Orange County

Catherine "Kay" Scrafield, 83 Longtime Laguna Beach resident Catherine "Kay" Scrafield passed away peacefully at her home Sept. 24, surrounded by her family. She was 83. Scrafield was born April 23, 1922, in San Marino, Calif. Her father, Henry Armstrong, established H. A. Armstrong Co., a successful contracting business, and her mother, Mildred Armstrong, was one of the first women architects in the country. After graduating from South Pasadena High School, Scrafield attended Stephens College in Columbia, Mo. In the fall of 1941 she enrolled at USC, where she pledged Pi Beta Phi sorority.

Submit AFTER HOURS items to the Daily Pilot, 1375 Sunflower Ave., Costa Mesa, CA 92626; by fax to (714) 966-4679; or by calling (714) 966-4625. THROUGH OCT. 9 'THE CAUCASIAN CHALK CIRCLE' Bertolt Brecht's work, which is rich with themes of morality, justice and the effects of war on individuals through the centuries, will be staged at south Coast Repertory, 655 Town Center Drive, Costa Mesa. Tickets cost $20 to $58. Information: (714) 708-5555 or o7www.

When typical Orange County residents are asked what they like the most about living in Orange County, I can almost guarantee you that the answer will be that it's because of the beautiful beaches, public parks, recreational opportunities, low crime rates, good schools and excellent job opportunities. When you roll all of that up into a package and put a name on it, there is nothing else to call it but "quality of life." We have to constantly work at preserving and protecting this quality of life that all of us hold so dear.

It's a rite of passage for children and grandchildren to hear how inexpensive cars and homes -- and everything else, for that matter -- used to be. Newport Beach resident Willard Courtney worked in both the automotive and financial fields, so he remembers the exact totals. He paid $3,200 in the early 1950s to purchase a lot in what is now the Cliff Haven neighborhood of Newport Beach. At the time, it was unincorporated land. Courtney's home, one of the first to be built on the block, had a sweeping view of the Back Bay. Still, he had to convince his wife, Gayle Courtney, to move there.

o7"When the 1/1 goes off to war again, we will be there for their families when they need us."f7 -- Steve Bromberg, former Newport Beach mayor and now Superior Court judge, at Mess Night held Thursday at the Balboa Bay Club for the 1st Battalion, 1st Marines, which the city adopted last year o7"We don't deplete our own resources in order to help out."f7 -- Keith Fujimoto, Costa Mesa Fire battalion chief, describing the mutual-aid relationship among fire departments; Costa Mesa and Newport Beach firefighters helped out with fires burning in northern Los Angeles County last week.

EDUCATION School district settles yearlong zoning dispute The dispute over the Corona del Mar Zone came to its official end Tuesday, as the Newport-Mesa school board voted unanimously to accept a reduced plan for changing the zone's attendance areas. The vote ended nearly a year of controversy, during which parents pleaded and petitioned the district not to split their neighborhoods between different schools. Originally, the district proposed shifting school boundaries to prevent an overcrowding at Newport Coast Elementary School and to boost enrollment at Eastbluff Elementary School.

UC Irvine, in partnership with several Orange County health agencies, has been named one of six national centers for a federal study on child health and development. Over the next five years, UCI is slated to receive $14.6 million from the National Institutes of Health to help conduct the National Children's Study, the largest human health and development study ever planned in the United States. The project will track children from birth until age 21, analyzing genetics, diet, neighborhood environment and other factors that contribute to growth.

Powering through a seam in the defense as a running back, or sniffing out an opposing offensive scheme from his outside linebacker spot, Sage Hill School junior Don Ayers repeatedly displays superior football instincts. And, sometimes, if one listens very closely, another instinct -- of the primal variety -- can be heard coming from the 6-foot, 175-pounder on the field. "I can hear him growling and yelling when he's running the ball," Sage Hill Coach Tom Monarch said of his two-way standout, who is a big reason why the Lightning (4-0)

Orange County park rangers could soon have the power to cite people violating rules and regulations in local parks. County supervisors are scheduled to vote today on whether to give final approval to a proposal that would allow county park rangers to issue citations for minor violations. Last week, all five supervisors gave preliminary approval to the plan. In the Newport-Mesa area, the Upper Newport Bay, Talbert Nature Preserve and Newport Harbor are under the county's jurisdiction.

Throughout the years, grand juries have played a vital part in the lives of every one of us who live in Orange County. Aside from their little-used power to investigate crime and bring indictments, grand juries render invaluable service in carrying out their basic responsibility of investigating and recommending improvements in county government. Unless there is a criminal charge, grand juries do not investigate city governments. Those who called for a grand jury investigation into recent charges of sexual harassment in the local police department simply didn't understand a grand jury's function and its limitations.