Violence

The public on Thursday night can hear about the increasing violence against women in polygamous, religious sects when UC Irvine begins its David and Sylvia Easton Lecture program. From 7 to 8:30 p.m., Rose McDermott, a Brown University professor, will discuss her research on the ties between polygamy and various kinds of violence against women. McDermott’s talk will take place in the Social and Behavioral Sciences Gateway and is hosted by the school’s Interdisciplinary Center for the Scientific Study of Ethics and Morality.

Director David Cronenberg is known for strange psychological thrillers with science-fiction overtones, "The Fly," "Dead Ringers" and "Naked Lunch" being a few of his eccentric projects. But despite the aggressive title, "A History of Violence" may be his most mainstream and accessible work to date. Viggo Mortensen emerges from his heroic "Lord of the Rings" role to play Tom Stall, a very ordinary family man in small-town America. He's married to a sexy sweetheart with two kids, and he runs the local diner.

Students and faculty at Tarbut V’Torah community day school will use their voices to battle violence against women at 6:30 p.m. Feb. 19. “A Memory, A Monologue, A Rant and A Prayer,” will feature students and faculty reciting true stories of violence as part of its Global V-day fundraiser. Senior student at the school Leah Greenbaum is producing the show after reading the book of the same title by Eve Ensler, the famous author of The Vagina Monologues. The event will be in the Upper School Lecture Hall in Irvine.

Prospective sailors and their families should have no concerns later this month traveling to Ensenada, Mexico, for the 62nd annual Newport to Ensenada International Yacht Race despite reports of increasing violence at the border, Mexican government officials said Thursday. “We know there’s violence in some places, but it’s not spread all around the country,” said Carlos Rodríguez y Quezada, a consul of Mexico based in Santa Ana. “People have asked for more arrangements to be more safe” and they’ve done that, he said.

WESTMINSTER - A burgeoning relationship between a small Christian college in Costa Mesa and a public university in Iraq could help shape the Middle Eastern country's response to gender-based violence in its northern region. Over the span of 15 days, a small team of Iraqi government officials and academics are touring Orange County and studying the local justice system's procedures for crimes against women. Wednesday, the group of about half a dozen Iraqis gathered at Westminster's police headquarters.

The Vanguard Center for Women’s Studies and the United Studios of Self Defense are partnering to bring the women of Orange County an afternoon of learning more about personal safety, confidence, self-protection and advocacy. After a one-hour self-defense class, the Stop the Violence audience will be able to learn more about violence in their community, ways to help and opportunities to make a difference. Stop the Violence will be from noon to 2 p.m. Saturday at United Studios of Self Defense headquarters at 26826 Vista Terrace, Bldg.

Danette Goulet NEWPORT-MESA -- A proposed revision to the school district's zero-tolerance policy will beef it up, not ease it. The revision, if it's passed by the school board tonight, will outline the Newport-Mesa Unified School District's intolerance of violence and threats of violence by students against students. "The district will not tolerate any gestures, comments, threats or actions, either written, verbal or physical, which cause or threaten to cause or are likely to cause bodily harm, personal degradation or disgrace," the proposed new section of the policy reads.

STEVE SMITH A few weeks ago, my mother gave me the gift of a subscription to the Christian Science Monitor. Having read it almost daily since, I am pleased to report that this is an excellent newspaper, one that I highly recommend to you. The reporting is crisp and clear, with as much of the elusive "balance" that I've ever seen. Don't let the name fool you -- this is not a religious paper. There is on occasion a column devoted to promoting Christian Science, but it is clearly marked as such and except for that, there are no other references.

I'm a journalist and, of course, I believe in free speech. However, certain lines are drawn all the time. For example, I don't know of a video game or telephone app that teaches players how to abuse children. However, there's now what I believe to be a comparable app through which participants can learn to "train" dogs to fight one another. The goal is for the winner to rip the other dog to shreds. The tagline on the "game," called "KG Dogfighting," is "Raise your dog to be the best.

Noaki Schwartz Pastor Gary Barmore still remembers those occasions when he was randomly attacked while growing up in Compton during the 1950s. While some people might have let these seeds develop into prejudices, Barmore said, thanks to his parents he managed to grow up without any deep animosities. "My parents used to send me to an annual national conference that was interreligious and interracial," he recalled. "I spent a week living with people and feeling what it was like to step into their lives."

WESTMINSTER - A burgeoning relationship between a small Christian college in Costa Mesa and a public university in Iraq could help shape the Middle Eastern country's response to gender-based violence in its northern region. Over the span of 15 days, a small team of Iraqi government officials and academics are touring Orange County and studying the local justice system's procedures for crimes against women. Wednesday, the group of about half a dozen Iraqis gathered at Westminster's police headquarters.

How would you respond if someone opened fire at work? How should you respond? And what can you do to prevent such a thing from happening in the first place? Local law enforcement officers tackled those questions Wednesday afternoon at a lunch presentation hosted by the South Coast Metro Alliance's Business-Police Partnership. The event brought together various public safety agencies, area business leaders and school officials. About 64 people attended the lunch at the DoubleTree Hotel in Santa Ana. The alliance represents businesses near South Coast Plaza, where Costa Mesa and Santa Ana share a border.

SANTA ANA - A prosecutor made clear that Robert Alan Lehmann loved his daughter and wanted her to receive the best possible education and treatment for her development disabilities. But that love and concern ultimately fueled a heated battle between him and his ex-wife, whom he stands accused of shooting dead alongside her father in front of his Costa Mesa home, prosecutors asserted in opening statements Wednesday afternoon. Lehmann, 37, is accused of two counts of murder. The charges include sentencing enhancements for lying in wait and for multiple murders.

Violent crime decreased moderately in Costa Mesa last year while property crimes increased, according to FBI statistics released last week. Reported violent crimes fell from 240 in 2010 to 231 in 2011, a decrease of 3.75%. Murders went from one to four — the highest number since 2006 — and reported rapes dropped from 34 to 30, according to the FBI's Unified Crime Reports data . Property crimes — a category that includes burglary, auto theft and larceny — increased 11%. Last year, Costa Mesa logged 340 more property crimes than in 2010, when 3,534 were reported.

The sounds of the high school band Cosmic Infinity reverberated through Corona del Mar High School's quad Friday, drowning out the conversations of students eating lunch. As the music geared up, students celebrated breaking the silence, with some pulling pieces of tape from their mouths and speaking for the first time that day. "I want people to know they are definitely not alone and they can speak up and they have a voice," said freshman Savannah Bachelder, 14, who is part of the Humans Relations Council.

I'm a journalist and, of course, I believe in free speech. However, certain lines are drawn all the time. For example, I don't know of a video game or telephone app that teaches players how to abuse children. However, there's now what I believe to be a comparable app through which participants can learn to "train" dogs to fight one another. The goal is for the winner to rip the other dog to shreds. The tagline on the "game," called "KG Dogfighting," is "Raise your dog to be the best.

The convicted leader of a jewel-thieving gang that killed eight people should be sentenced to life in prison — not death, as prosecutors hoped — a federal jury has determined. Anh The Duong, the leader of a band of gun-toting thieves who robbed jewelry and electronic stores up and down California, including two heists in Newport Beach and Costa Mesa, will be sentenced Feb. 3 in federal court in San Jose. Duong was convicted in September of killing four of the eight people who died during the gang's eight-year crime spree.

At the end of a week of overcast, gray skies and shiver-inducing winds, Newport Beach found itself blanketed in the sun’s warmth Friday afternoon. It was as if the weather cleared to honor an event that’s been smooth sailing for 63 years: the Newport to Ensenada International Yacht Race. Even with participation at a low not seen in years, everyone who crowded onto Balboa Pier to watch the beginning of the race was confident that it’d be around for years to come because of one word: tradition.

“Legion” wants to be a supernatural thriller of biblical proportions. A plague of swarming locusts is only one of many bizarre events unleashed by an angry God. Demons prowling the landscape portend the end of the world. Strange and violent creatures threaten what may be a last outpost of humanity. Dennis Quaid leads the cast of frightened survivors. They are stuck in a desert gas station and greasy spoon restaurant waiting for the next bad thing to happen. There are several scenes with first-rate special effects that grab you by the throat.

The public on Thursday night can hear about the increasing violence against women in polygamous, religious sects when UC Irvine begins its David and Sylvia Easton Lecture program. From 7 to 8:30 p.m., Rose McDermott, a Brown University professor, will discuss her research on the ties between polygamy and various kinds of violence against women. McDermott’s talk will take place in the Social and Behavioral Sciences Gateway and is hosted by the school’s Interdisciplinary Center for the Scientific Study of Ethics and Morality.