TOWN:Daigle missteps on the jogging track

Two weeks ago, my wife and I were sitting on the beach in the dark at Crystal Cove just after 10 p.m. We were staying the weekend in one of the housing units that have been returned to their rightful owners, the people of the state of California.

A few minutes after we sat down, we noticed a vehicle making its way slowly down the beach. Concerned about getting run over, I turned on our flashlight and started to wave the light on the ground to draw attention to ourselves.

The vehicle was a lifeguard truck, which stopped behind us.

"Hi. Are you staying in the cabins?" asked the lifeguard.

"Yes," I replied.

"Well, the beach closes at 10 o'clock," said the lifeguard.

At that moment, I thought, well that's silly. Close a beach? But I kept my comment to myself. My wife and I, without even thinking, got up to leave.

"OK, thanks," I said.

The news that relates to that story is so fresh that there is yet no controversy. So before the comments and letters arrive, here is, to me, the most important point about Newport Beach City Councilwoman Leslie Daigle's run-in with a security guard at Corona del Mar High School.

The issue is not that Daigle was jogging — so '80s — when she could have been power walking, spinning or bending herself into a pretzel in a yoga class.

I run, too, and it does wonders to improve the mind's clarity.

Nor is it the possibility that she may have uttered, "You must be from Costa Mesa" during her exchange with the security guard. That comment will be offensive to many of the readers who live in Costa Mesa, but it won't be much of a shock.

That "Dick Nichols attitude" and talk has had a way of manifesting itself through actions in places such as our school board, where Costa Mesa schools have been back-burnered for years.

So even that insensitivity, if it is true, is nothing new.

The real issue with this incident is a deep one, one that sets a very bad example for our children. That issue is that Daigle clearly defied an authority figure, someone in charge whose word is not to be questioned when they are asking you to stop a particular action.

Kids need to know that you don't sound off to the police during traffic stops, you don't question the authority of teachers, and even if it is "just a security guard," you leave the premises if that person tells you to leave the premises.