The Capistrano Insider

Capistrano Woman on Channel 4 News Tonight

Louise Gaiser, featured in The Capistrano Dispatch in November for her efforts to tutor kids in the garage of her mobile home, is getting a little flak from her HOA. Channel 4's Vikki Vargas has the story at 5:30 tonight.

Here's our earlier story.

Former St. Margaret's Coach Welch has Cancer

The OC Register is reporting that former St. Margaret's football coach Harry Welch has prostrate cancer:

From the story:

Santa Margarita football coach Harry Welch has prostate cancer and will undergo surgery for it during the coming football season.

Welch, 65, said his doctor, after initial exams, suggested a biopsy was needed and the biopsy revealed the cancer. A meeting with a specialist Tuesday will inform Welch of more details on the surgery and post-surgery treatment.

Welch revealed his diagnosis to the Register on Sunday night on the condition that it not be made public until he told his team this afternoon.

"The doctor said if we do the surgery now, I have a 90 percent chance of beating it," Welch said. "So we're probably looking at dealing with this real soon."

Welch said he was committed to continue coaching this season, within reason.

See the entire story at www.ocregister.com

President of Proposed College in Capistrano to Speak Friday

Ed Johnson, president of the proposed San Juan Colleges, will make a presentation about the planned Capistrano project at the Community Coffee Chat on Friday, April 3.

A group of private investors and college leaders are proposing to build The San Juan Colleges on 74 acres of undeveloped land north of Junipero Serra Road and west of Camino Capistrano. The project would be based on a four-year, residential private-college model, and the colleges’ first phase is anticipated initially at 2,000 students, growing over a decade to approximately 6,000 students, three-quarters of whom would live on campus.

The project would also include a resort hotel/executive conference center with approximately 200 guest rooms, plus meeting and conference rooms and a spa. The colleges would be similar in makeup to the Claremont Colleges, and would be home to three to five branches of existing faith-based schools. Backers, who have been meeting with city and community leaders, plan to submit their formal plans within weeks.

Community Coffee Chat is a weekly mini town-hall forum held at the Camino Real Playhouse at 31776 El Camino Real in San Juan Capistrano and moderated by The Capistrano Dispatch. The playhouse is west of Del Obispo Street and just south of Ortega Highway. The informal meeting begins at 8 a.m.

Updates from Supervisor Pat Bates

These items from Orange County Supervisor Pat Bates have some Capistrano-related points of interest:

Public Protection Working Group

In light of the significant financial challenges the County will face in balancing our 2010-11 Budget, I have called for the formation of a working group consisting of the Sheriff, the District Attorney, the CEO, Supervisor Campbell and myself. This group will be charged with the task of developing a fair and comprehensive approach toward solving the significant budget shortfalls that will be faced next year within our public safety departments. By bringing these decision makers together to one table, it is my hope that we will be able to develop a fiscally responsible strategy to preserve fundamental public safety services for the people of Orange County.


Antonio Parkway Widening Project

The Board approved a Cooperative Agreement with the Orange County Transportation Authority to define the roles and responsibilities relating to the Antonio Parkway Widening Project. This project includes widening Antonio Parkway from four to six lanes south of Ladera Ranch as well as widening the Antonio Parkway Bridge by one lane in each direction.

The project, which is identified on the Orange County Master Plan of Arterial Highways, will complement ongoing improvements to the adjacent Ortega Highway and planned improvements to La Pata Avenue. Together, these projects will result in significant traffic relief for residents of the surrounding neighborhoods of Ladera Ranch and City of San Juan Capistrano as well as improve overall regional mobility for South County motorists.

State Library Grant

The Board accepted a $58,599 grant from the California State Library to provide adult literary services. The County will apply this grant toward our award winning adult literacy program, Read OC, which serves residents at all Orange County Public Libraries. The program currently utilizes 300 volunteer tutors who provide individualized tutoring in basic literacy skills and workplace literacy programs for local businesses.

For more information about the Read OC Program, please click here.

Trustee Maddox Weighs in on Soto

Capistrano Unified School District Trustee Ken Maddox has offered some thoughts on the county investigation into possible overbilling by former Capistrano Councilman Joe Soto's landscaping company.

Maddox, a former cop, says he endorsed Laura Freese during the last council race over Soto because, essentially, he recognized Soto as a "no goodnick."

Like a lot of Capistrano tales, this one has a lot of back story. Maddox actually did some paid political consultant for Freese during the campaign, and him being a Republican and all, and her famously not, that probably irked some of his party colleagues.

Soto, for his part, was one of those who publicly criticized Maddox and other trustees for putting Superintendent A. Woodrow Carter on paid leave. (Carter and Soto were fellow Rotarians).

It all makes for interesting reading on Trustee Maddox's blog. I suspect this won't be the last of the who-supported-who, who-didn't sort of exhanges we'll see as the Soto saga unravels.

Here's Trustee's Maddox's full post.