lagunabeachindy . com DECEMBER 2 , 2022 21
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Though it has been 50 years , and Chenette is hard-pressed to remember individual conversations she had with the GIs aboard “ Freedom Birds ,” she does remember one thing .
“ They were all so very happy to be going home .”
Though Chenette wishes today that she ’ d been able to see more of Saigon , she was relegated to staying within the perimeter of Tan Son Nhut . Nonetheless , she still carries vivid images of the war from within the airbase ’ s boundaries as the tide began to turn against the South Vietnamese forces .
“ I mainly remember at the end ,
Vietnamese leaving their country only with pots and pans and money worth nothing ,” she said .
She also remembers a Vietnamese flight attendant who dressed her family in Pan-Am uniforms so they could escape the country .
As with many who were touched in one way or another by Vietnam , for Chennette , the war didn ’ t stay there for long .
“ I remember flying into Guam with Vietnamese orphans aboard . I helped on the layover because there was often only one person bringing 10 children to be adopted ,” she said .
For Chenette , the best part of those
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$ 25,000 was spent on legal fees and canvassing
• Village Laguna spent $ 20,200 ( independent expenditures in the form of mailers and online advertising )
• Advocates for Laguna Residents estimated $ 2,500 ( independent expenditures in the form of 1 mailer )
If we exclude the legal and canvassing costs incurred by the Yes on Q side , we can estimate the total spend at around $ 100,000 for voter outreach . In short , each side spent a lot to garner every undecided voter to their side , but undecided voters weren ’ t receptive to LRF ’ s message .
Measures R and S These Measures both fared even worse than Measure Q . Indeed , both lost in similar proportions to Q when its initial “ base ” was factored out . Measure R , which was very similar to Q but focused exclusively on hotel development , lost 70.2 % to 29.98 %.
Measure S lost 67.8 % to 32.2 % ( I believe its stronger showing was due to the simple proposition it promoted : a minimum wage for hotel workers ). Vast amounts of money were available to the No on R and S sides , with the hotel and resort organizations spending upwards of $ 1.175 million to defeat both Measures . Residents will have noticed the avalanche of 28 full-sized glossy mailers that arrived in their mailboxes from the PAC “ Protect and Keep Laguna Local ,” which had a war chest of nearly $ 1.4 million . The union promoting R and S ( Unite Here local 11 ) was vastly outspent and out-maneuvered in setting the terms of the debate .
City Council Results We have two fine newcomers in Alex
Rounaghi and Mark Orgill .
Sue Kempf was re-elected and Peter Blake was resoundingly defeated . Based on repeat-donor and other data , I predicted a sixth or seventh-place finish for Blake as early as Oct . 10 . This was a dramatic turnaround from 2018 , when 43 % of voters gave Blake 1 of their three
( or fewer ) votes . In 2022 , only 26.1 % did so ( I predicted his support had dropped to 25 %). This is noteworthy because the spending on Blake ’ s behalf was record-setting :
• $ 47,530 raised over 15 months by the Blake campaign
• $ 81,850 spent by Ray , Goldstein and Shopoff lead developer PAC Laguna 2022 ( of which I estimate half was spent promoting Blake and opposing Flores and Orgill )
• $ 18,425 spent by the Lincoln Club of OC on misleading Pro-Blake mailers and online advertising
Blake ’ s supporter numbers cratered , and the more than $ 100,000 spent on his campaign couldn ’ t find enough new support to salvage it . An incumbent who has spent their first term repeatedly bullying constituents and creating a hostile environment at council meetings can expect to lose voter support , despite the spending .
The current Laguna Beach electorate majority is different from that which led to the preservation of the greenbelt , the quirky nature of downtown or other aspects of what makes Laguna unique . Today ’ s Laguna voters continue to turn out when the stakes are high , which bodes well for the future . However , today ’ s majority seems to embody a “ work hard / play hard ” mentality rather than a “ live simply / tread lightly ” ethos that dominated in the past . The zeitgeist has changed . Many minority voters hope that our newly elected and future leaders find a way to work with us to help retain the essence of what made Laguna Beach so unique and beloved while moving toward their vision of the future .
Michael is a Laguna Beach resident and homeowner who is a co-founder emeritus of Laguna Residents First . Previously , he served as Laguna Beach ’ s trustee to the Orange County Mosquito and Vector Control District and was a member of the Orange County Grand Jury .
Renée Chenette ( left ) about to board a 747 . Photo courtesy of Renée Chenette .
missions was seeing the orphans being met by their new parents .
“ I ’ m just glad I was part of bringing them home , and also so glad I experienced the children meeting their adoptive families in Hawaii ,” she said .
When reminded that Pan Am President and CEO Harold Gray had contracted with the U . S . government to fly the GIs home for cost plus one dollar , Chenette said , “ I didn ’ t know that , but it was the right thing to do .” When this author asked Chenette
By Chef Alessandro Pirozzi if she ever looks back on landing and taking off from Tan Son Nhut Airbase during the Vietnam War 50 years ago , she said , “ Only years later , talking about it with people like you , I realize , Oh my God , I was part of history .”
Marc Phillip Yablonka is a Burbank , California-based author and military journalist . His latest book is Vietnam Bao Chi : Warriors of Word and Film . He can be reached at marc . yablonka @ gmail . com .
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