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Monday toWednesday
unday
y Cloudy 5/54
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Chance: 20%
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Tuesday
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Precip Chance: 5%
Partly Cloudy 65/48
in the Garden Grove Journal n Garden Grove school board meeting coverage. n Some reflections on the tenure of Bill Dalton as mayor of Garden Grove.
Mostly Sunny 68/49
For latest weather, go to Accu-Weather at ggjournal.com
The Newspaper of Garden Grove n Monday, Dec. 3, 2012 n www.ggjournal.com n Vol. 30, No. 77 n Phone: 714-539-6018 n Fax: 714-539-6079
Man is fatally shot by GGPD after pursuit
ARGOS AT THE BIG A
Incident concludes in Seal Beach
JOURNAL PHOTO
Garden Grove High School football players rally before the start of the second half of Saturday’s CIF-SS Southern Division championship game at Angel Stadium in Anaheim. The Argonauts lost 35-10, but it was their third appearance in the finals in four years. Additional photo, game coverage, commentary on page three.
n WESTMINSTER CITY COUNCIL
Rice honored for years as mayor By Jacob Wilson Garden Grove Journal
Don’t call it a retirement. Mayor Margie Rice presided over her last Westminster City Council meeting Wednesday, but that doesn’t mean she’s going away. “I will not fade away,” Rice said. “I will be active and I will still voice my opinion.” With a light agenda, it was mostly a night for city and county officials to honor the six-term mayor. Orange County Supervisor Janet Nguyen pre-
sented Rice with a framed proclamation. “Thank you for everything you’ve done for the city of Westminster and particularly for the Vietnamese-American community,” Nguyen said. Nguyen praised Rice for her persistence and for always putting city needs first. “I know when Mayor Rice is upset, and I know when she wants something for her city,” Nguyen said. “But what you do at the end of the day is for the people of Westminster,” Councilmember Andy Quach, now the longest-
with a commemorative clock, representing her time in public service. “The city has been fortunate to have you as the glue that holds everything together,” Quach said. “I am very positive you will still be a permanent fixture as the city moves forward.” Rice deferred all compliments to the council. “There’s no way I could have done anything without the support of the MARGIE RICE during council,” Rice said. “This 2012 Flag Day event. council is the best council this city has ever had.” tenured member of the She also said she was council, presented Rice looking forward to the city’s new leadership. “I treasure the years I had as mayor, but I think I stayed a little too long,” Rice said. “It’s time to give existing 374-room hotel, along with other people a chance.” 56,000-square feet of new banquet Rice was a city counand meeting rooms to the existing cilmember from 1994 to facility. The expansion would take 2000. Before that she was place on the land now used for a golf a Westminster School Disdriving range. trict Trustee for 17 years. In addition to the hotel spaces, She has also been on the there would be a new restaurant and board of the Midway City spa and renovation of circulation and Sanitation District for the parking arrangements in the hotel dispast 22 years. Now Rice’s main focus
Hotel expansion to planners
A three-year time extension on the construction of a major expansion to the Embassy Suites hotel will be before the Garden Grove Planning Commission on Thursday. Planners will meet in the council chambers in the Community Meeting Center, 11300 Stanford Ave. at 7 p.m. The extension would keep alive recession-delayed plans to add a new 17-story, 238-room hotel tower to the
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A man was fatally shot by a Garden Grove police officer Saturday afternoon after a chase and an attempted carjacking. According to Lt. Jeff Nightengale, spokesman for the Garden Grove Police Department, the incident began at 4:28 p.m. when GGPD officers were sent to the 5900 block of Huntley Street in Garden Grove regarding violation of a restraining order. Because of a history of domestic violence between a man and woman who had a “dating relationship” of several years, the man was banned from being near her home. While she was speaking to officers, another GGPD officer spotted the man driving nearby, said Lt. Nightengale. A pursuit resulted, but the officer lost sight of the suspect vehicle. A countywide broadcast to all law enforcement agencies was followed by Seal Beach police getting calls of a car being driven erratically in the area of
Seal Beach Boulevard and Westminster Avenue. SBPD officers responded and a pursuit by Garden Grove and Seal Beach units ensued. According to Lt. Nightengale, the suspect drove into the parking lot of the Hampton Inn, then fled on foot from there into a nearby Chevron station. He allegedly tried to “carjack” a vehicle from a man pumping gas into hiscar. A struggle ensued, but a Garden Grove police officer arrived and shot the suspect at about 5:28 p.m. The man, who police have not identified, was taken to a nearby hospital, where he was pronounced dead. A weapon was recovered at the scene but further details are under investigation by the two police departments and the Orange County District Attorney’s office. Anyone who might have more information about the incident is asked to call the GGPD at (714) 741-5800.
n GARDEN GROVE SCHOOL BOARD
GGUSD will look at tests, tech, fitness Reports on student testing data, the use of technology and a new program for physical education will be on Tuesday’s agenda for the Garden Grove Unified School District Board of Education. The board meets at 7 p.m. in the Education Center, 10331 Stanford Ave., Garden Grove on the fifth floor. A presentation will be made to the board on results from this year’s student state testing scores by Chris Ash (director of evaluation and research),
Monica-Ibarra Acosta (director of K-6 instructional services) and Kelly McAmis (director of 7-12 instructional services). The board will also take up the district’s Technology Plan 2013-16 to be submitted to the state board of education. The plan is a guide to how technology will be used from July 1, 2013 through June 30, 2016 in curriculum development and support, and will touch on district infrastructure, technical support, hard-
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