NEWPORT BEACH
Seven-month search for jungle cat ends happilyAfter spending seven months on the loose, Mikette Von Issenberg's African jungle cat, Kimba, returned home on the morning of Jan. 6 in the arms of his elated owner.
Kimba escaped from his Corona del Mar home in June, when his owner was undergoing treatment at Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian.
She was relieved to get a call at 6 a.m. on Jan. 6 from Jerry and Carole Anne Ruoff, who trapped Kimba after several attempts. They had recognized him as missing from a newspaper advertisement.
NEWS
John Crean, philanthropist and entrepreneur, dies at 81John Crean, a longtime Newport Beach resident and generous philanthropist, died Thursday of congestive heart failure. He was 81.
Crean made a fortune with Fleetwood Enterprises, a motor home and manufactured housing company he founded in 1950, he was one of the Orange County GOP's biggest contributors, and he hosted more than 200 episodes of a popular cable TV cooking show even though he wasn't exactly a whiz in the kitchen.
Friends remembered Crean as a decisive man with an irreverent sense of humor who never became uppity about his success and gave generously to causes he believed in. Crean made some of his many charitable gifts to the Mariner's branch library and Hoag Hospital in Newport Beach, the Crystal Cathedral in Garden Grove, the Discovery Science Center in Santa Ana, and a variety of children's charities.
BUSINESS
Restaurants gear up for promotional weekThe Newport Beach Restaurant Assn. kicked off its upcoming Newport Beach Restaurant Week last week, with a party benefiting the city's adopted Marine battalion, 1st Battalion, 1st Marines.
Restaurant Week is the first of its kind in the city and is modeled after similar events in other cities. From Jan. 21 through 25, about 70 restaurants will offer a three-course fixed menu for lunch and dinner, costing $12.95 for lunch and $26.95 for dinner — a bargain considering some of the event's participants, which include the Ritz, the Arches and Bayside Restaurant.
The association is also launching an online reservation system, which has about 35 participants so far. For more information, go to www.newportbeachdining.com.
COSTA MESA
