AROUND THE TWO TOWNS

Josh Sitea of Newport Beach is furious about the increasing foreclosure rate in the area. He warns, "There's a huge tragedy coming" and claims it's largely due to predatory lending.

After years in the lending business, Josh said, he left to establish his company, TruthandLoans, which operates a Web site trying to "expose the shadier side of lending and … tip the scales back in favor of the consumer."

Operating from his Huntington Beach offices, Josh tries to alert people to the troubles they could be seeing if they fall victim to today's mortgage loan sharks.

His Web site, www.TruthandLoans.com, offers free video instructions on how to avoid the pitfalls of adjustable rate mortgages and other lending forms that can lead many to financial tragedy. He also offers DVDs and instructional materials people can buy.

Aren't people who purchase the million-dollar homes in the Orange Coast area sophisticated enough to know what kind of mortgages to avoid?

"No," Josh says. "Surprisingly, they fall victim to predatory lending just as easily as anybody else."

Today's cooling markets, he warns, have exposed the real-estate scams and questionable lending practices "that are wrecking credit scores, dotting neighborhoods with foreclosures and costing individual consumers hundreds to thousands of dollars.

His Web site Josh said, is already getting far more hits than he anticipated. Lots of people across the nation are apparently clicking on to learn how to keep from becoming predatory lending victims. Or to find out if they've already been rooked.

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Paul Gaines tells me there was a change in the staff notice at the Anton Boulevard offices where he works announcing his company's second annual Take Your Child to Work Day. This year's announcement read "Take Your Child To Work and Take It Home Day."

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Kathy Blake was the First Lady of Newport Harbor Elks two years ago. What marked her reign and that of her husband, Exalted Ruler Rick Blake, was the fact that at all events, formal and informal, Kathy was accompanied by a companion – a guide dog companion.

Kathy had suffered retinitis pigmentosa and was blind.

Now, Rick tells me Kathy has just undergone experimental surgery, the first of its kind in the world.

"The surgery implanted a chip onto her eye and attached contacts to her optic nerve," he writes. "These devices, along with some special glasses, are intended to help give her some extra light perception so that she will be able to 'see' shapes and outlines of objects."

Rick says the new technique being tried on Kathy is part of a three-year experimental program. His note ended with, "Please say a prayer for her."

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"With the divorce rate around here," Jack Palmer told me at the Balboa Bay Club, "the kids know what to buy for Father's Day. They just don't know whom to give it to."

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If you're looking for a fun thing to do, drop down to the Newport Dunes late in the afternoon on Monday, June 18 and attend the fun-filled welcome party the Commodores Club of the Newport Chamber will hold for this year's Mr. Irrelevant.

The public is invited and there'll be lots of food provided by area restaurants, live music, numerous sports celebrities and a Shower of Gifts for this year's Mr. Irrelevant. He is University of Alabama cornerback Ramzee "Bino" Robinson and was chosen by the Detroit Lions as the final pick of the 2007 NFL draft.

Admission is $15 and the Commodores say those attending are invited to bring Robinson a souvenir "relevant or irrelevant – it really doesn't matter what one presents him with, in keeping with the theme of, you know, irrelevance."

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West Costa Mesa's Joseph Perez sent me this piece of wisdom: "It's always darkest before the dawn. So if you're going to steal the neighbor's newspaper, that's the time to do it."

http://www.ocregister.com/ocregister/news/local/costamesa_newport/article_1723823.php

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