Clients

In an alleged bizarre back-room deal between a customer and a Costa Mesa nail salon employee, prosecutors are charging the employee with practicing medicine without a license for allegedly using a laser to try to flatten her customer’s plastic surgery scar and then sprinkling antibiotics on it after it became infected. Tuyet Luong, 36, of Anaheim, faces up to six years in prison if convicted of practicing medicine without a license and causing great bodily injury after she used a laser on one of her clients.

The holiday season is in full swing and your boss has put you in charge of the office party. You need help planning. Who to call? How about Where’s the Party? in Costa Mesa. This week we check in with Candy Hirte, owner of Where’s the Party?   What does your business offer? Do you have various pre-set packages, or is it more custom-made and tailored to the client’s goals? Our store has everything you need to have a party, starting with the invitation.

Newport Beach residents voiced frustrations Wednesday with drug and alcohol rehabilitation homes in the city at a hearing to decide whether the sober living home the Kramer Center should be allowed to keep its doors open. “I am tired of these group home operators who take advantage of our amenities and beautiful beaches but do not observe city regulations,” said Newport Beach resident Barbara Roy at the hearing. The Kramer Center is a 12-bed, unlicensed treatment center that houses its clients in a duplex at 207 28th St. in Newport Beach.

Skylar Deleon killed a Newport Beach couple for their boat and money and slashed a man’s throat in Mexico for $50,000 in 2003, but that doesn’t mean he should be sentenced to death, Deleon’s defense attorney, Gary Pohlson, told a jury during opening statements Tuesday. In a move that raised more than a few eyebrows in the audience, Pohlson nonchalantly agreed with most of the prosecutors’ statements that Deleon murdered three people in 2003 and 2004. Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty.

Skylar Deleon killed a Newport Beach couple for their boat and money and slashed a man’s throat in Mexico for $50,000 in 2003, but that doesn’t mean he should be sentenced to death, Deleon’s defense attorney, Gary Pohlson, told a jury during opening statements Tuesday. In a move that surprised more than a few in the courtroom, Pohlson nonchalantly agreed with most of the prosecutors’ statements that Deleon killed three people in 2003 and 2004. Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty.

The Newport Beach City Council unanimously passed a resolution Tuesday night opposing a statewide ballot measure that would allow more nonviolent drug offenders to attend treatment instead of serving prison or jail time. The council also postponed a scheduled vote Tuesday on plans to build a roughly 3,566-square-foot private home that Corona del Mar neighbors complain will ruin the scenic ocean view from Begonia Park after receiving a scientific report that a rare plant species might grow on the site.

Joshua Blount doesn’t match the physical description of the shooter and was nowhere near the crime scene when 23-year-old Costa Mesa resident Israel Maciel was killed in a drive-by shooting nearly two years ago, defense attorney Barry Bernstein told jurors in the trial’s opening statement Tuesday. Blount, 24, from Compton, is accused of driving up to a group of men in an alley in the 1300 block of West Baker Street and opening fire. Maciel was fatally shot in the upper back.

Raymond Ruiz keeps a wide array of state-of-the-art equipment at his head lice removal salon on Harbor Boulevard — most importantly, a wide-screen television and a collection of hand-held video games. The owner of Lice Control, which opened at the start of March, has never had head lice himself, but he can sympathize with the people who sit in his chair for an hour while technicians remove tiny bugs from their hair. To fend off boredom and discomfort, Ruiz offers Nintendo DS Lite games for children, and since a number of his clients are adults, he provides the TV for all ages.

Sober Living by the Sea runs part of its rehabilitation center out of a cheery blue clapboard house in Cannery Village. The rows of telltale bike racks outside are a clue to rehab home activists that the place isn’t your typical office space or vacation home. Each client is issued a bicycle, or “beach cruiser,” when he or she arrives. The largest and most visible residential drug and alcohol rehabilitation program in Newport Beach, Sober Living by the Sea has become a lightning rod for criticism.

Every year for the past 23, John Blom and the staff of his Corona del Mar photography studio get ready for Christmas in October. During that month, Blom offers clients a free children’s sitting in exchange for a donation to the Toys for Tots campaign. Blom got involved with Toys for Tots through the Corona Del Mar Chamber of Commerce, which sponsors the annual Corona del Mar Christmas Walk the first Sunday in December. The studio has donated about 2,000 toys to the event during past years.