Laser

Alex Coolman BALBOA ISLAND -- Sitting on the sand in front of South Bayfront, the unadorned hull of a laser sailboat looks almost comically simple. About 12 feet long, just a few feet wide and done up in cheerful red plastic, it looks more like a toy than a serious nautical machine. But Robbie Rader, an instructor for Balboa Island Yacht Club, said the looks of a laser are a little deceptive. Although it's a good boat for young sailors and beginners, its efficient simplicity also makes it a speed demon when the conditions are right, he said.

A 37-year-old man from Orange has been convicted of shining a laser at two jet planes approaching John Wayne Airport last year. He’s the first in the nation to be convicted in a jury trial, according to federal prosecutors. Dana Christian Welch was convicted Wednesday of two felonies. He faces a maximum of 20 years in federal prison for each count. Welch intentionally aimed the hand-held laser at two Boeing 7-series jets May 21, according to prosecutors. The United Airlines jet had more than 180 passengers and crew members on it and the Alaska Airlines plane had more than 80 aboard.

Police arrested a 19-year-old Costa Mesa man Friday for allegedly waving a laser pointer into the cockpit of a police helicopter. Adam Christopher Andrews, 19, was arrested about 8:30 p.m. in the 1900 block of Rosemary Place after he shone a hand-held laser into the cockpit of a Costa Mesa police helicopter flying a routine patrol of the area, said Lt. Craig Epperson. The helicopter’s flight was not disrupted by the incident, he said. “There’s been a number of incidents where police officers and commercial aircrews have had their vision affected by lasers pointed at them,” Epperson said.

A Costa Mesa police helicopter was called to find a person commercial airline pilots had complained was flashing a laser into their cockpit during landing, police said Thursday. At about 10:40 p.m. Wednesday the Costa Mesa police helicopter crew spotted where the laser was coming from in the city of Orange, Sgt. Bryan Glass said. Officers relayed the information to Orange police, but they were unable to locate anyone that night. Thursday morning Orange police searched parolee Dana Welch’s home in the area that Costa Mesa police identified and found two laser devices, Orange police Sgt. Dan Adams said.

When police are searching for someone pointing a laser at airplanes, it might not be the best decision to point the laser at the helicopter searching for the culprit. But that?s what authorities said a teenager in Newport Beach did. Newport Beach Police arrested a 15-year-old Las Vegas resident on Christmas after the boy had been out using his new present, police said. He pointed it at a SkyWest plane, and the pilot notified John Wayne Airport traffic controllers, police said.

A Newport Beach man was sentenced to two years in prison Friday and ordered to pay hundreds of thousands in restitution to a local apartment complex association that he had been stealing from when he was its leader. Peter Kontos, 36, pleaded guilty Dec. 12 to grand theft, 39 counts of forgery and 64 counts of money laundering. In 2003, Kontos was the president of the Villa Point Condominium Assn. in Newport Beach. While president, Kontos forged the treasurer’s signature on 39 checks that he gave to various contractors, who would then cash them and kick back to him most of the money.

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.

A warm calm wind pushed a school of 57 little sailboats through Newport Harbor and into the annals of Newport's sailing history books. The competitors in the 72nd Annual Flight of the Lasers race will have the honor of being listed among the many sailors, past and present, who have participated in the yearly race since it's inception in the 1930s. The wind was calm — never going above 10 m.p.h. — but it was plenty of power to keep the small 12-foot Laser sailboats scooting along.

Police arrest laser suspect Newport Beach police have arrested a Westminster man on suspicion of pointing a laser at a police helicopter early Sunday. The pilot in Eagle 1, the police helicopter shared by Newport Beach and Costa Mesa, spotted the laser at 1:45 a.m. Sunday, Newport Beach Sgt. Bill Hartford said. The helicopter crew told ground patrol units the laser came from a black Acura Integra. The car was stopped at 38th Street and Balboa Boulevard and one man was arrested, Hartford said.

IRVINE - At 30-4-1, the Orange Coast College baseball team surely knows how to win. When it comes to celebrating, however, the No. 1 team in the state showed its inexperience on Tuesday after clinching the program's first outright Orange Empire Conference title since 1987. Following the last out of OCC's 7-2 road triumph over Irvine Valley, there was a brief hesitation before the players in the dugout jogged onto the field and helped form a crowd around relief pitcher Bijan Rademacher in front of the mound.

SANTA ANA - The Irvine Valley College men's basketball team opened up Orange Empire Conference play Friday night against Santa Ana College, and it was a good thing the game wasn't scored on style points. Santa Ana likes to drag its opponents into the dirt and make it a scrap, and Friday's matchup certainly was grimy. Irvine Valley (14-3, 1-0 in conference) made just 16 of 56 field goal attempts (28.6%) including a dismal one for 20 from beyond the three-point line, but still managed to emerge on top with a 46-40 victory.

Breaking up was hard to do for Annie Kim, but getting back together has been that much sweeter. Kim and volleyball are together again, a harmonious reunion that is commencing at Irvine Valley College, where the Lasers are ranked No. 18 in the state and Kim is a big part of it. Her play in IVC's victory over No. 7-ranked Fullerton earlier in the week was pivotal at a pivotal point in the season. A 5-foot-8 outside hitter, Kim had 15 kills, three blocks and two aces while hitting .320 in the match.

COSTA MESA - The referee turned to the Orange Coast College sideline to say something to Coach Kevin Smith, who sat on the bench with his men's soccer team down one goal late. "A minimum of three," the ref said. "Three what?" someone asked on the bench. The three was for the minutes left in the match on Tuesday. In a matter of seconds, the three turned out to be the third goal Irvine Valley College put away to rally and beat the host Pirates, 3-1. The Lasers scored at the start of stoppage time of the Orange Empire Conference match, which got away from OCC in the final 22 minutes.

"It isn't whether you win or lose, it's how you play the game" is an old sports adage, maybe outdated in today's "win-at-all-costs" era. But at Irvine Valley College, women's soccer Coach Simon Davies is old school. He has to be. The Lasers play in the extremely tough Orange Empire Conference in the competitive Southern California area. So after a year in which his team went 5-16, including 3-13 in the conference, Davies keeps it all in perspective. Ask Davies how he will turn around the fortunes of his club and he jokes: "Pray harder to the soccer gods.

Player turnover is fast and furious at the junior college level, but Irvine Valley College men's soccer Coach Martin McGrogan doesn't seem to accept the notion of a "rebuilding" year. McGrogan was the program's first coach in 1990, and since then the team has had just three losing seasons, winning one national title and two state titles and was runner-up in the state once. McGrogan, though, deflects praise and gives thanks to the athletes in the Irvine and surrounding areas. "We've been really lucky the past 20 years, we've been fairly consistent," he said.

Irvine Valley College women's volleyball Coach Tom Pestolesi has a history of success, taking the team to the state championship tournament five times, including a third-place finish as recently as 2009. The Lasers are coming off an injury-plagued 2010 season, going 14-7 overall and placing fourth in the Orange Empire Conference before enduring a second-round exit in the Southern California Regional playoffs. But ask Pestolesi about pressure to return the program to state championship contention and he chuckles.

There's no crying in volleyball. At least, that's the way Tom Pestolesi likes to run the volleyball program at Irvine Valley College. And who could argue. The Lasers won the California Community College Athletic Assn. men's volleyball title last week, their third state championship in the past five years. "What's worked for us is a style we use here that is not super emotional," said Pestolesi, who is the co-head coach for the men's team at IVC and also the head coach of the women's team.

IRVINE — It was somehow out of place that the deciding act in a 12-inning Orange Empire Conference baseball grudge match between visiting Orange Coast College and Irvine Valley was one of surrender. With the bases loaded and one out in the top of the 12th inning Friday, OCC second baseman Slater Davies dutifully turned into the first pitch he faced and let the wayward, slow-tumbling curveball plunk him on the back. The resulting run batted in was the difference in a seesaw battle filled with heroic hits and impressive mound performers.

Results are in from Sunday's 75 t h annual Flight of the Lasers sailing race, organized by the Newport Beach Chamber of Commerce's Commodores Club and the Newport Harbor Yacht Club. In the yearly race, sailors of all ages from around Newport Bay compete for a multitude of titles, ranging from Oldest Skipper to Best Decorated Boat. According to a chamber news release, the winners of this year's Flight of the Lasers were: Oldest Skipper: Dave Tingler, Lido Isle Yacht Club (LIYC)