Atlanta.

With the win, the Blue Crew is 31-19 and leads the National League West Division by 1.5 games over the Arizona Diamondbacks. The Braves (29-18) lead the New York Mets by four games in the NL East.

Jason Heyward and J.D. Martinez homered for the Dodgers and Will Smith went 3-for-5 with three runs batted in.

Bobby Miller made a fine first

appearance in a big league uniform, working five innings while yielding just four hits and

The 38-year-old James has skipped his team’s postseason media exit interviews before, but his decision Tuesday left Lakers fans hanging about his intentions with his enigmatic comments following a four-game sweep by the Denver Nuggets.

General manager Rob Pelinka and coach Darvin Ham said they’ll speak with James soon about his future.

“We all know that (James) speaks for himself, and we’ll look forward to those conversations when the time is right,” Pelinka said. “LeBron has given as much to the game of basketball as anyone who has ever played. When you do that, you earn a right to decide whether you’re going to give more. ... Obviously, our hope would be that his career continues, but we want to give him the time to have that inflection point and support him along the way.”

Despite James’ 40-point performance, including a career playoff-best 31 points in the first half, the seventh-seeded Lakers were swept by the top-seeded Nuggets with a 113-111 defeat in Game 4 on Monday night, ending James’ attempt to win his fifth career championship in his 20th season. Ham joked: “Coming off a tough loss like that, the work we’ve put in this season, I think I was ready to retire after last night, too.”

LE BRON JAMES is considering retirement after the Los Angeles Lakers were swept by the Denver Nuggets in the NBA Western Conference finals (Wikipedia).

From staff writers with wire reports