History

Once that back-to-school wardrobe is in place, classroom assignments are a student's next mission. Whether the task involves constructing a mission model or researching a country, Newport libraries provide ample resources for making the grade. Elementary and junior high school students typically face numerous reports about the world's countries. For such assignments, "Worldmark Encyclopedia of the Nations" includes nine volumes profiling 193 countries.

The Daily Pilot photo staff hit the pavement early Sept. 11 to capture our community honoring the anniversary of the attacks. It was like a challenge: Who is going to get the shot that says it all? We covered many events that day including Costa Mesa's Patriot Day and the Tall Ships memorial. But the stand-out picture that set the bar was Don Leach's photograph of a flight attendant tossing a flower into the ocean. It's not every day that our news coverage includes a national issue.

Sage Hill (0-8, 0-1) vs. Crean Lutheran (4-4, 0-1) When/where: Friday, 7 p.m. at Crean Lutheran Key Lightning: Sr. DL-WR Thomas Fenner; Sr. RB-LB Joe Melita ( 602 yards, three TDs rushing); So. QB CJ McCord (466 yards, four TDs passing). Key Saints: Sr. RB Blake Cox (508 yards, six TDs rushing); Sr. TE-S-PK Riley Tooker (243 yards, four TDs receiving); Sr. OG-NT Teddy Hung. Breakdown: The Lightning are aiming to halt a 10-game losing streak, while the Saints are looking for their first league victory in the program's four-year history, having lost all 10 of their Academy League games ... Sage Hill has lost three straight league games since beating Crean, 29-28, last season ... The Lightning have scored just 89 points in eight games and have given up 340 ... Crean has been outscored this season, 217-163 ... Crean's four wins have come against teams with a combined record of 6-25 ... Sage, which has never had a winless season in a varsity history that began in 2002, has also never lost more than eight games in one season ... Hung and Tooker were first-team All-Academy League players last season ... The Saints opened the season with 15 returning starters on both sides of the ball ... Sage has outscored Crean, 129-48, in their three previous meetings ... Melita and Fenner are the Lightning's leading tacklers.

Velma C. Patterson was a resident of Costa Mesa from 1922 until Sept. 28, 2010. She was born in Orange on Feb. 4, 1911. Velma lived in her grandmother's boarding house, the Depot Park House in Orange from her birth until she moved to 22nd Street and Santa Ana Avenue in Harper, which is now Costa Mesa. She attended Costa Mesa Grammar School and Lathrop Intermediate School in Santa Ana. She was a child of the Depression and left school to help support her five younger brothers and sisters.

JOSEPH N. BELL For the past four weekends, Drama Room 11 in one of the temporary structures at Newport Harbor High School has been infested with young men in snap brim felt hats and young women in garish dresses that hide their knees, long stockings and sensible shoes. These apparitions overflow frequently into the walkways outside, making the area more closely resemble the back lot at Universal Studios than an academic institution. Inside, a man wearing a New York City police sweatshirt and a patiently stressed look is directing traffic in and around a battery of powerful lights and three cardboard flats that frame what appears to be a night club bar. He is holding a camera.

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.

Consider Sunday the last opportunity for awhile to watch a Turkish folk dance, try a manti (Turkish dumpling) or take a picture with a soldier guarding a replica of the Trojan Horse. Turkey came to the Orange County Fairgrounds this weekend for the fourth Anatolian Cultures & Food Festival. However, event organizers said the festival will head to New York next year before returning to Orange County in 2015. "[New York dignitaries] showed an interest in the festival," said Atilla Kahveci, the event's spokesman.

They can say that they were part of the longest NCAA women's water polo championship game in history. More importantly for Newport Harbor High graduates Kaleigh Gilchrist and Nicolina McCall, as well as Newport Beach native Chelsea Silvers (Mater Dei), they can say they're national champions. USC freshman Anni Espar scored from long distance in the third sudden-death overtime period, lifting the Trojans to a 10-9 victory over Stanford in the NCAA title match Sunday at Harvard University.

From a news perspective, the 1990s in Newport-Mesa had it all. Million-dollar embezzlements by officials in a city and a school district. A sexual harassment scandal in the Newport Beach Police Department that took down the chief and his top lieutenant. A hard-fought and highly emotional political campaign over a proposed airport that divided the north and the south. An ongoing environmental story. An international sports star in our backyard. A devastating car crash and its aftermath, including what many called a modern miracle.

COSTA MESA - Matt Hurst, Troy Hardy, Nick McGuinness and Tanner Love hung out at the track and field meet as they always do, together. They weren't going to run together on Saturday, though. The race that united them on the track was the 4x400-meter relay, an event they were disqualified from last week at the Pacific Coast League finals. The episode marked the end of the season for one of the best relay teams in Corona del Mar High's history. Not being able to race together again bummed them out. Hurst said the 4x400 relay, which he anchors, is his favorite race.