Trick

COSTA MESA — Yaritza Garcia's booming kicks are always useful for the Sonora Elementary girls' fifth- and sixth-grade silver division team at the Daily Pilot Cup. Garcia plays on defense, and those kicks can get the Eagles out of danger. But on set pieces, her right foot itself turns dangerous. Garcia had a hat trick Thursday evening as Sonora blanked Wilson, 4-0, in its tournament-opening game at Davis Elementary. The Eagles have big plans after winning the fifth- and sixth-grade girls' bronze division title last year.

Question: It's amazing how you "learned theologians" always toe the party line: God is always responsible for the good things that happen, but good gosh, never responsible for the bad things because of "free will. " And God doesn't make garbage. Bunk. Hitler, Bin Laden and too many more names to fit on the page are all bad because of their environment? When a product is junk, you blame the manufacturer. I'd have more respect for you guys if you'd say God can and has been a screw-up, instead of the way you all tap dance around very valid questions with that "free will" nonsense.

Accused of impersonating a G-Man, a Seal Beach woman met real FBI agents Thursday when they arrested her at Fashion Island in Newport Beach, authorities said. Karen Hanover, 44, was arrested without incident two days after federal prosecutors charged her in a Santa Ana federal court with using special technology to mask her phone number and disguise her voice so she could scare people into thinking she was a federal agent. The criminal complaint accuses Hanover of targeting people at real estate education seminars to pay her a $30,000 "fee" to help them find commercial properties to buy. Hanover spent all of her time allegedly finding new investors to swindle out of their money instead of actually finding property, something she wasn't qualified to do anyway, prosecutors claim.

NEWPORT BEACH — At the other end of the Newport Harbor High pool, Coach Bill Barnett heard a familiar voice. Doug Peabody, a coach at The Bishop's School of La Jolla, was sitting on a bench and yelling Saturday. You could have heard his booming voice across campus. "I've known Bill since I was in high school and I'm 47," said Peabody, who marvels at the job Barnett does at Newport Harbor, where he has coached for 45 years. Peabody said not much has changed about Barnett over the years.

CORONA DEL MAR — The players on the Corona del Mar High girls' soccer team have numbers on the back of their jerseys, but maybe nametags on the front might also have been appropriate Tuesday. Several of the Sea Kings have had club commitments the past couple of weeks. Coach Bryan Middleton said the nonleague season opener against visiting Costa Mesa was the first time he's had his whole squad assembled. "This is the first time we've come together as a team this year," Middleton said after CdM captured a 6-1 victory.

The National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence in Orange County and Community Alliance Network recently announced a list of Halloween party guidelines, devised to help parents and adults keep teens safe and to prevent underage drinking. "This time of year is busy for teens with Halloween costume parties, and house parties are a prime source by which youth obtain alcohol," Tereh Glass of NCAAD-OC said. "According to the 2008 California Healthy Kids Survey, 74% of 11th-graders and 59% of ninth-graders across Orange County report that it is easy to get alcohol.

Recently the Los Angeles Times reported that $69 million in California welfare money was cashed in by recipients in places like Las Vegas and on cruise ships. Prior to that, The Times reported that people on welfare had used their state-issued ATM cards to get money at casinos, strip clubs and massage parlors. After those revelations, there followed the usual clamors and calls for politicians to tighten up the system, and many of the politicians responded by promising that in the future the cards could no longer be used in those types of places.

USC freshman Elizabeth Eddy, a former Newport Harbor High standout, recorded her first hat trick to lead the No. 19-ranked Trojans to a 5-4 overtime win over then-No. 21 Cal Sunday. Eddy's hat trick is the first by a Trojan in a Pac-10 game since 1997. Eddy's final goal came with less than two minutes remaining in regulation, the equalizer that tied it up, 4-4. Ashli Sandoval scored on a free kick in overtime for the Trojans (8-3-2, 1-1 in conference). Eddy, a forward/midfielder, scored her first goal in the third minute off an assist from Morgan Morrow to give USC a 2-0 lead.

A Newport Coast man with a record of securities violations has been charged again, this time with allegedly defrauding investors out of millions of dollars, according to federal regulators. Larry R. Crowder, 53, was charged Wednesday by the Securities and Exchange Commission with allegedly lying to investors about $11 million in investments supposedly headed for a green energy company. The federal complaint names Crowder and Joseph R. Porche, 51, of Aliso Viejo, as the leaders of an investment scheme that duped about 200 investors.

COSTA MESA — Jeff Wood might've looked silly if he was out on the dance floor. But he was on the pitch and he made himself look natural after scoring a goal, and then another, and another. After each time he found the net, he had some special celebration. He was just having fun, and in the process he led Waldorf to a 3-2 victory over Pomona in a boys' fifth- and sixth-grade bronze division quarterfinal game of the Daily Pilot Cup Saturday. Wood's hat trick came with some flair at Costa Mesa High.