Alcohol

NEWPORT BEACH — Sitting on an oversized plush chair in baseball legend Chuck Finley's Newport Beach home, actress Tawny Kitaen seems to be in a much different place than she was eight years ago. A soccer goal is visible in the backyard, and her daughter's art covers the refrigerator in the family home. Her adopted dog, Woody, nuzzles Kitaen as she talks about a new off-camera passion: helping others. A volunteer at Kathy's House, a shelter for at-risk women in San Juan Capistrano, and a member of the board of directors at Testimony Life Resources, an alternative counseling center, Kitaen appears to be a far cry from her role as the eccentric star of "The Surreal Life," or the woman battling a dependency on prescription pills on "Celebrity Rehab.

A San Diego County man who drowned in Newport Beach in October had no drugs or alcohol in his system when he died, an Orange County Sheriff-Coroner toxicology report showed. Soroy Ramsean, 22, of Pine Valley, died Oct. 13 in the surfline off 20th Street after disappearing under the water. Witnesses reported seeing him go underwater at 18th Street. Some tried to save him, but were unsuccessful. Lifeguards from up and down the Orange County coast, along with the Harbor Patrol and Coast Guard, aided in the search.

Orange Coast College was awarded a grant to look into the drinking habits of community college students. The Orange County Health Care Agency gave $220,000 to OCC's Student Health Center to fund a campus-wide survey and teach the consequences of excessive drinking. Similar projects have been carried out at four-year universities. "No one really knows about alcohol use in community college," Sylvia Worden, the associate dean of student health services, said in a prepared statement.

Authorities are baffled by a deadly car crash Wednesday morning on a Costa Mesa freeway off-ramp. Daniel Pearson, 31, was exiting the 405 Freeway at Fairview Road about 12:30 a.m. when his car drifted left, crashing into a guardrail and pole, authorities said. The Mission Viejo man died on the scene. Police have not found any witnesses. Initial investigations of the damage indicate Pearson was driving 65 mph and did not brake or try to avoid the guardrail, said California Highway Patrol Officer Denise Quesada.

Deepa Bharath Twin sisters were charged with child endangerment on Wednesday after police reportedly found that one sister's child had been drinking alcohol out of a child's cup and found the other's child wandering unattended, officials said. Police got calls from passersby at about 5 p.m. Monday about a woman lying on the grass near the intersection of Fair Drive and Viola Street, Sgt. Bob Ciszek said. When officers responded, they found 37-year-old Stephanie Brown passed out and drunk on the ground with her 3-year-old son sitting in a stroller next to her, he said.

Newport Beach police are partnering with county health programs to raise community awareness about underage drinking and prescription drug abuse in the local community and how to reduce it. From 6 to 8 tonight, police will discuss the effects of drug and alcohol abuse by teens and the problems that come with it at Newport Harbor High School’s theater, 600 Irvine Ave. in Newport Beach. The 2008 California Healthy Kids Survey showed that more than half of Newport-Mesa 11th-graders have drunk alcohol in the last month, and so did a third of district ninth-graders.

I recently participated in a news conference in San Francisco with Assemblyman Tom Ammiano, Chairwoman Betty Yee of the State Board of Equalization, and Oakland City Councilwoman Rebecca Kaplan to support Assembly Bill 390, which would treat marijuana like alcohol in California. San Francisco Sheriff Michael Hennessey also supports the bill. AB 390 would allow adults older than 21 to buy, own and use marijuana sold in accordance with a specified state plan. The bill would also require the product to be subject to a tax surcharge of $50 an ounce, in addition to normal sales taxes.

They’re young, confident and working for the police. They might seem like the awkward but charming teenagers of “Superbad” — think “McLovin” — trying to score some booze with an adult’s help, but looks can be deceiving. Standing outside of liquor stores throughout the city, Costa Mesa Police explorers are posing as minors asking adults to buy them alcohol. A sting operation Friday night involved only the decoys and three police officers seconds away listening in via microphones hooked to the kids.

The city of Costa Mesa will study a proposal for TeWinkle Park that keeps all four fields intact, adds two bullpens and increases parking. The TeWinkle Park Athletic Complex Task Force voted 8 to 1 Thursday night to move forward with a plan that would privatize the park, bring in more sports leagues and potentially generate $300,000 in annual revenue for the city. Task force member Jeffrey Wilcox dissented. "There is an awful lot of details to be worked out, but I think we're heading in the right direction," said member Lou Desandro.

Newport Beach is set to deny a use permit to the drug and alcohol rehabilitation home Newport Coast Recovery at a public hearing today. The home would be the first denied permission to stay open in Newport Beach under a city ordinance aimed at cracking down on drug and alcohol rehabilitation homes passed last year. Newport Coast Recovery is a men’s drug and alcohol rehabilitation home at 1216 W. Balboa Blvd. Newport Beach officials will move to deny the rehabilitation home a use permit because it is within walking distance of a bar and a market that sells alcohol, according to city documents.

The city of Costa Mesa will study a proposal for TeWinkle Park that keeps all four fields intact, adds two bullpens and increases parking. The TeWinkle Park Athletic Complex Task Force voted 8 to 1 Thursday night to move forward with a plan that would privatize the park, bring in more sports leagues and potentially generate $300,000 in annual revenue for the city. Task force member Jeffrey Wilcox dissented. "There is an awful lot of details to be worked out, but I think we're heading in the right direction," said member Lou Desandro.

The emotionally charged message delivered to several hundred students and parents at Corona del Mar High School's gymnasium Wednesday morning was clear: Accidents happen, but those involving drinking and driving are entirely preventable. Guest speaker Gloria Morales, 33, closed the school's Every 15 Minutes program. Her 17-year-old daughter, Crystal Morales, suffered life-threatening injuries after being hit by a car driven by an allegedly impaired driver. "Immediately, when I found out the details of the accident, it broke my heart and it killed me," Morales said to the students.

The family of a man who died after being transferred from a Newport Beach recovery clinic is suing the clinic for wrongful death. Brandon Jacques was 20 when he died of cardiac arrest last April after leaving treatment at Morningside Recovery, according to his family's civil complaint, filed March 29 in Orange County Superior Court. His family is seeking an unlimited amount in damages. Jacques first sought treatment for his alcoholism and bulimia at A Sober Way Home in Prescott, Ariz., but only made headway in addressing his drinking while there, his family said in the lawsuit.

SANTA ANA — It started with the story of TJ. TJ was a 17-year-old boy on death row in Florida for a rape and murder conviction. But he was also a boy whose mother may have drank during his pregnancy, leaving him with impulsive behavior, and an inability to learn from mistakes or plan for the future, according to Los Angeles County Deputy Public Defender William Edwards. Edwards shared TJ's story with members of Court Appointed Special Advocates of Orange County (CASA)

An Orange County Sheriff's Department deputy was convicted and sentenced to two months in jail for driving on the wrong side of the road after drinking while off-duty at a Costa Mesa bar, authorities said Monday. Mario Castro, 33, of Orange pleaded guilty Friday to a court offer of one misdemeanor count of driving under the influence of alcohol with a prior conviction, one misdemeanor count of driving with a blood alcohol content level of .08 or more with a prior, and a sentencing enhancement for a blood alcohol level greater than .15, according to the Orange County district attorney's office.

Authorities charged a Pomona man Friday with murder after prosecutors alleged that a night of drinking that started in Newport Beach ended with a fatal head-on collision on a freeway in Anaheim. Ruben Gurrola, 23, is scheduled to be arraigned Monday in Orange County's Central Jail in Santa Ana for murder, driving under the influence causing great bodily injury, and driving with a blood-alcohol content above the .08 legal limit. He faces up to 19 years to life in prison, if convicted on all charges.

The numbers are mind-boggling. About 520 arrests in Newport Beach. At least 277 cases filed against him by prosecutors in Orange County. Plus an unknown amount in Hawaii, Los Angeles or any of the other places he landed after a stint in jail or rehab. But the number that's most important to those who knew Mark David Allen, or felt they knew him, is somewhere in the thousands. That's how many lives Allen touched through his documented story of a decades-long battle with alcoholism.

Newport Beach sports agent Leigh Steinberg, whose life story partially inspired "Jerry Maguire," has filed for bankruptcy, according to an email he sent to the Daily Pilot. Steinberg, 62, pens a weekly sports column for the Pilot. He said in his statement that media exposure that harmed his family and chased away clients led to him to seek Chapter 7 protections in federal bankruptcy court. He had been hoping to repay those who had given him loans. Steinberg used to represent a large roster of professional football and baseball players and boxers.

Orange Coast College was awarded a grant to look into the drinking habits of community college students. The Orange County Health Care Agency gave $220,000 to OCC's Student Health Center to fund a campus-wide survey and teach the consequences of excessive drinking. Similar projects have been carried out at four-year universities. "No one really knows about alcohol use in community college," Sylvia Worden, the associate dean of student health services, said in a prepared statement.

IRVINE — Being a "cool" parent could land you up to $3,000 in fines if you serve alcohol to minors, according to a new ordinance the City Council unanimously approved this week. The ordinance, which underwent a first reading Tuesday night, fines hosts up to $750 upon first warning, up to $1,500 for a second warning within a 12-month period and up to $3,000 for further warnings. "I just want to make clear that serving alcohol to minors in a private home is not a private matter," Todd Spitzer, finance chairman for the county chapter of Mothers Against Drunk Driving, said to council members.