Fairview Park

COSTA MESA - An unidentified man allegedly shot himself to death Monday afternoon at Fairview Park after an altercation with police, officials said. Around 1 p.m. while patrolling the Westside park, a Costa Mesa officer determined after checking the license plate of a blue 1990 Honda sedan that its owner had a traffic warrant. The officer asked the owner, who was sitting in the Honda's passenger seat, to get out of the car, according to a press release. While talking with the officer, police said the man got back into the passenger seat and pulled out a handgun.

The Costa Mesa Newport Harbor Lions Club will hold its 65th annual Fish Fry in a new location: Fairview Park. Admission to the two-day event to the park, 2525 Placentia Ave., on June 2 and 3 is free, while the delicious fish dinners will be served starting at noon for a cost of $10. There will be carnival rides for all ages. Vendors will be selling corn on the cob, hot dogs and burgers, delicious pies and games of chance. And there is a baby contest and entertainment on the stage.

COSTA MESA - Residents flooded Fairview Park on Tuesday afternoon as heat of the day slowly dissipated with the transition to evening. They were there to hear the Costa Mesa-based Dan Krikorian Band play for the final Concerts in the Park. The five-part series, which ran every Tuesday starting July 5, was sponsored by the city and the Costa Mesa Community Foundation. Fairview Park was filled with families and groups of friends clustered together on a blanket, or settled into a row of lawn chairs, as they dug into homemade food or a tasty treat from one of three gourmet food trucks there.

Greg Risling COSTA MESA -- Police announced Wednesday they have arrested a Huntington Beach man suspected of two rapes, one of which occurred at Fairview Park earlier this year. Calvin William Cunningham III, 24, was linked to the rapes through DNA tests. Sitting in Orange County Jail on other sex-related charges, Cunningham was charged with two felony counts of rape after the genetic testing tied him to the crimes, police said. He appeared in a West Justice Center courtroom Wednesday, where his arraignment was postponed until Dec. 29. Police also suspect Cunningham is responsible for a rash of indecent exposure cases this year on Costa Mesa's West Side.

The possibility of sports fields, picnic shelters, restrooms and other amenities at Fairview Park will be discussed Wednesday at a meeting of the Costa Mesa parks and recreation commission. Also likely to come up are suggestions for a large skate park, museum and community garden, all of which have been mentioned by the City Council but none of which have been approved for the park. The commission will discuss how the park’s trail could connect with nearby neighborhoods, and access from the park to lower Talbert Park and the new stadium at Estancia High School.

Noaki Schwartz SANTA ANA -- The Huntington Beach man suspected of raping a local woman in Fairview Park hung himself to death in his jail cell Thursday morning. At 11 a.m., jail staff found Calvin William Cunningham III hanging in his single-man cell at the Orange County Jail. Efforts to revive him failed. Orange County Sheriff's Department spokesman Lt. Rich Paddock would not say how the inmate hung himself or how common suicides are at Orange County Jail.

Jennifer Kho COSTA MESA -- Residents with property that extends into Fairview Park are interested in buying the little bits of land, but the city may not be able to legally sell them. Residents with views from both sides of the park's property line met Tuesday at City Hall for what turned into a heated discussion about homes that encroach into the park. "All of you, as private owners, wouldn't buy a house without a deed," said Bill Morris, public services director for the city.

This was not a political rally. Nor was it an anti-war demonstration. Those who came to Fairview Park on Saturday heard that message over and over again. "We want to help redefine peace as an action," said the Rev. Jim Turrell, senior pastor of Costa Mesa's Center for Spiritual Discovery, from a stage temporarily planted at the park. And that action? Volunteerism, Turrell said. Turrell is co-chairman of Peace Centers Inc., which co-sponsored the second annual "Celebration for Peace" festival.

COSTA MESA -- A 16-year-old girl was found dead along a brush-covered trail in Fairview Park early Friday morning, officials said. The body of the girl, identified only as a Costa Mesa resident, was spotted by a resident on a trail in the 2500 block of Placentia Avenue near Pacific Avenue, said Costa Mesa Police Sgt. Don Holford. "We don't know the cause of death," he said. "It seems to have been some kind of trauma, but there were no visible wounds or injuries."

Jennifer Kho COSTA MESA -- After listening to dozens of residents' concerns, the City Council sent Fairview Park remodeling plans back to the drawing board Monday. "The intent is to make it a user-friendly park," said Councilman Joe Erickson. "We listened to the people who spoke. It isn't a natural park right now, but it is very usable. We also want to restore it to its natural state." The city plans to turn the park -- now a grassy field with dirt trails -- into a nature preserve.

The Costa Mesa Newport Harbor Lions Club will hold its 65th annual Fish Fry in a new location: Fairview Park. Admission to the two-day event to the park, 2525 Placentia Ave., on June 2 and 3 is free, while the delicious fish dinners will be served starting at noon for a cost of $10. There will be carnival rides for all ages. Vendors will be selling corn on the cob, hot dogs and burgers, delicious pies and games of chance. And there is a baby contest and entertainment on the stage.

Disguised as men, female soldiers slung revolvers and fired cannons alongside their male counterparts in 1861. This is just one of many truths to discover this weekend at the fourth annual Battle of Costa Mesa, a Civil War reenactment event in Costa Mesa's Fairview Park on Saturday and Sunday. Transforming the quiet grasslands off Placentia Avenue, more than 350 blue- and gray-clad participants will ignite a historic scene of foot soldiers, cavalry, smoking guns and North vs. South political rhetoric.

COSTA MESA - An unidentified man allegedly shot himself to death Monday afternoon at Fairview Park after an altercation with police, officials said. Around 1 p.m. while patrolling the Westside park, a Costa Mesa officer determined after checking the license plate of a blue 1990 Honda sedan that its owner had a traffic warrant. The officer asked the owner, who was sitting in the Honda's passenger seat, to get out of the car, according to a press release. While talking with the officer, police said the man got back into the passenger seat and pulled out a handgun.

COSTA MESA - Residents flooded Fairview Park on Tuesday afternoon as heat of the day slowly dissipated with the transition to evening. They were there to hear the Costa Mesa-based Dan Krikorian Band play for the final Concerts in the Park. The five-part series, which ran every Tuesday starting July 5, was sponsored by the city and the Costa Mesa Community Foundation. Fairview Park was filled with families and groups of friends clustered together on a blanket, or settled into a row of lawn chairs, as they dug into homemade food or a tasty treat from one of three gourmet food trucks there.

Whitney Pavlik, a former women's volleyball player at UC Irvine, partnered up with Jenny Kropp to win the National Volleyball League Malibu Open last Sunday at Zuma Beach. Pavlik and Kropp, the No. 1-seeded team, defeated 19th-seeded Olaya Pazo and Kendra Van Zwieten, 21-15, 21-16, in the finale. During the 32-team tournament, Pavlik and Kropp swept each of their six matches. Next for Pavlik and Kropp is an NVL tournament in Virginia Beach, Va., on Aug. 26-28. — From staff reports * OCTC pancake breakfast 5K at Fairview Park The Estancia High cross country and track and field programs are teaming up with the Orange County Track Club for the 14th annual OCTC Pancake Breakfast 5K at Fairview Park in Costa Mesa on Sunday at 8 a.m. The top three finishers in each age, male and female division will earn medals.

Dan Krikorian took an introduction to guitar class during his freshman year at Chapman University. He thought it would be a fun and easy way to round out a tough schedule, but he got hooked. That was seven years ago. Now, what started on a whim has turned the Costa Mesa resident's life plans upside down. "It's one of those things that just kind of happened, and I'm really glad it did," said Krikorian, 26. "I just fell in love with it. " After graduating from Chapman with a degree in business, Krikorian went to work for a mutual fund company.

COSTA MESA — Councilwoman Wendy Leece remembered when she was on the city's Parks and Recreation Commission and the Fairview Park Wetlands & Riparian Habitat Project first crossed her desk. Costa Mesa City Engineer Ernesto Munoz and Public Services Director Peter Naghavi remembered what Fairview Park used to look like before the project. "There was nothing here," they said. How far Fairview Park has come. Standing at the end of a dirt trail Thursday afternoon with the occasional jogger and bicyclist passing by, city and county officials celebrated the beginning of Phase 2 of the wetlands project, slated to begin in August.

My favorite songwriter, Sara Groves, says, "If you go looking for offense, you're going to find it. If you go looking for true love, you're going to find it. " I'm not one of those people who believe you can just make things appear by saying it out loud, but I do think we tend to see most clearly the things we are focused on. Sometimes we have to shift our gaze and refocus. As of late, it has been easy for me to focus on the disunity in our city. The Costa Mesa City Council and police can't stand each other.

I love American history, especially military history. I've felt the morning rain as it doused the hallowed grounds of Gettysburg and walked among the field grasses at Valley Forge. So when I heard about the Battle of Costa Mesa, an annual Civil War reenactment event in Fairview Park, I jumped at the chance to photograph and write about it. I was there nearly all day April 16, getting the full spectrum of photo possibilities. Yet the whole time I knew there one shot I had to get: the fiery ignition of a cannon.

COSTA MESA — An essential ingredient to Civil War fighting these days is Cream of Wheat. The food is good for breakfast, but it also works well in your gun, providing you put in the black powder first. "The Cream of Wheat is used to pack the powder so that it doesn't come out," said Eric Agaki, of the 2nd Kentucky Cavalry. As I watched him prepare pistols at his unit's base camp, I wrote down that small (but nonetheless essential) snippet of sage advice. It was just one of many details imparted to me Saturday afternoon at the third annual Battle of Costa Mesa, a Civil War reenactment event hosted by the American Civil War Society that made an otherwise serene Fairview Park into a battlefield of mid-19th century proportions.