A4 THURSDAY, APRIL 23, 2020 DAILY PILOT | COASTLINE PILOT | HUNTINGTON BEACH INDEPENDENT WWW.DAILYPILOT.COM
It has been nearly amonth since the spread ofthe coronavirus shut downthe sports world.
For some, there washope that a return to theplaying field might be pos-sible, but it became im-probable as the situationdeveloped.
On April 3, the CIF Stateoffice and the 10 CIF sec-tion commissioners de-cided to call off the springsports season outright,canceling the section, re-gional and state champi-onships.
The last month has seenan outpouring of supportand compassion for highschool athletes as their sea-sons have come to an un-expected end.
Not to be lost in the shuf-fle are those who also existwithin the symbiotic circleof the game: the officials.
For the past 12 years, offi-ciating has been a way oflife for Duke Fuller and hiswife, Ann-Marie, who areboth members of the USATrack and Field SouthernCalifornia Officials Com-mittee.
Fuller, 54, the Vice-Chairof Certification, regularlyworks as a starter at thehigh school level. He hasalso been a starter for theParalympic Trials and lapcounted for two U.S.Olympic Trials.
Ann-Marie can often be
found officiating the highjump, a task she has han-dled in elite events such asthe Mt. SAC Relays. Fulleradded that she has officiat-ed high jump for CIF post-season meets.
Fortunately, Fuller andhis wife both have jobs out-side of officiating. He worksin special education, whileAnn-Marie teaches thefourth grade.
The loss of income willstill have an impact ontheir lifestyle, as Fuller saidthat most of the moneythat he pulls in from offici-ating goes toward payinghousehold bills.
“For me, I’ve lost forMarch almost $2,200 sinceeverything started to getcanceled,” Fuller said.“Everything got canceledfor me on and afterMarch 14. I had assign-ments all the way upthrough May.”
If officiating providedsupplementary income forthe Fullers, the loss of thespring season has changedthat equation.
“I’ll have to modify myeating habits,” Fuller said.“It’s definitely affected us,and of course, I have hob-bies and stuff like that, too,so I have to cut back onthat. It’s been a change.”
Mike Cossack, 63, of Mis-sion Viejo is the umpire-in-chief for Premier Girls Fast-pitch.
The organization is runby Dan Hay, who co-
coaches the Marina Highsoftball team with ShellyLuth.
An assignor of officialsfor the travel ball circuitand PGF, Cossack has um-pired in high school for 28years, something that hecontinues to do.
Cossack, a retired postalservice worker, joined a co-worker at a high school of-ficiating meeting in 1992.He found himself not onlyworking softball games, butfootball, basketball andbaseball, as well.
“When we first started, itwas more like a hobby, andit was a little extra change,”Cossack said of officiating.“As you go along and youget into travel ball andyou’re working games everyweekend, it turns into a bigpart of your income.”
Cossack said that the co-ronavirus stimulus packagecould provide some finan-cial relief to some umpireswho are able to claim un-employment as independ-ent contractors.
“This is a livelihood for alot of these gentlemen,”said Hay, the president ofPGF. “They depend on thatincome from high schooland travel ball to live, sosome of these guys areworking every single week-
end, or they go straightfrom work to a high schoolgame. They depend on thatincome.”
There are no games toofficiate right now, butwhen the action resumes,there continues to be aneed for officials. Cossacksaid that those who areumpiring are aging, andsome new recruits wouldhelp.
“These kids, if they needto work during the week, …they can go out and dosome softball games,” Cos-sack said. “You can make$400 to $500 on a weekenddoing softball. You wouldhave to flip a lot of burgersto make that much.”
For those who do notwant to call balls andstrikes behind the plate orpatrol the bases muchlonger, Fuller hopes that hecan sway them to join thenext arena of their officiat-ing career.
“I tend to promote orrecruit umpires to worktrack and field because it’snot as strenuous on yourbody,” Fuller said. “I’vebeen pretty successful withthat, so that’s kind of one ofmy angles.”
Sports shutdowndue to COVID-19impacts officialsThe pandemic leaves those who workthe games without any assignments.BYANDREWTURNER
Courtesy ofWilsonAlcantara /NPPA
DUKE FULLERpoints thestarting gun intothe air inpreparation to geta race underwayin a track andfield meet inMarch.
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cated team every day. We’regrateful for their continuedefforts.”
Despite initiating lock-down protocols onMarch 11, the center re-ceived its first positive teston April 11 and has sincebeen working with countyhealth officials, Oates said.“Stringent safety protocols”went into effect immedi-ately and all residents havebeen tested.
The facility has also builtup its stock of personal pro-tective equipment, pre-pared additional isolationareas and heightened itsdisinfecting protocols, ac-
cording to officials. “We’vebeen vigilant and early forweeks in adopting the prac-tices and protocols ... toprotect the frail and vulner-able residents entrusted toour care,” Bates said.
Huntington Valley is oneof three skilled nursing fa-cilities in HuntingtonBeach, according to Hunt-ington Beach Fire Depart-ment spokesman EricMcCoy. The city has uppedoutreach efforts and theFire Department stays infrequent contact with thecity’s healthcare facilities,McCoy said.
According to a news re-lease issued by the city onTuesday, the Fire Depart-ment’s outreach team haseven helped secure person-
al protective equipment forhealthcare workers.
The reported cases atHuntington Valley, McCoysaid, correlate with thisweek’s uptick in“COVID-19-related calls,”which is how local first re-sponders are classifying anyemergency service callsthat involve flu-like symp-toms. Overall, however, theFire Department reportsnormal levels of emergencyservice calls, McCoy said.
This week, OrangeCounty launched expandedtesting to identify activecases of COVID-19. OnTuesday, OC Health CareAgency launched the OCCOVID-19 Testing Network,comprised of six clinics,which will each have the
capacity to administer 100diagnostic tests per day.The tests are available byappointment only.
The county plans to addfour more within the nexttwo weeks. So far, antibodytests, which can identifythose who were infectedand may have already re-covered, aren’t yet available.
OC Health Care Agencyhopes to be up to 2,000tests per day by nextmonth.
The AltaMed at 8041Newman Ave. in Hunting-ton Beach is set to open itstesting clinic on Thursday.Visit occovid19.ochealthinfo.com for more informa-tion.
Continued from page A1NURSING
eral cuts, many of whichstaff have already made, toeliminate nonessential ex-penses, limit hiring and cuttravel, conferences andtraining budgets.
The city will also defer$6 million in capital im-provement projects, includ-ing the city’s storm-waterdrain system, City Hall’s el-evators and citywide streetimprovements.
“If we don’t cut every littlebit that we can cut rightnow, next time we’re goingto be cutting all the waydown to the bone,” Council-woman Sandy Genis said.“Whoever’s going to be herea year from now, they’re go-ing to have a big mess ontheir hands if we don’t takeevery action that we pos-sibly can.”
To date, the city has spentabout $1 million — at leasthalf devoted to staff timeand overtime — in respond-ing to the coronavirus pan-demic, Molina said.
Costa Mesa was alreadytoeing the line on its reserve
budget; it began the fiscalyear July 1 with about$455,000 budgeted from re-serves. But at the city’s mid-year budget update, thecouncil learned that salestaxes were rolling in $2 mil-lion more than expected.
Council members haveemphasized repeatedlythroughout the year theneed to be conservativewith costs, to resist usingmoney from the reserves.
Still, Harrison said if losttaxes amount to more than$18.5 million, the city may
need to prepare to dip intodisaster reserves. More cutswould likely impact staff,she said.
“[There is] no bigger di-saster in our lifetime thanthis one,” Harrison said.
The council’s budget as-sessment follows a week ofprotests across the country,including next door inHuntington Beach, fromresidents eager to reopenbusinesses and restart theeconomy.
“Even though we’re facedwith these economic cir-
cumstances, it’s still in oureconomic best interest notto have an outbreak ofCOVID,” Mayor Pro TemJohn Stephens said. “Thesenumbers would be worseand be more permanentand be deeper if we had anoutbreak of COVID. ... OurNorth Star here is to keepour community safe, andthat’s in our best interestfrom a health and economicstandpoint.”
Continued from page A1COSTAMESA
[email protected]: @faithepinho
Scott SmeltzerStaffPhotographer
AN EMPLOYEEat South CoastPlaza in CostaMesa disinfectsthe hand rails ofan escalator onMarch 16.
though in chronically shortsupply nationwide, has be-come emblematic of thefight against COVID-19, thepotentially fatal respiratoryillness caused by the novelvirus.
It was a delicate balanceto clearly reference thepandemic without explic-itly mentioning the virus ordisease “that’s kind ofhaunting” people, Farmersaid.
“We don’t want to makethe virus a thing,” Putnamsaid. “We don’t want to call
it the COVID-19 shirt.”On the positive side,
masks help save and pro-tect lives, Farmer said, andare symbols of the peoplefighting the battle.
Putnam, 20, and Farmer,22, started STKY in 2016when they were students atNewport Harbor HighSchool.
They partner with aCosta Mesa printer to maketheir merchandise or theyuse a heat press set up in aspare room at the Putnamfamily home. It’s a surf-and-streetwear lifestylebrand, selling T-shirts,hoodies and caps that Put-nam said is built around
telling stories throughclothing.
Putnam is studying filmat Cal State Long Beach.Farmer is a pre-med stu-dent and member of theswim team at UC San Diegowho is leaning towardemergency medicine orneurosurgery. Neither for-mally studies business inthe classroom. They do thathands-on.
With universities shiftingonline, the pair had thetime to design a shirt andhunt for a mask supplierthat could fulfill their rela-tively small orders, findingone in Pennsylvania.
STKY has sold shirts for a
cause before, including thenonprofit New Orleans Mu-sicians’ Clinic. Farmer saidcompanies have a social re-sponsibility.
They sold around 100shirts to get the funds fortheir first mask order andare eager to sell more, al-though they’re alreadypleased, Putnam said.
“Our goal had alreadybeen fulfilled when we gotthe first order because ourmain goal was just any im-pact we can make,” he said.
Shirts are available atstkylifestyle.com.
Continued from page A1SHIRTS
[email protected]: @dailypilot_hd
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