Daily Pilot:  05.16.03

This article appeared on the Daily Pilot HEADLINE, May 16, 2003:

Newport Group Still Seeking Party Favor

By June Casagrande

NEWPORT BEACH   Meetings are planned between city leaders and representatives of a West Newport group that's unhappy with the city's tightened rules for the Fourth of July.

FreeNewport, the group that is fighting city moves to curb drinking and crime in West Newport on the Fourth of July, says it plans to continue its campaign on May 27, when the council will vote on the second portion of its Independence Day plan. The group will also try to schedule a public meeting for its supporters, city leaders, law enforcement and other West Newport resident in hopes of finding some common ground.

"I welcome it," City Attorney Bob Burnham said. "I think it would be a very productive meeting."

If the group's efforts are fruitful, it probably won't make much difference for this year's celebration, which is less than two months away. The council has approved a first reading of the ordinance to prohibit stores from selling or storing liquor outside their buildings, and has shown no sign of budging from their plans for this year's Fourth of July.

FreeNewport will continue its fight, members say.

"We're again going to put up posters around town," said Bryan Clarkson, spokesman for the group. "We now have over 125 members on our mailing list. We're going to encourage them to go out and voice their opposition to the alcohol storage law."

In two consecutive City Council meetings, FreeNewport and its mostly young and fun-loving supporters have gotten a crash course in government that has already brought some important lessons.

"Yeah, we've learned a little from our first introductory meeting at the council on April 22," said Clarkson, who at that meeting indirectly compared the city to Saddam Hussein for what he characterized as a rollback of freedoms. That comparison proved to be a costly mistake, as it became the focus of council members' comments and newspaper articles.

"We learned to kind of take some of the rhetoric out so they're forced to focus on the content of the speech rather than focusing on one statement," Clarkson said.

They have also learned that working with the city, if not a way to get exactly what they want, is still certainly worth a try.

"We were disappointed in the condescending attitude which the City Council demonstrated on their meeting Tuesday," Clarkson said. "We're not optimistic in our ability to be able to work with them effectively