When I moved from a growing inland daily newspaper that was printing 70,000 copies to the shrinking Daily Pilot of Newport Beach/Costa Mesa that was printing 25,000 copies or whatever it was in 1989, the press on the other side of the wall from the newsroom quickly got up to top speed my first day and then just as quickly slowed to a stop. “Pre-run is over,” I said out loud, having been my previous paper's bulldog editor who checks test copies and yells “Stop the presses!” over the din upon discovery of glaring errors. However, as I was informed by my new co-workers, that was not a pre-run, that was the entire run. Said the assistant city editor, as if reciting a marketing slogan, “The Daily Pilot: it's a quick read.”
To the outside world in those olden days, the Pilot may have seemed to be in decline given the fewer copies of smaller papers with fewer ads and stories it was printing. But it was actually providing its busy readership a service with this faster format. Now, all Orange County dailies are in decline, so in that quick-read spirit comes this digest of what our busy readers would discover if they had the time, subscription or inclination to read them.
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Orange County Register: Local Republicans say President Obama's speech to both houses last night had plenty of style but no substance, which they must admit is an improvement over the last guy who didn't have either. “I was profoundly disappointed,'' said Rep. John Campbell (R-We Got Ours). “I was really struck by the fact that he talks about reducing the deficit and then a half hour of the speech was about how everyone would have free health care, free education, spend more money on everything.” . . . Speaking of Obama, Los Alamitos Mayor Dean Grose offended at least one constituent by sending her an email that shows a watermelon patch imposed as the White House garden. . . . Mickadeit has a new sheriff to stick up for. . . . Professional poker player Ernest Scherer III , ex of Brea, went bust in Vegas, busted for the stabbing deaths of his parents. . . . On the South Coast Homes real estate blog: Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Carson Palmer is selling his oceanview Laguna Beach home. Asking price: $2.9 million. . . . Plastic surgeons tell the In Your Face blog that Mickey Rourke should lay off the knife.
Los Angeles Times: Obama: neither Herbert Hoover nor Jimmy Carter. Discuss! . . . Lopez: Californians cling to tax-paying myths. . . . Kaiser wants proof Octo-mom can care for her latest litter. . . . The Tustin man of Afghan origin who the feds indicted, in part, because he allegedly hid the fact that his brother-in-law is reportedly Osama bin Laden's security coordinator, was granted bail of a half mil over the strong objections of the government. . . . Justin Speier probably has no shot at the Angels' set-up spot (sewn up by Scot Shields), but the right-hander is working hard this winter to erase a disappointing 2008 season and become a key member of the relieving corps. . . . The Times used AP to cover the Ducks 3-2 win over the Sabres. How sad.
Daily Pilot: STOP THE PRESSES!! JIM RIGHEIMER WON AN ELECTION, as chairman of the Costa Mesa Planning Commission. Look for the GOP insider to require shrines to Reagan outside every home. Those that don't have them already, that is.
OC Weekly Editor-in-Chief Matt Coker has been engaging, enraging and entertaining readers of newspapers, magazines and websites for decades. He spent the first 13 years of his career in journalism at daily newspapers before “graduating” to OC Weekly in 1995 as the alternative newsweekly’s first calendar editor.