There wasn’t much news yesterday. So when I went to the police station, I was willing to write up any small thing, just to have something fresh for you all to look at.
I found this story:
“Newport Beach police took a report of suspicious circumstances at 9:39 p.m. Monday after someone threw a liquid substance on a vehicle in the 300 block of White Cap.
“‘The report states that the liquid substance appeared to be a “milkshake, frappuccino, or similar substance,”‘ said Kathy Lowe, a Newport Beach Police Department spokeswoman, in an email. ‘The owner was able wash the liquid off.’ It appeared there was no permanent damage to the vehicle, she said.
“The incident occurred sometime between 7 and 9 p.m. Monday, a police report said.”
But then I did a little fact checking. White Cap is in Jasmine Creek — but is it a road or a drive or what? So I used Google maps to check. Guess what? There are two in Newport Beach. In Corona del Mar, the White Cap is a drive. Up in Newport Coast, it’s just plain old White Cap.
I confirmed which White Cap with the police spokeswoman — at this point hating myself for bugging her over a spilled milkshake, or maybe a thrown one. And it was Newport Coast.
Sometimes I cover Newport Coast news. If it’s a major burglary, or a rash of thefts at Sage Hill or in the Pavilions parking lot, then yes, I’ll report it.
But this story was barely worth anything to begin with. I spent way too much time on it.
I kept thinking about how a few months ago, after taking my daughter and her friend to get our nails done, we came out to a car that looked like it was covered with vomit. Actually, it appeared someone chucked (as opposed to upchucked) a Chronic Taco menu item at the windshield. It was really gross, and as soon as I got home, I washed the car. All the tiny flecks of rice and chicken and lettuce.
As appalled as I was, and as convinced that I was that it was no accident, this disgusting situation I was left to clean up — never once did I consider calling the cops to report it.
I’d love to ask the police if this person called in the report because of some conflict. Maybe they have an enemy or a rival who had threatened to throw a shake on the car, and the victim wanted this event documented. Or maybe, they just were outraged that such a thing happened to them and felt it needed police documentation.
I’d love to ask the police, but I will not spend any more of their time or mine on this.
In fact, the only reason I’m writing this rant is to share a little of my daily frustrations in running this site.
Comments
May 18th, 2012
We truly appreciate your diligence. We're just sorry that it was just so "non-story" in this case. (And really whiny too. Who calls the police over that?!) Not that I wish misfortune on anyone, but may your next lead be WAY more interesting! Any (interesting) cars keyed lately?!
