Toilet Paper

COSTA MESA -- City workers spent about five hours Thursday removing toilet paper from trees in the public right of way near Estancia High School. The extensive job spanned from Estancia High School on Placentia Avenue north to Mesa Verde Drive through the residential neighborhood. City workers alerted the Police Department about the incident, but the prank is not considered vandalism if there is no property damage, police said. The toilet papering occurred sometime during the early morning hours before 6 a.m., said Public Services Director Bill Morris.

Estancia High School’s Class of ’09 is really on a roll. Denied the chance to carry on the annual tradition of toilet papering their school before the first day of classes, several seniors turned their focus to Fairview Park. “They think they’ll stop it, but they won’t,” said defiant, 17-year-old Estancia senior Natalie Plascentcia. “[Seniors] will do it two days later, they’ll do it in November, in December. You never know. You just never know.

Let’s hope it’s not an omen for the rest of the school year. In the early hours of Tuesday morning, while most students across Newport-Mesa enjoyed their last few hours of sleep before beginning the annual march to the first day of school, dozens of Estancia High School seniors headed to Fairview Park to toilet-paper a welcome mat for their peers. Just before 3 a.m. Tuesday, with carloads of Estancia students and alumni watching through the darkness, several newly minted Estancia High School seniors went toilet-papered Placentia Avenue from Fairview Park to the steps of their school.

-- Deepa Bharath They call it a regular back-to-school prank. But Costa Mesa Police Sgt. Dave Walker says it must have been a heavy-duty and expensive operation. Vandals, presumably high school students heading back to school, toilet-papered the intersection of Mesa Verde Drive and Adams Avenue in Costa Mesa during the wee hours of Tuesday, right from Country Club Road all the way to the median. Not even the trees were spared, Walker said. "They must have used at least a 100 rolls of toilet paper," he said.

I was driving home the other evening following a phenomenal dinner at Taco Rosa restaurant. I mention Taco Rosa because the food brothers Sergio and Ivan Calderon are serving is some of the best Mexican food I've ever eaten. Anytime. Anyplace. But, that's not the point of today's column. The point is that on that drive home I noticed a full moon in the sky. It answered a question that had been bothering me since earlier in the day about why people sometimes do the wacky stuff they do. You see, earlier that morning I noticed out the front window of my home that my neighbor, Herb, who lives across the street, had had his house toilet-papered.

For a few seconds Tuesday at Eastbluff Elementary School, Adam Young got to rule the universe. The sixth-grader was among the students in Katy Weiss' class participating in Walk Through the Ancient Worlds, a program put on by California Weekly Explorer that covers the ancient civilizations of Rome, Greece and Egypt. Each student got to pick a historical character to play — and Adam, feeling ambitious, opted to be Ra, the Egyptian sun god. When it came Adam's time to give his speech at the front of the class, a group of his friends knelt around him on the floor and kowtowed until he finished.

The recent meltdown at Corona del Mar High School has only one explanation. This came to me while reading about the alleged attempt by Mayumi and Richard Heene to generate interest in a reality show based on their family by faking the news that their 6-year-old son, Falcon, may have stowed away in a balloon that floated away. Now I know: The parents, students, teachers and administrators at the school have concocted a series of absurd moments to generate interest in, and revenue from, a TV reality show.

We asked Newport Harbor High School students about the state of their school's facilities. Here's what they had to say: "I think the buildings are fine. I think they should spend the money on getting more teachers."MARLON HERNANDEZ, 18 Costa Mesa "The bathrooms are pretty bad. They are not taken care of. They smell and they are always out of toilet paper. The toilets overflow." MISSY CARTER, 15 Newport Beach "The P.E. locker rooms smell really bad. The lockers have mold growing in them.

The recent meltdown at Corona del Mar High School has only one explanation. This came to me while reading about the alleged attempt by Mayumi and Richard Heene to generate interest in a reality show based on their family by faking the news that their 6-year-old son, Falcon, may have stowed away in a balloon that floated away. Now I know: The parents, students, teachers and administrators at the school have concocted a series of absurd moments to generate interest in, and revenue from, a TV reality show.

Estancia High School’s Class of ’09 is really on a roll. Denied the chance to carry on the annual tradition of toilet papering their school before the first day of classes, several seniors turned their focus to Fairview Park. “They think they’ll stop it, but they won’t,” said defiant, 17-year-old Estancia senior Natalie Plascencia. “[Seniors] will do it two days later, they’ll do it in November, in December. You never know. You just never know.

Happens every year. You can set your DVR by it. It is supposed to be a secret. But I’m guessing at least 100 people know when it’s going to happen, down to the minute, and that includes kids and cops. Every year, when school starts, the senior class at Estancia High School toilet papers Mesa Verde Drive, Fairview Park and whatever else they can get their rolls on before the first loud car or barking dog spooks them. We live on Mesa Verde Drive, and it’s a perennial rite of fall that’s been going for at least 30 years, more or less.

Let’s hope it’s not an omen for the rest of the school year. In the early hours of Tuesday morning, while most students across Newport-Mesa enjoyed their last few hours of sleep before beginning the annual march to the first day of school, dozens of Estancia High School seniors headed to Fairview Park to toilet-paper a welcome mat for their peers. Just before 3 a.m. Tuesday, with carloads of Estancia students and alumni watching through the darkness, several newly minted Estancia High School seniors went toilet-papered Placentia Avenue from Fairview Park to the steps of their school.

Backpack? Check. Pens, pencils and binders? Check. Know where the classes are? Not so much. Chaos on the first day of school is inevitable, Newport-Mesa Unified school officials said. Most spent little time playing administrators Tuesday and more time acting as shepherds for children to smooth their transition into classes at 22 elementary, two middle and seven high schools. “Today, I’m a fireman. Here to put out the fires,” said Phil D’Agostino, principal at Estancia High School.

I was driving home the other evening following a phenomenal dinner at Taco Rosa restaurant. I mention Taco Rosa because the food brothers Sergio and Ivan Calderon are serving is some of the best Mexican food I've ever eaten. Anytime. Anyplace. But, that's not the point of today's column. The point is that on that drive home I noticed a full moon in the sky. It answered a question that had been bothering me since earlier in the day about why people sometimes do the wacky stuff they do. You see, earlier that morning I noticed out the front window of my home that my neighbor, Herb, who lives across the street, had had his house toilet-papered.

For a few seconds Tuesday at Eastbluff Elementary School, Adam Young got to rule the universe. The sixth-grader was among the students in Katy Weiss' class participating in Walk Through the Ancient Worlds, a program put on by California Weekly Explorer that covers the ancient civilizations of Rome, Greece and Egypt. Each student got to pick a historical character to play — and Adam, feeling ambitious, opted to be Ra, the Egyptian sun god. When it came Adam's time to give his speech at the front of the class, a group of his friends knelt around him on the floor and kowtowed until he finished.

GARDEN GROVE ? The Newport Harbor Baseball Assn. Pinto A All-Stars had just suffered their third loss by two or fewer runs in four games. Thursday was the most crushing of the four, a 4-3 loss to La Mirada in seven innings at Walton Field. But not even the ketchup on their faces nor the hot dogs in their mouths could cover up the happiness, because there would be more baseball for this team. "They get over it pretty quickly," Manager Jeff Mitchell said. "They're having a good time."