HUNTINGTON BEACH and Garden Grove have been ranked as among the “safest cities” in California (File photo).

Garden Grove and Huntington Beach have been named among the “Safest Cities in California” by the Safety.com website.

Huntington Beach is overall ranked fifth in the state, while Garden Grove comes it at number 41. Other Orange County cities named include Irvine (8th), Orange (17th),  Fullerton (19th), Anaheim (32nd) and Costa Mesa (39th).

Cities are evaluated both on public safety (principally, crime) and financial safety (rents, income, poverty rate, the uninsured).  Garden Grove, for example, was 26th in public safety, but 49th in financial safety.  Huntington Beach was 14th in public safety but first in financial safety.

For a look at the whole report, go to: https://www.safety.com/public/places/safest-cities-in-california/ .

Seventeen students from the West Orange County cities of Garden Grove, Huntington Beach and Westminster were named to the dean’s list at Biola University in La Mirada from the spring 2020 semester.

They are:

• Garden Grove: Katie Gonzalez, Christine Kieu, Joseph Leavitt, Yeokyung Lee, Tanner Londo and Rebecka Stewart.
• Huntington Beach: Alyson Bordmann, Caleb Clark, Max Estrin, Sophia Miceli, Natalie Pennington, Samantha Shaw, Chad Sinclair and Ryan St. Pierre.
• Westminster: Ethan Montgomery, James Schuyler Montgomery and Luke Montgomery.

CODY GARLING’s boss ride.

If you followed The Tribune’s coverage of the case of Cody Garling, the Garden Grove young man fighting leukemia and his “wish” for help in having his beloved 1967 Chevrolet truck restored and customized, you might also know that the unveiling was done last Friday night at the weekly classic car show on Main Street in Garden Grove (See above). Looks pretty slick, doesn’t it?

The City of Garden Grove’s TV3 (also known as GGTV3) cable division was honored with an Emmy nomination and six national and regional awards including two first-place awards for various city videos.

GGTV’s CREW has won numerous honors (City of Garden Grove photo).

They included:

• “Garden Grove Animal Care Serving You.”
• “A Garden Grove Story in Shadow Dance.”
• “City Partnerships.”
• A profile of Jack Wallin, one of the founders of the Strawberry Festival.”
• “The Alliance: School Resource Officer Movie Trailer.”

The full-time staff of the video operation is Jeff Davis and Marie Moran. To view the videos, go to: http://www.youtube.com/GardenGroveTV3.

 The Westminster Police Department is going “pink” in October, wearing pink-trimmed uniform patches in recognition of the fight against breast cancer.

A “Friends and Families” free drive-thru food distribution event will take place Saturday, Oct. 3 at 11100 Beach Blvd. in Stanton from 10 a.m. to noon. Entry will be only from Katella Avenue. Masks and social distancing are required. The sponsor is the Republican Party of Orange County. For more information, call James Waters at (714) 351-6068 or Sandi Waters at (714) 269-0517.

“Our Towns” is posted each Thursday and is composed of short items about honors, events and slices of life in the communities of Garden Grove, Huntington Beach, Stanton and Westminster.