ON THE TOWN:Daigle missteps on the jogging track

Two weeks ago, my wife and I were sitting on the beach in the dark at Crystal Cove just after 10 p.m. We were staying the weekend in one of the housing units that have been returned to their rightful owners, the people of the state of California.

A few minutes after we sat down, we noticed a vehicle making its way slowly down the beach. Concerned about getting run over, I turned on our flashlight and started to wave the light on the ground to draw attention to ourselves.

The vehicle was a lifeguard truck, which stopped behind us.

“Hi. Are you staying in the cabins?” asked the lifeguard.

“Yes,” I replied.

“Well, the beach closes at 10 o’clock,” said the lifeguard.

At that moment, I thought, well that’s silly. Close a beach? But I kept my comment to myself. My wife and I, without even thinking, got up to leave.

“OK, thanks,” I said.

The news that relates to that story is so fresh that there is yet no controversy. So before the comments and letters arrive, here is, to me, the most important point about Newport Beach City Councilwoman Leslie Daigle’s run-in with a security guard at Corona del Mar High School.

The issue is not that Daigle was jogging — so ‘80s — when she could have been power walking, spinning or bending herself into a pretzel in a yoga class.

I run, too, and it does wonders to improve the mind’s clarity.

Nor is it the possibility that she may have uttered, “You must be from Costa Mesa” during her exchange with the security guard. That comment will be offensive to many of the readers who live in Costa Mesa, but it won’t be much of a shock.

That “Dick Nichols attitude” and talk has had a way of manifesting itself through actions in places such as our school board, where Costa Mesa schools have been back-burnered for years.

So even that insensitivity, if it is true, is nothing new.

The real issue with this incident is a deep one, one that sets a very bad example for our children. That issue is that Daigle clearly defied an authority figure, someone in charge whose word is not to be questioned when they are asking you to stop a particular action.

Kids need to know that you don’t sound off to the police during traffic stops, you don’t question the authority of teachers, and even if it is “just a security guard,” you leave the premises if that person tells you to leave the premises.

And if your kids are running up and down the big pyramid in the Noguchi Garden, you make them stop if a security guard asks you to make them stop.

That Daigle did not know the rules about jogging on the track or may have thought that the security guard was wrong is irrelevant. That moment was not the time to argue the point. Daigle should have left without comment and pursued her investigation after the fact.

I agree with Newport Beach Councilman Tod Ridgeway that the incident, to whatever degree it occurred, does not impugn her integrity or her ability to be on the council.

But the confrontation may provide an important insight into her personality. “Arrogant” is the word I’m thinking of. I hope that between Nichols and Daigle it isn’t becoming a requirement for serving on the council.

And I’m sorry in advance, but I can’t help myself. What we have with Daigle’s potential mouthing off and her campaign opponent, Barbara Venezia, defending her suspected connections to a garbage collection firm are — drum roll, please — two candidates talking trash.

The news that two suspects have been arrested in the drive-by killing of Israel Maciel in Costa Mesa a few weeks ago should be good news.

But there are probably a few people who are disappointed. They’re the ones who wanted us to believe somehow that the crime was tied to the city’s illegal immigrant population.

Sorry, but it appears as though neither suspect is here illegally.

Which brings us to a larger point, namely that the city has and has had 17 openings for police officers unfilled for too long.

This is not something to pin solely on Costa Mesa Mayor Allan Mansoor, although one may have expected that as a law-enforcement officer he’d be more sympathetic than his colleagues to this deficit.

In reality, anyone on the council could have taken off their shoe and pounded for more cops.

Would the 17 cops have made a difference in the Maciel shooting? Maybe, maybe not, but one thing is certain: Fewer officers on the street doesn’t make it easier.