Teenage Arson Suspect Arrested a Shrubbery fire at Other Costa Mesa Locations
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Covering Orange Coast College since 1948 COAST REPORT Costa Mesa, California Volume 70, No. 23 coastreportonline.com April 27, 2016 Teenage arson suspect arrested A shrubbery fire at other Costa Mesa locations. old suspected arsonist allegedly set Costa Mesa police, in coop- According to Chief of Campus seven separate ires across Costa eration with the ire department, the district office Safety John Farmer, the district Mesa, including the plants at the followed a series of leads to track Fire Timeline is one of seven set ofice, located across from Orange district ofice. down the suspect. It was near Ad- Coast College at 1370 Adams The suspected arsonist didn’t ams Avenue and Pinecreek Drive Saturday over the weekend. Ave., was visited by two Costa limit his pyrotechnic displays to that they found him, according to • Dumpster fire at 1500 Adams Ave. • Two brush fires at the Honda dealership, 2888 Harbor Mesa Fire Department trucks after uninhabited shrubbery. The ires police. - Blvd. a tree and brush were seen burning ranged from a dumpster, a retail The 13-year-old they appre • Outside structure fire at the Metro Car Wash, 2950 BY CLAYTON SPIVEY Sunday around 2:30 p.m. business, a car wash, a Honda hended, whose identity is being FEATURES EDITOR Harbor Blvd. The district ofice was not the dealership, a motorhome, and next withheld because of his age, is sus- Sunday only place feeling the apparent ar - to an occupied residence. pected of lighting all seven ires. • Motorhome exterior ablaze at 1520 Ponderosa St. A suspected teenage serial ar- sonist’s heat. According to a press The ires, including the one set He was booked into Juvenile Hall. • Landscape fire at 3030 Harbor Blvd. sonist was arrested on suspicion of release from the Costa Mesa Police at the district ofice, were all put Police oficials couldn’t be • Debris near a fence on fire at 2925 Redwood Ave. setting alame Coast Community Department, over the course of out by the ire department and no reached immediately for com- • Tree and landscape fire at the district office. College District property and six Saturday and Sunday, the 13-year- injuries were reported. ment. DANCE, DANCE REVOLUTION Crime video a no-show Campus cameras security lies within the program Digital Video Manager provided lack technology by Honeywell to review footage. when reviewing The program allows for lawless vision and zoom-ability when an footage. oficer watches a live shot but when asked to review recorded BY ALEX RACE footage, the recorded image is COPY EDITOR instantly blurred and any efforts to zoom-in only worsen the pic- ture quality, Farmer said. Campus Safety reports indi- In a recent incident where a cate that surveillance cameras student reported a bike stolen in at Orange Coast College failed front of the Art Center, a camera to capture deinitive evidence in was able to capture footage of reported crimes 85 percent of the the suspect at a distance but time since the school year began the blurry picture yielded no in September. deinable features to work with, According to John Farmer, Farmer said. chief of Campus Safety, OCC’s “The technology is still catch- campus currently has around 250 ing up and in order to make this cameras that were strategically system work perfectly we would placed by the security company need officers reviewing live Honeywell, which was contract- footage all the time,” Farmer ed for the job ive years ago. said. “In order to cover every car, According to Farmer, sur- in every row, in just the Adams veillance cameras placed in the parking lot, you’d have to spend interior of campus and areas of Photo by Kit Tran $10 million — nobody has a high traffic where crime pre- Orange Coast College students rehearse for the upcoming 53rd Annual Student Dance Concert. More than 30 student danc- system like that,” Farmer said. vention is of high priority have ers will perform original choreography in a variety of dance styles directed by Amelie Hunter and Shana Menaker. OCC dance College campuses are on a yielded a lot of success over the faculty and guest artists will also contribute to this dynamic evening of dance. This year’s program features a wide range of budget and while a dream scenar- years as most of the footage is dance styles including modern, jazz, hip-hop, ballet and tap. The works were choreographed by both OCC dance faculty and io would allow limitless funding direct and doesn’t require zoom choreography students, who began preparing for the show last semester. Many of the student performers are graduating to provide enough cameras to to capture an image of a suspect. and transferring to four-year programs in the fall. The “Student Dance Concert” will show on Friday and Saturday at 8 p.m. in the Robert B. Moore Theatre. General admission is $15 at the door and $10 in advance. For more information go to www. capture every blotter incident Yet in the last 20 instances where occtickets.com or call (714) 432-5880. would be ideal, it’s just not real- Campus Reports reported that istic, Farmer said. they reviewed footage, only three According to Rich Pagel, vice yielded results. president of Administrative Ser- Pagel agreed that some cam- vices, OCC’s budget for repair eras have been successful but and replacement of items on also acknowledges that there OCC alum wins Pulitzer Prize campus is $100,000 annually will always be work to be done and cameras can cost in excess to fully utilize the system. LA Times reporter tweet came in that said there of $30,000 a piece including the “I think we always need to were 20 victims. We went from price of the camera, installation look at how we are improving gets the nod for his zero to 100 mph in a matter of and connection to networks. security — we’re never done,” work on the San minutes.” One of the major flaws in Pagel said. According to Serna, this type Bernardino attacks. of fast-paced reporting is right up his alley. Simultaneously tapped BY CHRIS TOLAND into a police scanner radio while Literary journal ARTS AND CULTURE EDITOR making phone calls to the San Bernardino Fire Department Los Angeles Times reporter, and nearly every pertinent law Orange Coast College alum- enforcement agency in SoCal, hits campus today nus and notoriously picky eat- he scoured for relevant details. er Joseph Serna can now add “It was pretty crazy but fun A release party for said Davi Loren, an English in- one more title to his quiver of in its own adrenaline illed kind Orange Coast structor at OCC. achievements — a Pulitzer Prize of way,” he said. “I’m not good Guests will have the oppor- for breaking news coverage. at handling single tasks for long Review will be held tunity to meet the writers and The LA Times staff was be- periods of time. But if you give on campus tonight. artists, listen to readings and stowed the prestigious award on me 20 assignments to do in two view art from the Orange Coast April 18 for its reporting and in - hours I can probably knock them Review. vestigation of the San Bernardino all out. I’m a real scatterbrain Photo courtesy of Joe Serna BY ZACH BOETTO “We really want it to be a shooting by terrorists which like that.” SOCIAL MEDIA EDITOR center for the arts to show what happened in December. Former OCC student Joe Serna may have won a Pulitzer Prize, This is the kind of work that but his colleagues know him for his lack of culinary expe- our community can do, and we Serna, a graduate of Cal State Serna and everyone on the LA extend it to outside the commu- rience. Serna tried mustard for the first time as part of his Orange Coast College will Long Beach, broke the irst news Times news desk does. They are Twitter hashtag #joediscoversfood. nity as well,” Loren said. host its annual Orange Coast piece for the LA Times after con - adept at this type of reporting, Artists and writers chosen for Review book release, reading irming reports of the shooting being under pressure, thinking chase as well as trying to ind Serna indicated that he didn’t the Orange Coast Review will and art show tonight from 5 p.m. just minutes after ire oficials clearly and making the correct out the police response for copy. have a sense for how these kind not only display their works or to 7 p.m. in the Frank M. Doyle in San Bernardino posted the decisions in the heat of the mo - “While I’ve done that kind of of things worked from the out- give readings but also meet and Arts Pavilion. incident on Twitter. ment, he said. initial breaking news response side. Being on the inside, cover- interact with local art enthusiasts. Artists and writers from OCC “I was sitting at my desk as Following the attack, Serna before it never ended up being ing this story and seeing how it “The opportunity to read for an and around the world submitted usual looking for something to said he would come into the something of this magnitude,” he all works, he said he has a greater appreciative audience reinforces work for the college’s journal of cover and then I saw a tweet. ofice at 6 a.m. and leave around said. “It seemed unreal, almost appreciation for the work. It’s not the sense that their ideas matter literature and art.