A pic-a-nic tonight!

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MAN, THAT TUSTIN BASE PROPERTY of ours has had quite a wacky history. We fought with others over a chunk of it for a few years, but that finally got settled, and so now all parties happily clutch their own chunk of toxic dirt. Then there was all this talk about our setting up some kind of “Homeland Security” center over there, complete with retired KGB, Arabic instructors, killer lasers, and Schutzhund dogs. Faculty didn’t know what to make of that. It seemed ridiculous.

Well, nobody’s talking about that anymore. We’re glad.

Then we heard that entire Irvine Valley College programs would be ripped out of their moorings and floated over to Tustin on barges! That set off all sorts of premature outrage. It was probably just a rumor.

But you never know around here. I remember when, back in April of ’97, somebody was buzzing around the A200 hallways, claiming that RAGHU P. MATHUR had just become the President of the college. Boy did we laugh at that one. “Can you imagine believing something as preposterous as that?”, we said. “Ha ha ha! Ha ha ha ha ha!”

Well, years passed, and the Tustin acreage was eventually christened “ATEP,” which stands for “Amazingly Totally Empty Park,” I think. I always liked the “Park” designation. It inspired Rebel Girl to dub Provost Bob Kopecky the “Park Ranger.” That stuck. But Bob’s got a good sense of humor and he likes being called “Park Ranger Kopecky.” He’s even got his own pile of dirt, which he calls “ATEP Mountain.” I spotted Yogi and Booboo over there once.

I think they’ve even put up some pic-a-nic tables.

So now it all comes down to this: ATEP has attracted 13 proposals for “partnerships.” They’re pretty diverse, and you know how we feel about diversity! One involves film production, I think. Another concerns helping people start businesses. I think another one is about blimps and Japanese submarines, but its kinda out of date.

Tonight, there’s a special board meeting dedicated to presentations of some of these proposals. According to an ATEP news release dated January 23,

A special session of the South Orange County Community College District Board of Trustees will be held on Thursday, February 1, 2007 from 6-9 pm to begin hearing presentations on several partnership proposals to assist in the development of the Advanced Technology & Education Park (ATEP) in Tustin, California. Additional presentations will be made at regularly scheduled Board of Trustees meetings until all recommended proposals have been heard.

Someone told me that Park Ranger Kopecky plans to introduce the meeting with a skit involving Yogi, Booboo, Ranger Smith, and a big fucking pic-a-nic basket.

You don’t wanna miss that!