Griffins rebound to top Barons
The Los Alamitos High football team rebounded from their loss to Edison to defeat Fountain Valley, 28-21, in a Sunset League game on Friday at Westminster High.
Kennedy breaks through for league win
Kennedy High got into the win column in Empire League play with a 26-3 win over Western on Thursday at Western High.
Darius Miles led the Fighting Irish with 191 yards and scored two touchdowns to lead Kennedy.
Los Al Girls Tennis win Sunset League titles
Los Alamitos Griffin Girls’ Tennis finished in medals in both Varsity and J.V. Sunset League Finals matches.
Thoughts on city council race
As editor of Los Alamitos’ only political blog for the past four years, I’ve learned a lot about 3 of our 4 city council candidates, and had a couple months to interact with the 4th.
Los Alamitos High delivers top shows
Los Alamitos High School had a very successful performing arts weekend with the fall choir show and the start of the competition season for the marching band.
Council forum brings issues to forefront
With questions being submitted by the audience, the Los Alamitos City Council candidate forum on Oct. 17 provided those in attendance the chance to ask some direct questions of the four people who are vying for two open seats on the council.
Los Al police chief is Rotarian of Year
The Los Alamitos/Seal Beach Rotary Club recently announced that Los Alamitos Police Chief Todd Mattern has been selected by District 5320, with its 45 community clubs and more than 2000 members, as Rotarian of the Year for Leadership Excellence.
Angels Trout, Trumbo chase Texas for title
About halfway through the 162-game season, the hottest team in baseball is smack dab here in Orange County.
The Angels are sizzling but unlike the Icarus from Greek mythology, their wings ain’t made of wax and they’re not going into a tailspin anytime soon.
Mike Trout – maybe the second coming of Mickey Mantle or at least the best 20-year-old to come along in a generation or so – is leading the league in batting average, last time I checked (.345 at press time). And when he’s not crushing the ball, he’s wreaking havoc on the base paths and robbing opponents of home runs.
Mark Trumbo’s batting .353 with 10 dingers and 53 RBI.
Albert Pujols is stroking the ball like, well, the Albert Pujols we know as greatest slugger in The Show for the last 10 years and the best first baseman since Lou Gehrig.
And how about that pitching rotation? Jered Weaver, with eight wins, and C.J. Wilson, with nine, sport the second and third lowest ERA in the American League.
Manager Mike Scioscia has also shored up the team’s only weakness: the bullpen. Yes, it’s a bullpen by committee, with household names such as Frieri, Downs, Hawkins, Walden whom I’ve nicknamed the “Pen Pals,” but as long as the Angels starters go deep into the 6th or 7th innings, the pals are shutting the door on opponents.
So how many all-stars will the Angels field? Hmmm. Maybe five? I mean, Trout, Trumbo, Weaver and Wilson should make it, right? And Pujols, currently fifth among first baseman, is a wild card.
But on to more important business: Hey Texas, can you hear the footsteps? Granted, the Rangers, led by the other-worldly talent of Josh Hamilton, boast the best record in baseball but … the Angels stumbled out of the gate like a lame horse, they’ve been playing catch-up ever since and they’re within four or five games of the leaders of the AL West, which a colleague of mine – a bloody Boston fan – refers to as “The AL worst” because only two of its teams have won more than half their games.
Yeah, Texas is tough. The Orioles, to mix winged things with flowers in a messy metaphor, are no shrinking violets. The Yankees are formidable.
But facts are facts. The Angels are the best team in baseball since early May.
Does anyone believe that Trout and Trumbo – both fresh-faced 20-somethings – are going to get rubber-legged down the stretch? Or that the surging Pujols will peter out and not improve on his .270 average and below-par, for him, power numbers? Or that Weaver and Wilson won’t work their wiles well into September?
It comes down to the pen pals. C’mon boys, bring it. OK, OK, it’s July, but it’s never too early to regress to boyhood – or girlhood for you gals – and dream a little, is it? So allow me this: How cool would it be for the Angels to win their second World Series on the 10-year anniversary of winning their first?
Remember Erstad, Salmon, Anderson and Percival? The names have changed but the game – the grand play on the grand stage, Americana-style – goes on, and what a summer it’s going o be.t
Brady Rhoades is the editor. He can be reached brhoades@localnewspapers.org.
Neighbor saves elderly couple from fire
On Thursday, Oct. 4, at approximately 7:15 p.m., Adel Nimrods rescued an elderly couple whose house had caught fire in Cypress (near the Anaheim city border).
Nimrods knocked on the front door of the Amberwick Circle home, alerting the couple to the danger. If she had not acted in such a quick fashion, the couple, which was sleeping in bed, would have most likely died.
The Cypress Police Department did not say what started the fire.
Crime Briefs: Ezra pulls weapon on Cypress cops
On Wednesday, Oct. 3, at approximately 1:42 p.m., Cypress Police Officers were dispatched to the parking lot of the Cypress Police Department (5275 Orange Ave.) in regards to a theft suspect, later identified as Kelsie Ezra, 30, who was brought to the police department by her grandmother.
Space shuttle flies over Anaheim
The students of Connelly School, an all-girls private institution in Anaheim, witnessed a historic occasion in the heavens. On Friday, Sept. 21, the entire student body and faculty gathered on the athletic field to watch the space shuttle Endeavor glide overhead during its farewell flight before retirement.
“We look for every opportunity to make learning come alive for our students,” said Sister Francine Gunther, head of the school. “Experiencing this historic moment as a community was important to us.”
Emergency planning at JFTB
When disaster strikes anywhere in California and sometimes even across the country, a small building located on the Joint Forces Training Base can become an epicenter of response and reaction.
The California Emergency Management Agency (Southern Region) headquarters is run on a day-to-day basis by only a dozen or so employees. When a major disaster strikes, response and support teams from any and all necessary departments are called into action. The Southern Region, which runs out of two small modular buildings on JFTB, brings them all together.
Los Alamitos High grad earns Congressional Gold Medal
Elyse Harabedian, a 2012 Los Alamitos High School graduate, was honored in Washington D.C. with the Congressional Award Gold Medal – Congress’ highest award for youth.