THE RAINBOW flag (Wikipedia). What was once controversial has become routine. At its meeting on Tuesday night, the Garden Grove City Council voted 7-0 to adopt a proclamation declaring June to be LGBTQ Month in the city. Approval of the LGBTQ (an acronym for “Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer or questioning) Month means that the landmark clock tower in Village Green Park at Main and Euclid streets will be illuminated with “rainbow” lights and decorated with a “Pride” banner. Also on Tuesday night the council heard a presentation from the “Visit Anaheim” organization which works w ..read more

A 34-year motorist from Garden Grove is dead after a multi-car collision on Saturday night in Garden Grove (Shutterstock). A 34-year-old Garden Grove man is dead and a juvenile motorist is in custody after a multi-car traffic accident in Garden Grove Saturday night. According to GGPD Traffic Investigator John Yergler, the incident took place around 9:46 p.m. on Taft Street between Garden Grove Boulevard and Trask Avenue. Officers located a stolen vehicle in the area of Taft and the Boulevard and sought to make a traffic stop. The vehicle being sought moved southbound on Taft and crashed into ..read more

THE BODY of a gunshot victim was found on a Garden Grove sidewalk Saturday morning (Shutterstock). The body of a man dead from a gunshot wound was found in the predawn hours in Garden Grove Saturday. According to Detective Sgt. Mark Lord of the GGPD, officers were dispatched to the 12600 block of Westminster Avenue (near Clinton Street) at 4:17 a.m. regarding a report of a man person lying unconscious on the sidewalk. It was determined he had been fatally shot. The investigation is ongoing and there are no suspects at this time. Anyone who has information about this incident is asked to cont ..read more

THE RAINBOW FLAG (Flickr/Benson Kua). A proclamation recognizing June as LGBTQ Month goes before the Garden Grove City Council for adoption at its meeting on Tuesday. The original proclamation was approved by the council for June 2018 and a proposal for annual adoption by Councilmember Kim Nguyen-Penaloza was in May 2021. With the proclamation, the clock tower in Village Green Park will be illuminated with “rainbow” lights and a “Pride” banner during June. The acronym LGBTQ stands for “Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer (or Questioning).” Also on the agenda will be: second reading a ..read more

THE STRAWBERRY FESTIVAL is at the Village Green at Main and Euclid streets in Garden Grove. By Jim Tortolano/Orange County Tribune The annual Garden Grove Strawberry Festival is now old enough for Medicare and like a lot of “mature” people today, is showing no signs of slowing down. In its 64th version, the festival will once again cover the Memorial Day weekend – Friday though Monday – and this year will carry a theme of  “Celebrating Our Hometown.” MARK MAHONEY, president of the Strawberry Festival Association (OC Tribune photo). For the second time, Mark Mahoney is the president of ..read more

JUSTIN REED, son of Officer Donald Reed (Orange County Tribune photos). By Jim Tortolano/Orange County Tribune Just a few dozen yards from the construction site of a new police facility that will be the future, the Garden Grove Police Department on Thursday held its 37th “Call to Duty” event that memorialized the history and sacrifice of its past at its present location on Acacia Parkway. Among all the ceremonial aspects – bagpipes, 21-gun salute, singing of the National Anthem and “America the Beautiful” – there was a recurring theme of selflessness and fidelity to duty. Also sacrificing we ..read more

GARDEN GROVE Police Department’s Special Weapons and Tactics team was called out when a suspect barricaded herself in her home (GGPD photo). A 45-year-old Garden Grove woman was arrested Friday morning after an incident in which she allegedly aimed a firearm at a construction crew, fired a shot in the air and then barricaded herself in her house. According to Detective Sgt. Mark Lord of the GGPD, the incident took place in the 11500 block of Fredrick Drive (near 9th Street, south of Chapman Avenue) . Shortly after 7 a.m., police were dispatched to that location in reference to a neighborhood ..read more

GARDEN GROVE POLICE canine support unit is (left to right) Officer Pat Julienne – with Misha – Officer Derek Link– with Nellie – and Corporal Adam Zmija – with Heart (Orange County Tribune photo). By Jim Tortolano/Orange County Tribune Police dogs – whether they’re the “apprehension” kind that help arrest bad guys or sniff out drugs, or the “support” kind variety that calm and comfort people in stressful situations – are becoming increasingly popular in law enforcement. But how and where to train them? “There isn’t a single K-9 training facility in Orange County,” said Officer Derek Link of ..read more

  IT’S ONLY SYMBOLIC but the City of Garden Grove has already set in motion plans to make real the “Civic Center Revitalization” project that will mean the construction of a new three-story police facility adjacent four-story parking structure and a new park. The police building will be located at the corner of Euclid Street and Acacia Parkway. Above, city council members got their hands dirty on Tuesday. They are (from left to right) Councilmember George Brietigam, Councilmember Joe DoVinh, Councilmember/Mayor Pro Tem Cindy Ngoc Tran, Mayor Steve Jones, Councilmember Kim Nguyen-Penaloza ..read more

NELLIE (left) and Heart make friends on the floor. They’re emotional support dogs with the GGPD (Tribune photo). A proposal to establish a regional canine training facility in a Garden Grove park is off and running – you might say off the leash – after it received approval of the city council on Tuesday night. The council voted 7-0 in favor of a memorandum with the Garden Grove Unified School District for the use of land on the Warren Elementary School campus on Chapman Avenue (east of Harbor Boulevard), a part of which is used as Pioneer Park. The GGUSD board approved the memorandum at its ..read more