Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/8604
6 LIVEMAGS.NET APRIL>>10 The marijuana that a Santa Ana urban grower claimed was for a medical cannabis collective was robbed. Then, additional plants were confiscated by narcotics officers when he reported the robbery, according to an ironic account in the Orange County Register. On March 8, two thieves entered the grower's home, on Romelle Ave, and assaulted him, leaving him with head wounds. They raided his home and took cultivated pot and some of the hydroponic equipment he used to grow the plants indoors. He drove himself to the hospital; and upon release, reported the assault and robbery to deputies. Though he was not charged with illegally cultivating marijuana, authorities relieved him of the remaining plants and agriculture equipment The majority of City Council members representing Dana Point have voted to ban smoking in public parks. Following the established non-smoking ordinances of Laguna Beach, Dana Point authorities have set in motion smoking restrictions after reviewing the results of resident surveys on the issue in a series of March council meetings. By law, children's playgrounds are already protected from smokers; the new law will encompass all public park space. However, beach parks will be immune to the non-smoking law for the time being. When the ban goes into effect, signs spelling out the ordinance will be posted in strategic areas in public parks. Cigarette Ban What Did You Tell the Police Student Visa Fraud Operation Eamonn Daniel Higgins of Laguna Niguel was arrested on March 8 for attending local colleges posing as foreign students. He helped "about 120 people from Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Kuwait, Turkey and Qatar maintain their student visa status," the Los Angeles Times reported. In Higgins's operation he made fake California driver licenses and completed courses and exams at 10 schools, which included Saddleback College, Orange Coast College, Cal State Long Beach, Cal State L.A., Irvine Valley College and Cal State Dominguez Hills. What began as a lucrative illicit business for Higgins in 2002 ended with criminal charges of conspiracy to commit visa fraud at the Santa Ana branch of the U.S. District Court. LOCAL IN REVIEW THEMONTH NATIONAL WRITER>>TOVA MORRISON That's Gay WWII Women Pilots Get Congressional Gold Medals World Convention on Endangered Species Trade Republican Senator Roy Ashburn, a father of four children, was arrested in his government-issued car for driving under the influence of alcohol on March 3 rd . When it was reported by a TV news station that Ashburn had been at a Sacramento gay bar prior to his drunk driving charge, he came out of "the closet" in a radio interview broadcast in Bakersfield, on radio KERN 1180 AM. In light of his revealed sexual orientation, gay rights groups have scrutinized his anti-gay voting stance; he voted against establishing Harvey Milk Day on May 22 and voted against a 2005 gay marriage bill. On March 10, two hundred members of the WWII all-women civilian military aircraft ferrying operation, Women Air Force Service Pilots (WASP), received the Congressional Gold Medal from House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. President Obama awarded this highest Congressional honor to WASP survivors in July of 2009. At the height of its war-time service, 1100 women served the United States in WASP. But because of sexist discrimination, the women pilots did not get financial support from the government and the group was never officially militarized, until they secured veteran status in 1977. The WASP program was decommissioned in 1944 when, after the war, piloting positions grew scarce and only male pilots were given Air Force employment. In Qatar, from March 13 – 25, delegates representing over 170 countries assembled for the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES). This group discerns which animals and plants benefit from laws to protect them. High on the agenda was a proposal from Monaco to ban commercial trade of bluefin tuna. The United States proposed to completely ban polar bear trading, and the United States and Sweden proposed strict regulation on the harvesting and selling of pink coral. Tanzania and Zambia asked for approval to sell government-owned stockpiles of elephant ivory, but the Congo, Ghana, Kenya and other African nations proposed a 20-year freeze on ivory selling.