Marine Corps

Rep. John Campbell won’t rescind a bill that would cut nearly $2 million in earmarks to Berkeley, despite the City Council’s amending of a resolution that referred to a Marine Corps recruitment center in the city as “uninvited and unwelcome intruders.” The original resolution encouraged “all people to avoid cooperation with the Marine Corps recruiting station,” and applauded those who “may volunteer to impede, passively or actively, by nonviolent means, the work of any military recruiting office located in the city of Berkeley.

The speaker at Wednesday night's meeting of the Rotary Club of Newport-Balboa needed no introduction. The speaker was 34-year member and retired Marine Corps Gen. Robert Owens, who with his wife, Fran, is moving to Boulder, Colo., this week to be closer to their children and grandchildren. Owens, 86, gave his final craft talk to an overflow audience. Many past club presidents, former members and spouses joined the Rotarians in honoring him. The Anchor Watch scribe for the evening, Terry Rousselot, said: "Owens started out describing graduating from college at 18 years old, then into the Marine Corps career at North Island, San Diego with legendary Pappy Boyington, serving as an honorary pall bearer for Dwight Eisenhower, trading golf tips with Arnold Palmer at a Newport Beach reception, commanding the Marine Corps air wing for the Western U.S., arriving with Fran at Scoffield Barracks, Hawaii on Dec. 7; greeting Spain's King Juan Carlos and his queen at El Toro and supplying the couple with a much-needed carton of Camel cigarettes upon their departure, briefing Robert McNamara in Vietnam about choosing the correct targets of supply barges on the river."

EDITOR'S NOTE: The following letter was sent to residents of Newport Beach to be read at last week's Speak Up Newport Mayor's Dinner. The Newport Beach City Council has adopted the 1st Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment at Camp Pendleton during the ongoing war in Iraq. It is my distinct honor to commend the Newport Beach community for its continued generosity toward the Marines and sailors of the 1st Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment. Your "Salute to the Troops" is far more than the theme for this year's Mayor's Dinner; it is the quality consistently displayed by the enduring support given to our Marines and their families by the citizens of Newport Beach.

Jonathan Bass, a 2002 Newport Harbor High School graduate, was recently promoted to the rank of corporal in the U.S. Marine Corps. He also received a three-year Good Conduct Medal. Bass, who joined the Marines in August 2001 and graduated from boot camp in October 2002, works in aviation electronics in Beaufort, S.C., where he is stationed. Bass is the son of Jeff and Jeanine Bass of Costa Mesa. Raelyn Drury of Newport Beach is one of 78 Marine Corps Scholarship Foundation recipients from California for the 2005-06 academic year.

Howard Everett Wertman born March 7, 1918 in Canton, Ohio and passed away January 25, 2008 at Laguna Hills, California. Howard, best known as Buck, is survived by his wife, Jeanne, of 63 years. He was preceded in death by his son Michael. Survivors who will greatly miss him are: his daughter, Linda Stricker of Dallas, Texas, daughter-in-law, Brooke Wertman Booth of Newport Beach, California, five grandchildren, Mike, Brett, Chris, Stacey and Greg, and six great-grandchildren. Buck was a Colonel in the Marine Corps (retired)

June Casagrande It took 10 years, but the annual Balboa Island Parade finally landed a Marine Corps band. "Every year for 10 years we've asked them to participate," said City Councilman Steve Bromberg, a former Marine who serves on the Parade Committee. "They listen to us at first, but then when we tell them the parade is only 2 1/2 blocks long, that's where we lose them." This time was different. Late last year, the Newport Beach City Council, led by Bromberg, unofficially adopted a Marine Corps battalion at Camp Pendleton, the 1st Battalion 1st Marines.

A Costa Mesa Cub Scout pack has collected food and toiletries for the marine regiment recently adopted by the city, which the scouts will deliver to City Hall on Friday. Scout Pack 711, based at Christ Lutheran School, is contributing the items for care packages given to troops and their families. It’s part of an ongoing effort sponsored by Costa Mesa to support the 1st Battalion 5th Regiment of the Marine Corps stationed at Camp Pendleton. Pack 711 is made up of first- through third-graders, most of whom go to Christ Lutheran School, according to admissions counselor Lisa Olson.

Colonel James W. Donnell, USMC. > > Colonel Donnell was born in Montgomery Alabama in 1922, and enlisted in > the > Marine Corps in early 1941. > He saw service at Pearl Harbor, and throughout the South Pacific, in > WWII, > earning the Purple Heart ribbon at Saipan, and again at Okinawa. > He served in Korea, Lebanon, and in Vietnam, where he earned The Legion > of > Merit. He retired from service in 1973 after a distinguished 32 year > career > in which he was awarded many decorations and campaign ribbons.

Newport Beach advertising agency Lawrence, Mayo & Ponder has promoted Andrea Caillier to senior account coordinator. In her new position, she will coordinate a variety of advertising and marketing activities for agency clients Henry Roofing Products, SaveDaily.com and Renkus-Heinz Speakers. Caillier, a Newport Beach resident, joined the agency in 1999 as an account coordinator. Prior to that, she served as an advertising assistant at Guess Handbags in Los Angeles.

June Casagrande Balboa Island businesswoman Gail Hammerschmidt is giving a whole new meaning to the name of Marine Avenue. The owner of the Sandpiper, a general store on the island's main drag, is the latest local to jump aboard a plan to reach out and touch members of the city's "adopted" Marine unit in Iraq. Her store has dedicated one end of its counter to those who want to send cards and notes to members of the 1st Battalion 1st Marines -- the city's unofficially adopted Marine Corps unit, now stationed in Iraq.

The private investigator who followed Costa Mesa Mayor Pro Tem Jim Righeimer home from a sports bar and called 911 to report him for drunk driving is a Marine veteran, a divorced father and a former police officer who spearheaded a program aimed at helping underage prostitutes, according to public records. Chris Lanzillo, 42, could not be reached for comment Monday, but aspects of his life can be drawn from court and newspaper accounts from the Inland Empire, where he is believed to reside, as well from military records and on Facebook.

Albert Henry Hollister November 30, 1919 - April 11, 2012 Joyce Lee Hollister June 7, 1920 - August 2, 2008 LtCol Al Hollister, USMCR was born in Pasadena, CA to parents John Isaac and Charlotte Hollister. The family moved to Ontario, CA during the 'great depression'. Joyce was born in Ontario to parents Verne and Tilla Lee. They met in high school and both graduated from Chaffey College in 1938. Al joined the Naval Aviation Cadet program, completing flight training at NAS Jacksonville and Miami, FL. After receiving his wings and a commission as a 2ndLt in the Marine Corps he proceeded to Ontario to marry Joyce on June 12, 1942, beginning a lifelong partnership lasting 66 years.

David Sills, the former presiding justice of the 4th District Court of Appeal in Santa Ana who also served as mayor of Irvine, has died. Sills succumbed to cancer last week. He was 73. "Presiding Justice Sills led a remarkable life," Chief Justice Tani Cantil-Sakauye said in a prepared statement. "He was an acclaimed jurist, a courageous veteran, a respected mayor and an exemplary branch leader. I send my thoughts and prayers to his family. " Sills, born and raised in Illinois, was appointed to the state Court of Appeal bench by Gov. George Deukmejian in 1990.

COSTA MESA — A memorial for a Mission Viejo resident who was fatally stabbed in Costa Mesa on New Year's Day, has been set for Saturday afternoon. Robert Sickles' ashes will be buried in the cemetery at the Marine Corps Air Station Miramar in San Diego, family members said Tuesday. "It's senseless," his father, Jim Sickles, 49, said in a phone interview from his Mission Viejo home. "These guys don't go looking for fights. " He was referring to his son, Robert, 27, and Robert's brother, David Sickles, 21, whom Robert had been apparently trying to protect just moments before Robert was stabbed in the chest.

IRVINE — The U.S. Navy did not detect toxins beneath the former El Toro Marine Base's runways and progress is steadily being made on a plume of contamination beneath other sections of the former base, residents were told at last week's City Council meeting. The Navy plans to reevaluate its findings every five years, and if traces of trichloroethylene (TCE), a chemical solvent used on the base in the 1970s, are detected in new areas, the Navy will continue to clean it up, said Jim Callian, Navy Base Realignment and Closure environmental coordinator for El Toro.

It's one of the tidiest stretches of road in Newport Beach. On one end, Mercedes-Benz hoods gleam in the Fletcher Jones Motorcars lot. On the other, a gated condo development looms from behind tall palms. Jamboree Road, with its wide lanes, absence of retail development and speeding cars, is one of the last places you'd expect to see someone hanging out on the corner. Especially if that man is homeless. For the past month or so, Nate Meador, 50, has been leaning against Jamboree lampposts between MacArthur Boulevard and Coast Highway.

There are, basically, two great military courtroom dramas: Herman Wouk’s “The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial” and Aaron Sorkin’s “A Few Good Men.” In the space of two years, the Newport Theater Arts Center has staged both of them — under the same director and featuring the same actor as the twisted authority figure. Gigi Fusco Meese mounted “Caine” in 2008 and now has a powerful production of “Men” on the Newport stage.

The City of Costa Mesa has launched a holiday care package drive to welcome home its adopted Marine Corps unit for Christmas, and is seeking donations. The 1st Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment is due home before Christmas from a tour in Afghanistan. The city is seeking donations of nonperishable items, as well as tax-deductible monetary contributions and gift cards for purchases of perishable foods, which will go toward supporting the returning Marines and their families. Suggested nonperishable donations include: stuffing mix, canned vegetables, canned fruit, Jello, coffee, tea, cocoa, non-refrigerated juice, soft drink mixes, such as Crystal Lite, powdered creamer, boxed sugar, packaged cereal, pancake/waffle mix, syrup, cake/dessert mix, snack items such as beef jerky, canned or packaged nuts, dried fruit, granola bars, popcorn/kettlecorn, Pop Tarts, Protein bars, Slim Jims, and sunflower seeds.

  ORANGE COUNTY, CA – The Marine Corps Scholarship Foundation will honor two prominent Southern California business leaders for their patriotism and professional achievements, as well as for their contributions to the country and their local communities.  The awards will be presented by the evening's military guest of honor — Commandant of the Marine Corps, General James T. Conway — at the 27th Annual Marine Scholarship Ball on October 17th at the St. Regis Monarch Beach Resort in Dana Point.