Vietnam

N icole Irigoyen, a senior at Estancia High School in Costa Mesa, has been spending quite a bit of time in a different sort of place for her senior class project. It's depressing but at times uplifting. The sad stories come at her full force, but so do the encouraging ones. The sight of the number of wheelchairs can be daunting, and yet they serve as testimony to survival. In short, it's the Living Community Center at the Long Beach VA Medical Center, and Irigoyen has caught the volunteer bug there.

While putting on his uniform to attend an all-boy Catholic high school in Orange County, Marshal Kennedy Carolan never dreamed that in a few short years he would grow out his hair and travel the country, doing drugs, dissing the establishment and taking part in political demonstrations. All onstage, of course. Carolan is part of the ensemble in the national touring company of the famed (and divisive) "HAIR: The American Tribal Love-Rock Musical," which underwent a successful Broadway revival in 2009.

Drawing blood from his own arm, the father resolved to save his children from starvation and dehydration at sea. He dribbled it into their mouths, all to deliver them from a bleak promise of poverty and repression. That's how Phu Nguyen describes his and his sister's escape from Vietnam. It was 1981, and Nguyen, only 3 at the time, had set sail with his family. After one month at sea, the death of nine children aboard their boat, and eight months in a Hong Kong refugee camp, the Nguyens finally arrived in America.

Just as Orange County prosecutors had hoped, a convicted pedophile from Costa Mesa who for years raped a Vietnamese girl he had bought overseas could spend the rest of his life behind bars. George Joseph England, 66, was convicted in a Florida federal court Wednesday of multiple counts of moving his young victim across international and state lines in the 1970s. He faces up to 30 years in prison at his sentencing March 24. In 1972, England was in Vietnam where he bought a 3- or 4-year-old girl from her mother and passed her off as his adopted daughter.

An old adage takes on new meaning for two local shipwrights preparing to watch a piece of Newport Harbor history sail out of port Saturday for the last time: Home is where the hull is. Newport Beach residents and Vietnam veterans John Matthews, 70, and Robert Payon, 57, spent more than seven years and upward of $45,000 restoring Old No. 9, the harbor's first fireboat, after it was docked more than a decade ago at the Newport Sea Base . ...

Amid the many booths of handmade and commercial jewelry and accessories, 13-year-old Ali Pfleger's booth, My Passion, blends in well. With her handcrafted beaded and wire necklaces, bracelets and rings, photo notecards and small key chains and ornaments bought at Vietnamese markets, Ali's wares are not out of the ordinary. What makes them special is what they represent. When customers buy the Newport Beach resident's jewelry and trinkets, they are helping fund a heart surgery or build a house or purchase rice for children and families in need in Vietnam.

If you seek verification that Orange County has grown up, the evidence lies simply in the coming of a new generation of community leaders. In some ways it is hard to comprehend that time has passed, not by years, but by decades. The great men and women of the mid-20th century push on out of the bean fields and into the new technology, passing the proverbial torch to a generation coming of age in their 30s and early 40s. One such family of demonstrable influence recently held a sunset cocktail reception in Newport Beach to promote the philanthropic mission of their daughter and her associates.

California Coastal Commissioner William Burke - who vocally supported dousing beach bonfires in Newport Beach and Huntington Beach - has resigned amid pressure from two state legislators. Burke is chairman of the South Coast Air Quality Management District's governing board, which is considering banning wood-burning rings along the coast from San Clemente to Malibu for health reasons. Until this week, he also held a position on the Coastal Commission, where staff has recommended the board deny Newport Beach the ability to remove 60 fire pits along its coastline.

Troy Bolus GPA: 4.5 School Activities/Clubs: track, Photography Club Community: peer tutor, Illumination Foundation Awards/Honors: Most Valuable Player varsity track 2012, Best Varsity Jumper 2010-11 Hobbies/Interests: guitar, golf, skiing, founded College Peg-Com College Plans: UCLA Scholarships: none CdM Experience: Loved it! * Valerie Chang GPA: 4.91 School Activities/Clubs: 15 APs, Ordinary Differential Equations and Linear Algebra with BYU, World Love Organization (president)

Lt. Colonel Thomas L. Edwards, USMC (ret.) passed away peacefully on March 12, 2009 at the age of 77 in Laguna Woods, CA after a long battle with bone cancer. He is survived by his four daughters Kim Christensen, LeeAnn Adams, Barbara Gladel, and Paula Rogers, and was the proud grandfather of 9 grandchildren and one great-grandson. Lt. Colonel Edwards entered the United States Marine Corps in 1954 and retired in 1980 with 26 years of service to his country. He was awarded the National Defense Service Medal w/1 star, the Joint Service Commendation Medal – 2nd Award, the Certificate of Achievement, the Vietnam Service Medal with 4 stars, the Vietnam Campaign Medal, the Vietnam Staff Honor Medal 1st Class, the Combat Action Ribbon, the Vietnam Cross of Galantry with silver star, the Bronze Star Medal w/Combat V, the Republic of Vietnam Cross of Galantry w/palm and frame, and the Meritorious Unit Citation w/1 star.