PROTESTOR at June 3 “Black Lives Matter” event in downtown Garden Grove (OC Tribune photo).

It’s been a wild month. Protests, demonstrations, business closures, pandemic, masks and on and on.

The June 3 protest in Garden Grove went off peacefully, but a month later some buildings haven’t yet lost the plywood that covered windows and doors.

If some of the protests seemed mean and some rather restrained, you’re right on both counts. Garden Grove Police Chief Tom DaRe told The Tribune about an odd occurrence.

“Some of the kids would run up to our officers and yell ‘F— the police’ or give them The Finger,” he said. “But after they got their Instagram picture so they could show they were ‘social justice warriors,’ they’d say “Thank you, officer.’ They thanked us.”

Schools been out for a while, but the college honors keep coming in.

• Francesca Zaffino of Garden Grove has been named to the dean’s list for the spring 2020 semester at the University of Delaware.
• Magdalena Baker of Westminster has been named to the dean’s list for the spring 2020 semester at Quinnipiac University in Hamden, Conn.
• Noah Hickman of Huntington Beach has been named to the dean’s list for spring 2020 at Hamline University’s College of Liberal Arts dean’s list in St. Paul, Minn.

The CIF-SS, the organization that oversees high school sports in most of Southern California, has been grappling with whether – or when – prep athletics will resume in this era of COVID-19. An announcement will be made on July 20. Will there be games and meets with no one in the stands? Events where all players will wear masks? We’ll see in a few weeks.

Sean Crumby has been selected as the next public works director for the City of Huntington Beach. If his nomination by City Manager Oliver Chi is approved by the city council at its July 6 meeting, he will replace Travis Hopkins, who was promoted to assistant city manager. Crumby has previously been public works director for the cities of Newport Beach and Stanton.

Here’s something puzzling. The Orange County Fire Authority has been posting items on Twitter in recent days referring to “those who are attempting to disparage the reputation of our hard-working, professional firefighters and our organization.” There were several tweets like that, with no specifics. Could it possibly be related to Placentia’s new fire department as that city broke away from the OCFA (which now serves Garden Grove, Stanton and Westminster)? We’d like to find out.

Forgetful? Socially distancing with a good read and aren’t done yet? The Orange County Public Libraries – which serve Garden Grove, Stanton and Westminster – has extended overdue fines through Oct. 31. The system also notes that all materials will be checked in 72 hours after being returned.

Our Town is a collection of news notes, honors, slices-of-life and more for our communities. Got something to share? Send it to orangecountytribune@gmail.com . No trash talk, please.

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