The Faculty Association Old Guard's sleazy tactics: 1985

 

Saddleback College's Sharon MacMillan

     Originally, the stuff below was a continuation of my recent post re the controversial selection of the site for our district's second, and northern, campus. In fact, however, the subject changed to the involvement of the district's faculty union (the Faculty Association) and its involvement in local politics. So I've fashioned a new post about that.
     As it turns out, some of the same unionists who dragged the district through the mud in 1996 were employing similar tactics as early as 1985, when faculty's big issue had been getting rid of a detested chancellor, Larry Stevens. (See 1982: The district hires Larry Stevens and learns to regret it.)

     1985. OK, so let’s jump now to the end of Eugene McKnight’s tenure as trustee of the Saddleback Community College District (1985). Today, I came across this old LA Times article. Some interesting names came up:

Mailer in Saddleback Campaign Is Assailed : Newsletter by 'Republican' Taxpayer Group Not Sent Out by GOP, County Chairman Says

November 01, 1985 BILL BILLITER  Times Staff Writer

Then-Chancellor Stevens

     Thomas A. Fuentes, chairman of the Republican Party of Orange County [and future trustee for the SOCCCD BOT], Thursday denounced a campaign mailer that was sent to some voters in the Saddleback Community College District and that said it was "distributed by Orange County Republican Taxpayer Federation." [Spoiler: the Old Guard’s Sharon Macmillan and her ilk were behind this mailer.]

     Fuentes said such a group "is not affiliated in any way with the official Republican Party of Orange County, nor is it affiliated with the California Republican Party." 

Unethical Behavior Claimed 

     The mailer attacks two incumbent trustees on the Saddleback Community College Board, Bill Watts and Robert Price [you’ll recall that, a decade earlier, Price was “a member of the select citizen's advisory committee to determine the need for a northern campus”], and also Mike Eggers, a candidate for the board. The mailer says that the "Price, Watts, Eggers Triad Seeks Control of College Tax Money."

     The mailer also accuses Eggers of unethical behavior and connection to admitted political corruption figure Patrick Moriatry [sic], an Anaheim fireworks company executive. [Re Moriarty, see Moriarty freed from prison.]

     Eggers, who is an aide to Rep. Ron Packard (R-Carlsbad) and runs Packard's office in Mission Viejo, formerly handled a public relations newsletter for 3,000 charitable organizations that sell fireworks. Eggers said Thursday that he has never had direct relations with Moriarty and that the mailer was "a smear."

     Eggers is one of four candidates in Tuesday's election seeking the Saddleback Community College District seat being vacated by incumbent Eugene McKnight, who is retiring.

'Very Inflammatory' 

Carraway

     Fuentes said the mailer was "trying to utilize the good reputation of the Republican Party to lend credibility to . . . very inflammatory charges."

     Fuentes noted that the "Orange County Republican Taxpayer Federation" listed a Placentia address but no officers of the alleged group.

     "This kind of tactic demonstrates a blatant disrespect for the voters and for the Republican Party," he said.

     Eggers said the mailer was part of the teachers' union's campaign to win control of the Saddleback Community College District board in Tuesday's election.

     The mailer was in the form of a newsletter of the "Consumer Action Council," which listed Earl H. Carraway as its chairman. Carraway is the husband of Saddleback College faculty member Sharon MacMillan, immediate past president of the Saddleback Faculty Assn., the teachers' union.

Properly Registered 

     Carraway could not be reached for comment, but in a press release that he sent to news media Thursday he said the "Orange County Republican Taxpayer Federation" is a political action committee that is properly registered both with the state and the Orange County registrar of voters.

     Carraway's press release added: "I and other Republicans who paid to distribute the Consumer Action Council newsletter are concerned about protecting the good image of the Republican Party in Orange County; we feel that Mike Eggers is bad for that image."

     Eggers said the mailer, by linking him to Moriarty, "is probably costing me a thousand votes." He said he has received questioning calls from voters, "but after they hear the facts, they're angry about the mailer and are promising to work for me."

Eggers, 2006

'Do Not Know' Moriarty

     Eggers, 37, said that from 1982 to mid-1983 his private public relations firm, Mica and Associates, wrote the newsletter for Organizations for Safe and Sane Fireworks. He said that group consisted of 3,000 charities from 345 communities in the state, all of which sell fireworks around the Fourth of July.

     "I do not know, nor do I have any relationship with, Pat Moriarty," Eggers said. "I've seen him twice, both at social occasions. He was never directly involved in the organization that hired me to write its newsletter."

     In addition to Eggers, three other candidates are seeking McKnight's trustee seat. They are Iris Swanson, a retired college executive assistant who has been endorsed by the teachers' union; Cal State Fullerton sociology professor Perry E. Jacobsen, who has been endorsed by McKnight, and Ian Doyer, who is retired.

     Ain’t that rich?

     How rich? Well, when the faculty union's favorite trustee, Steve “Holocaust denyin’” Frogue, resigned from the board in the summer of 2000, the Faculty Association Old Guard (which then included Sharon M) showed up at a special board meeting to urge the selection of Tom Fuentes as Frogue’s replacement.

     I kid you not.

P.S.: Re Mr. Earl H. Carraway, Sharon MacMillan's husband: He ran, unsuccessfully, for Congress against Schmitz and Hinshaw in the early 70s. He's a Republican and some sort of anti-tax nut. (See LA Times.) He has been an elected member of school boards. He is the author of Shake Off The Dust 1936: A Memoir and resides (or once resided) in Nellie Gail Ranch. In recent years, he has been a realtor (in Lake Forest).

     As a Republican, a proponent of "back to basics" education reform, a member of Rick Warren's church (see below), and a foe of taxes, he would seem to be very conservative. He once pursued an amendment to the CA Constitution re elimination of construction bans in agricultural preserves. Perhaps he has Libertarian leanings.

     Carraway’s SVUSD Candidate Statement from 2012:

Candidate: Earl Carraway

OCCUPATION: Educator/Realtor/Publisher 

     I, Earl H. Carraway, pledge not to vote for any new taxes. I’ve served as a teacher, public school administrator, elected trustee for the Tustin Union High School District (which included high schools in Mission Viejo, Irvine and Tustin) and United States Marine Corps, receiving one battle star.

     Awarded Bachelor and Master’s degrees from California State University Long Beach. Graduate work: Chapman, Whittier and Fullerton State Universities.

     Successful small business owner: Raised funds for charities such as Children’s Hospital OC (CHOC). Member: Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW). Our family atttends Rick Warren’s Saddleback Church.

     Thirty year Saddleback Valley resident. I believe in open government, small class sizes for our children, support for our teachers, back to basics education, balanced school budgets, parental participation in the education process and not raising taxes.

     I authored/published with Amazon.com: “Shake Off The Dust 1936", 48 short stories of a teenager’s great depression era memories. Book described by critics as: “What you would get if Mark Twain had written ‘The Catcher In The Rye’.”

     Live in Laguna Hills with daughter and wife: Sharon MacMillan Carraway, Ph.D. I promise, you won’t regret your vote for me. Thank you.

     If Mr Caraway is still among the living, he is 84 years old. 

"Shut up," he told her (Choosing the site for "North Campus" amid Pissed Off Tustinites, 1960-1977)

 

     Those who enjoy reading about OC history and, in particular, about the zany history of our college district might enjoy this:

     A while back (IVC: the birth of a college with a daffy name), I told a story I heard according to which the City of Tustin has a big reason to be pissed off at the SOCCCD (or the Irvine Co.) re the failure to locate the long-awaited second campus of the district in Tustin. I wrote:

     The decision to build a north campus had been made by trustees in the early 70s. The way I heard it, the people of Tustin were very excited about the possibility of a campus in their city, and, at some point, land in the vicinity of what became the Tustin Market Place was selected for that purpose. But then (according to the story), the Irvine Company decided to give away some land for the purpose of a community college right here on Irvine Center Drive (and Jeffrey), so the decision was made to build the campus there instead, a couple of miles to the south.
     The City of Tustin has been pissed ever since. It’s like Mayberry over there, so you can’t reason with ‘em. Just steer clear of ‘em.
     That’s the story. Don’t know how much of it is true, but surely some of it is (I got it from a reliable sort).

     I’m trying to find out how much of this story is true.
     I did some looking. The evidence is mounting that the story is largely true, though I think the Irvine Co. sold the land—they gave nothing away—albeit sold cheap.
     In the course of researching this “story,” I came across some interesting factoids about unethical campaign tactics—evidently created by the same crowd that gave us the infamous “same-sex” fliers in the election of 1996.
     But first:

* * *

     1960-1967. Let’s start here: According to Saddleback College’s 1967-1968: Founding Years,

     In 1961, functionaries in the Laguna Beach, Capistrano, and Tustin school areas met in a meeting called by Larry Taylor, then President of the Laguna School Board (and years later to become a Saddleback Trustee) to discuss the ramifications of the Allen-Biescoe report [a 1960 report that projected the need for “junior colleges” in OC in the coming two decades]. Over the next several years numerous such meetings took place to study and assess the possibility of forming a college district. This culminated in a feasibility study conducted by Boyle Engineering in 1965, the result of which predicted a full-time equivalent student count in 1964-65 of 1,113 rising by the year 1973-74 to [? sic] FTE. The target date of 1969-70 with an estimated average daily attendance of 1,332 qualified the area for district status.. . .
     On Valentine's Day, February 14, 1967 [election day], Saddleback Junior College District was instituted. The new college district was immediately dubbed the "Sweetheart of South Orange County." Its boundaries included 329 square miles, 14 communities, and 5 elementary and secondary school districts in an area that constituted 48 percent of Orange County.. . .
     Simultaneous with the election on the proposed junior college district was the election of the five-member Board of Trustees....

     As you can see, owing to dearth of cities in South County, the City of Tustin was a big player in the early days of what came to be known as the SOCCCD. Tustin was the northernmost city of the (geographically) lower 48% of the county. That situation made for awkwardness, as we'll see.

Site 1, situated at what became the Tustin Market Place, was chosen by
trustees in 1976, but then the Irvine Co. asked to withdraw
that site in favor of Site 2, in Irvine. The Faculty
Association favored Site 2, and this became an election issue.

* * *

     1967. In the January 26, 1967, issue of Tustin News, candidate (for trustee, area 1) Shirley Lampert, among others, is interviewed. (Ultimately, she did not prevail.) She says:

“I realize the principal functions of a school board member are involved with establishing operating policies; hence any decisions in that regard should reflect the desires of the taxpayers…. I strongly favor a junior college district board, which is able to approach its task in an unbiased manner, free of the pressures from existing high school boards. I have heard numerous rumors that members of the high school board and administration are planning to control the new junior college district. I do not want to see this happen. The new J.C. board will have problems that differ from the limited needs of the individual college district. Therefore, it is both prudent and in the pubic interest to elect individuals who are unencumbered by ‘prior provincialism.’"

     Just what are we to make of that?
 

* * *

     1968. I found the following at the Saddleback College website (Founding Years):

The Tustin News, October 17, 1968:
     "Tuesday, October 15, saw our Saddleback Junior College dedicated and even Governor Ronald Reagan joined local officials in marking the occasion. This, to us, is a dream come true ever since The Tustin News first proposed publicly—years ago—that we should have our own junior college from among the high school districts now comprising Saddleback JC."

     So, at least by the mid-60s, Mayberry—er, Tustin—was pretty serious about getting its own “junior college.” The Saddleback campus was a "dream come true" for Tustin. Still, Tustin was more than 15 miles to the north, and, from the beginning, there was talk of building a second campus to serve the northern end of the district.
     In the city of Tustin?

* * *

     1975-1976. Let’s skip ahead now to the mid-70s, a time when the Saddleback Community College District was finally zeroing in on the location of its much-anticipated “north” campus.
     In the newspaper articles and excerpts that follow, reference is made to Site 1 and Site 2. Near as I can tell, both sites were offered by the Irvine Company. In 1975, the latter offered only Site 1, which was at the intersection of Bryan and Myford (near today's Tustin Market Place; see map). At one point, Tustin contemplated leaving the Saddleback district—perhaps because trustees were not fully on board with the idea of locating Campus 2 in Tustin. After a year of study, the district approved the first site, in Tustin. But then, on Jan 7, 1977, the Irvine Co. asked to pull the first site in favor of Site 2, on Jeffrey and Irvine Center Drive, miles south in Irvine. Nevertheless, in early March, the trustees decided on Site 1 on Myford. The trustee race later that month (March 8) ousted charter trustee Backus, a proponent of Site 1, replacing him with McKnight, who had been backed by the faculty union, a proponent of Site 2. Then, in late April, the post-election board reverse itself (as widely predicted), opting for Site 2. Again, the district's faculty union actively supported Site 2 and trustee candidates who favored that site, and this support itself became an election issue. Meanwhile, the Rancho Santiago district was planning to build a new satellite campus only a few miles from Tustin (along Santiago Canyon Rd.). Eventually, RSCCD Orange Campus opened in 1985. It became Santiago Canyon College (in the 1990s), achieving autonomy in 2000.

* * *

     1976. From the IVC Student Handbook:

1976: The history of Irvine Valley College can be traced to 1976, when a select citizen’s advisory committee determined that another campus was needed to serve the north region of the 376-square-mile Saddleback Community College District. Today, the district is known as the South Orange County Community College District (SOCCCD) 

* * *

A foggy past. 1977: Shown prior to cake cutting (for the district’s 10th anniversary) are, from left, Trustees Larry Taylor, Donna Berry, Frank Greinke, Norrisa Brandt (daughter of the Mayor of LA in the 50s), charter trustee and special guest Hans Vogel, and Trustee Pat Backus, who was also a charter board member.

     1977. I found the following garbled fragment of an article that appeared in The Tustin News for Feb. 10:

Norrisa Brandt (né Poulson), 1942

     In a board meeting with the sparks flying and bickering among board members, Saddleback Community College trustees again deadlocked Monday night voting 3-2 for the Bryan-Myford northern campus site. Four votes are needed for a motion to pass…. Trustee Jim Marshall was absent because of illness…. The seventh seat has been vacant since Bob Bartholomew, Tustin trustee, resigned in December, before moving from the area.
     Voting for the Bryan-Myford site (sites) were Frank Greinke, Pat Backus, and Donna Berry. Voting against were Norrisa Brandt and Larry Taylor, who favor the site at Jeffrey and Irvine Center Drive (site 2).
     The board had selected the Bryan-Myford site back in September after a year of studying 10 different sites. However, the Irvine Co. on Jan. 7 told the board that they had found that it would not be in the company's best interest to sell that site and offered the alternative site at Jeffrey and Irvine Center Drive.
     Since that time the Irvine Co. has offered Site 2 at $45,000 for 20 acres and any additional acres up to 80 at a fixed price of $45,000 an acre at 61/2 per cent interest if purchased within the next five years. The land has been appraised at $75,000 an acre. The Bryan-Myford site has been appraised at $30,000 an acre.
     Within the last week, the Irvine Co. has made three additional offers on Site 2 including 20 acres at $30,000 and additional acres at $60,000; 20 acres at $35,000 and additional acres at $55,000; and 20 acres at $40,000 and additional acres at $50,000.

SPARKS FLY
     The sparks began to fly when Trustee Frank Greinke arrived from a business meeting two hours late and made statements referring to the timing of Irvine Co. changing the site only three weeks after Tustin Trustee Bob Bartholomew had resigned and also similarities between Judas selling out for 30 pieces of silver. When he was interrupted by Board Chairman Norrisa Brandt, who objected to such statements, he demanded that he be able to say his piece and told Mrs. Brandt to "Shut up." This led later to Trustee Pat Backus stating that the board had "gotten off the track" and it should "get back to the issue." He also told Mrs. Brandt she was a "lousy chairman" to let Greinke get away with such insinuations. Greinke admitted that the issue was a very emotional one for him and later apologized. 

Trustee Donna Berry said, "Greinke is just trying to bring something out into the open that has been continuous. The timing was strange indeed." Greinke said he was also upset that his suggestion in secret session to have the meeting in Tustin had not been followed up. 

That's Patrick Backus in the middle (between Alyn Brannon and Hans Vogel) at the groundbreaking for Saddleback College in 1967

SICK OF POLITICS
     Greinke, who has been the strongest supporter of site 1, said, "It makes me sick that politics got involved and not the betterment of the district. The most economical site is not the cheapest site."

Greinke noted that three years ago he had favored the petition for Tustin to pull out of the Saddleback College District adding "I ran for the board, because I wanted to make this district more responsive." 

Patrick J. Backus, 1967

He referred to the proposed traffic circulation plans of hte Northeast Orange County Circulation Study stating that at present they "do not inter-relate" with site 2. He also noted that the Rancho Santiago Community College District (SAC) is looking at a proposed site of 170 acres at Newport Ave. and Crawford Canyon. "Why must we change because Irvine City and the Irvine Co. want to spin us off. I think it is important that the district represent the balance of the county and not just the south of the county.

20 OR MORE?
Tayor said that the only way site one would benefit the college was if the board did not buy more than 20 acres. "That is a risk and a gamble. We may elect to buy 20 acres each for four or five satellites. But I would not want to take away from future boards to make a decision. It is tough to come in where you are locked in." [Trustee Larry] Taylor noted that the price per acre five years from now on each site had been projected at $125,000. [Trustee] Mrs. [Norrisa] Brandt used these projections to support her feeling that site 2 would be more economical in the long run, if purchasing an additional 80 acres. She estimated that at the end of 1977, total of 100 acres at site 1 would cost $5,760,000 while the same acreage at site 2 would cost at the $45,000 an acre Irvine Co. deal, $3,600,000. She also used 1982 figures estimated at $100,000 an acre on site 1 to support her contention. Backus [trustee Patrick J. Backus of Dana Point] said he still favored site 1. "I like the accessibility of it," he said. "I feel if we do not choose that site we are making a mistake." He also referred to Tustin's attempt to pull out of the district and the new Ranch[o] Santiago College proposed campus at "the back door of Tustin. If Tustin pulled out we are talking about the tax rate and teaching positions." He said he was considering only 20 acres and perhaps similar acreage around the Turtle Rock area and in the San Clemente-Dana Point area in the future.

BETTER PRICE
     Mrs. Brandt stated that site 2 would still be 13 miles closer to Tustin than the Mission Viejo campus is now. She said that in going over the tapes of the September public hearings on the sites, she found that the main reason that the Jeffrey-Irvine Center Drive site [the site that was ultimately selected] was not picked was because of the price. "I felt it to be too expensive. The facts have changed. We have a chance to purchase better site at a better price. We have Irvine Co. in a bind." She also noted that, according to planners' statistics, the growth will be in the El Toro-Irvine area. Mrs. Berry asked if the only way the district could get site 1 was through condemnation. Taylor replied, "The Irvine Co. said they would not force us into condemnation, but would negotiate on the price. We have not been assured that….

The Tustin News, February 17, 1977

     The issue of the northern campus site will be on the Feb. 28 agenda of the Saddleback Community College District board of trustees, the board decided Monday night. There was some argument Monday night on whether a motion could now be passed with three votes since there are now only five members on the board until the March 8 election. The sixth and seventh members were Bob Bartholomew who resigned in December because of moving out of the area and Jim Marshal who died last week after a long illness. At the last meeting, the board voted 3-2 for the Bryan-Myford site for the second campus. Favoring that site were Frank Greinke, Donna Berry and Pat Backus. Voting against were Norrisa Brandt and Larry Taylor, who favor the Jeffrey-Irvine Center Drive site. The board had selected the Bryan-Myford site in September, 1976 after a year of study. However, on Jan. 7, 1977, the Irvine Co. asked to withdraw that site and offered the Jeffrey-Irvine Center Drive site at an attractive price. Two votes have been taken at 2-2 and 3-2. A seven member board must have four affirmative votes for a motion to pass. Monday night Greinke….

     I found yet another garbled fragment of an article that appeared in The Tustin News, this time on Feb. 24, 1977. Once again, it either is or reports candidate statements (for college district trustee):

     … Trustees have a responsibility to serve the entire college district of 378 square miles. The college trustees cannot agree on the sites under consideration and they remain deadlocked.
     "Robert Price, a member of the select citizen's advisory committee to determine the need for a northern campus, Tustin candidate Dr. Alan Greenwood, and I all favor an immediate college satellite at site 2, Jeffrey and Moulton Parkway. We three candidates have walked over the grounds and have carefully studied aspects of the two sites. We find that such factors as geology, flood plain, available utilities, water sewerage disposal, access roads, appraisals, market value and long range costs indicate site 2 would be best for students, the college and taxpayers."  

   [Eugene] McKnight, 70, is a retired college consultant. He and his wife purchased a home in 1968 in Dana Point and have lived there and in San Juan Capistrano for over five years. The McKnights have two daughters and five grandchildren. ... McKnight has degrees from Stanford University, the University of Southern California, and UCLA. He also holds a renewed California State Administrative Credential. After business experience, professional library experience, and World War II service, McKnight served for 25 years in the community colleges at Riverside and Los Angeles City College. He has served as dean of student activities, librarian, classroom professor and department chairman of philosophy.

     McKnight’s name should be familiar. He was a trustee of the (then-called) Saddleback Community College District board from 1977 to 1985. (He died in 1993.) Evidently, McKnight taught Philosophy at LA City College for many years, retiring in 1972, when he and his wife moved to Dana Point.
     He also served on the Citizens’ Advisory Board for Saddleback Community College (until 1977). (See here and here and here.) (Price and McKnight were trustees during the disastrous Larry Stevens Chancellorship of the 80s.) He was a big proponent of Site 2, in Irvine.

The Tustin News, February 24, 1977, continued

(Continued from Page 1 ) concern regarding permissive taxes to build structures that are not necessarily and frequently, not at all, convenient to the young people who would use them. 

"I hear concern about the possible whims of the Irvine Company and their effect on a 'several-months-long, costly study' of the location of the northern campus. 

"I'm told that Tustin is paying for about 25 percent of the action at Saddleback Community College and I listen hard to how the Tustin people would like the College to develop to meet Tustin's needs and those of the rest of Saddleback Community College District. 

"I am concerned with high prices and the high cost of deferring or delaying decisions. 

"As I listen and study, it begins to seem to me that the Community College fates of both Irvine and Tustin are quite closely allied and the interests of each would be served best if they jointly decided how best they could see themselves served as a unit of the county that would have a growth rate different from the South County population areas, certainly over the next 10 years of county development. If elected, I expect to expend my greatest efforts protecting the taxpayers' pocketbook." 

Dr. Brooks and his wife have six sons, three of whom have graduated from two of the high schools in Tustin. Originally trained and practiced as a specialist in pediatrics, Brooks subsequently made the transition to general allergy and environmental medicine including areospace medicine and general preventive medicine. Brooks served in World War II, Korea and Vietnam on three tours with combat support missions. He retired in 1975 from the USAF Reserve as a flight surgeon....

The dastardly faculty union!

…Closer to home, we read where Dr. Allen Greenwood, one local candidate trying to succeed Bob Bartholomew on Saddleback College board, is getting the backing of the college teacher union and is supporting the Irvine City satellite campus Site No. 2 over Site No. 1 which the Tustin trustees, Bartholomew and Frank Greinke, with Pat Backus and Donna Berry have supported. We are printing a letter from one of Greenwood's opponents in this issue…. 

Bill Watt. … Watt has favored Site No. 1 at Bryan and Myford. We think probably Dr. Clifton Brooks, also trying for the Bartholomew trustee seat, will announce his site position prior to the election. The college teacher union supports the Irvine Co. choice of Site No. 2. It is 3 miles farther from the Bryan-Myford Site No. 1 or 6[?] miles from Tustin. … I believe the voters of the Saddleback College district need to be aware of an important issue that has not been publicized! Alan Greenwood has been endorsed by the teachers union, the CTA, and the faculty at Saddleback College….

* * *

      1977. From the IVC Student Handbook:

1977: In 1977, land for the new site [of the district's 2nd and northern campus] was purchased from the Irvine Company, including 20 acres located at the corner of Jeffrey Road and Irvine Center Drive. Groundbreaking for the satellite campus of Saddleback College was held on November 1 of that year.

* * *

     Some details of this story can be gleaned from the following 1977 LA Times articles:

Irvine Co. Asks Saddleback to Shift Satellite – LA Times, Jan 19, 1977

     The Irvine Co. is trying to persuade the Saddleback Community College District to change sites for a planned campus, but college trustees aren't ready to make up their minds.
     Irvine Co. gave a presentation during a 3½ hour meeting, urging trustees to change sites.
     But last week the Irvine Co. suddenly said it had made a mistake in not discouraging the college district from pursuing its planned purchase of the site, which the firm said was located in the middle of a profitable asparagus field.
     [Irvine Co. wants district to buy 20 acres 3½ miles from the Myford location]….
     Afterward, trustees agreed that the Irvine Co. was offering a financial inducement that “is tough to beat,” if the district agrees to switch.
. . .
     The site the Irvine Co. prefers is adjacent to a new housing tract and has sewers and water available.
. . .
     The board was warned that the Irvine Co. might fight for a higher price than the district’s appraisal for the Myford location.
     Trustees scheduled more discussion at their Jan. 24 meeting.

Campus Site Debate Marks Trustee Race - LA Times, Feb 21, 1977

   The impasse over selecting a site for the second campus of the Saddleback Community College District is turning the March 8 trustee election into an emotional, and increasingly bitter, race.
. . .
     In southern Orange County, one candidate described the Saddleback Community College District race as “a real battle,” while another said “it’s a mess” as a result of the furore [sic] over the second campus site.
. . .
     The board has deadlocked over the two sites, with trustees adamantly favoring one site over the other. The impasse is further confused by a shrunken board of five members. One trustee recently died and another moved away and resigned.
     Earlier this month, the board voted 3 to 2 to buy the original Myford property despite Irvine Co. objections. That wasn’t enough votes to carry the matter because, at the time, the board legally had six members, even though trustee James Marshall was terminally ill and unable to attend meetings. He died Feb. 9.
     Now that the board is down to five trustees, those favoring the Myford site think they can clinch it at the Feb 28 scheduled meeting—a week before the election.
     But Lawrence W. Taylor, an incumbent who strongly favors the alternate site, cites State Education Code rules requiring a two-thirds vote (or four out of the current five) to approve land acquisition….
     This week, the Saddleback College faculty and staff began circulating flyers urging the election of three candidates favoring the alternate site—Alan H. Greenwood, Eugene C. McKnight and Robert L. Price. The flyers are signed by the school’s Faculty Assn. president.
     There are two vacant seats open, and the only uncumbent up for reelection is trustee Patrick J. Backus, a vigorous supporter of the board’s originally favored Myford site. There are a total of seven candidates for the two seats.
     (One of the official candidates on the ballot is the deceased trustee Marshall who conceivably could win and hold up site selection….)
     Backus, who is running a hard pace in promoting the Myford property said in an interview, “I’m tired of dilly-dallying around,” and urged a decision Feb. 28.
     He said he favors the Myford site because it is closer to the Tustin portion of the college district. “The people in Tustin and Irvine are literally clammering for a campus closer to them,” he declared.
. . .
     But trustee Taylor…maintained that it will [lose] the district $500,000 more immediately and from $2 million to $6 million additionally over the long run if it decides to reject the Irvine Co. financial inducements for the second site….
. . .
     Taylor said he is exploring legal options of preventing board action before the election….
. . .
     Board President Norrisa P. Brandt, who favors the alternate site, said “it would be inopportune” for the board to make a decision before the election…. If the new, full-sized board, could make the decision, “it would be more representative of the school district,” she said.
     Her position on the site is that, “There is no question, if you stick to the facts, that it’s the best deal financially (to buy the Jeffrey Road property).”
     [Board candidate Robert] Price, who supports the Jeffrey site, said the campaign “has become an extremely emotional and political issue.” At the last board meeting, he said, “trustees were telling one another to shut up, accusing one another of making insinuations, and some were rude to people in the audience.” He said it was “an ugly scene.”….

Confusion Grows in Dispute Over Site for Campus - LA Times, Feb 26, 1977

     The controversy over which site to select for a second Saddleback Community College District campus became further confused Friday by a written opinion of the Orange County Counsel's Office.
     The district’s five-member board of trustees was told that it can purchase property by a simple majority vote, but that it will require a two-thirds majority (or four votes) to acquire property through condemnation.
     What this means is that the three trustees who are favoring one of the sites must have one more vote if they are to take action to have the property condemned at a scheduled meeting Monday.
     A district spokesman explained that condemnation is the only means of acquiring the site at Myford Road and Bryan Ave….
     But the other site, at Irvine Center Drive and Jeffrey Road, can be purchased by a simple majority vote….
     The two trustees who favor this site would need one more vote at Monday’s meeting to purchase it.
     As a result of the written opinion from Dep. County Counsel Ronald W. Stenlake, the board would appear still stalemated, since all five trustees are on record as strongly supporting their site choices.
     The three trustees favoring the Myford Rd. site are Frank Greinke, Donna Berry and Patrick Backus. Those supporting the Jeffrey Road site are Norrisa Brandt and Lawrence Taylor.
     The controversy has become a political issue as candidates campaign for two vacancies on the seven-member board that will be filled in the March 8 elections….

Saddleback Board Decides on 2nd Campus: trustees Vote 3 to 2 to Acquire Original Location Near Tustin - LA Times, Mar 2, 1977

     Trustees of the Saddleback Community College District have decided to acquire the site for a second campus that was originally planned.
     The landowner, the Irvine Co., had discouraged acquisition of the site and offered an alternative…. But the trustees voted 3 to 2 Monday to proceed with acquisition of the 20-acre parcel at Myford Road….
     Trustee Lawrence W. Taylor, who had favored the alternate site at Irvine Center Drive… and urged the board to delay action until after next Tuesday’s …elections, said Tuesday he would not attempt legal action to prevent the board from trying to purchase the Myford Road property.
. . .
     In deciding to acquire the Myford Road site, the board sidestepped a ruling of the County Counsel’s Office that any vote to acquire the property through condemnation requires a two-thirds, or four-vote, majority.
     The board instead acted on the presumption that a 5-1 vote it took last Sept. 24 to acquire the Myford Road site through condemnation is still a valid board action.
. . .
     Trustee Taylor said he and others supporting the Jeffrey Road site decided not to pursue legal action because the election is only a few days away, and that “there is a lot of unanswered questions about the Myford site.”
     Taylor said it is conceivable that a newly elected board could reverse the decision made by the present board.

Upset Marks College Race; Several Other Incumbents Turned out – LA Times, Mar 10, 1977

     Several incumbent school board members lost their seats in Orange County elections Tuesday, including a charter trustee of the Saddleback Community College District.
     “I thought sure I was going to win; I really did,” said Patrick J. Backus, a trustee of the Saddleback district since its formation in 1967. He lost to Eugene C. McKnight, a 70-year-old retired college professor.
. . .
     The biggest upset of the election was the defeat of incumbent Backus of the Saddleback Community Collge [sic] District.
     Backus said Wednesday that he was at a loss to explain why he lost the seat he won in 1967 and was reelected to in 1968 and again in 1973. “I don’t have any pulse on it; I don’t know where I was strong or weak,” he said.
. . .
     He said there had been no doubt in his mind that he would win reelection. “My friends and the people working in the campaign also thought I was going to be a winner. I never felt I was going to lose,” he said.
     An issue in the campaign that could have affected the outcome, Backus said, was the selection of a site for a proposed second college campus for the district.
     Backus was a strong advocate of a 20-acre site close to the Tustin portion of the district while his opponent, McKnight, campaigned in favor of an alternate site about three miles away in Irvine.
     Another upset in the same college race was the election of William Watts, a school principal, to the board seat vacated last year by conservative trustee Robert Bartholomew. The odd-on [sic] favorite had been dentist Alan H. Greenwood, who was endorsed by the Saddleback College faculty union….

College Trustees Reverse Selves on 2nd Campus - LA Times, Apr 27, 1977

     Efforts by the Saddleback Community College District to settle on a second campus site have taken yet another turn as trustees reversed themselves and chose another location.
     At a heated meeting Monday night, the newly seated seven-member board of trustees voted 4 to 3 to acquire the site at Irvine Center Drive and Jeffrey Road in Irvine. About 100 persons attended the session.
. . .
     The issue [re the two sites] became an important factor in the March 8 trustee elections. However, at a meeting Feb. 28, the outgoing board voted to go ahead with acquisition of the Myford site, even though it was clear the new board might overturn the decision.
     The new board, first seated April 11, includes three new and four returning members. The new trustees are Eugene C. McKnight, Robert Price and William Watts. Those returning are Larry Taylor, Norissa Brandt, Frank Greinke and Donna Berry.
     Monday’s decision to reverse the old board’s action came after a series of six split-vote motions leading up to the final action to purchase 20 acres at Jeffrey Road and Irvine Center Drive.
     Trustees Greinke, Watts and Berry voted against the action, while the remainder of the board voted in favor of the Jeffrey Road site.
     This still may not end the controversy, however. Trustee Greinke, a strong backer of the Myford site, shouted to the audience at the end of the meeting, “Don’t give up on me yet, folks!”….

Groundbreaking at Saddleback College, north campus (Nov 1, 1977)

Ground Broken for Second Saddleback College Campus, LA Times, Nov 12, 1977

IRVINE – Saddleback Community College District has broken ground here for its second campus, due to open next fall.
     The 20-acre parcel, now an orange grove, is at Jeffrey Road and Irvine Center Drive. Campus architect William Blurock is preserving as many of the trees as possible.
     At groundingbreaking ceremonies this week board president Larry Taylor predicted that by 1985 the new campus will be in the very center of population for the northern part of the school district.
     Tustin Mayor James Sharp noted that it took only four minutes to get to the site from his home. Tustin students have long complained about having to attend the distant Saddleback campus at the south end of Mission Viejo.
     “The community college does things a regular college or university can’t do. Everybody has an opportunity to participate,” Sharp said.
     Laguna Beach Vice Mayor Sally Bellerue echoed Sharp’s remarks about accessibility. Irvine Councilwoman Mary Ann Gaido said it was one of the most significant groundbreakings that will occur in her city.
     Saddleback College President Robert Lombardi said it was not an everyday event, noting that only 2,500 colleges have been established in this country since the founding of Harvard in 1635.
     Also in attendance were members of the Leisure World liaison committee, representatives of state and congressional offices, local city and school officials, visiting college dignitaries and a representative of the Marine Corps.
     Grading is now under way.

CONTINUED…
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