Gaddi Vasquez

Their badges wrapped in black bands of mourning, police officers from throughout the West gathered Monday for a tearful tribute to Officer Howard Ellsworth Dallies Jr., who was gunned down last week during an apparent routine traffic stop. Dallies, a veteran officer who helped train recruits and was soon to be promoted to sergeant, was remembered as a "fallen hero" in a moving ceremony at the Crystal Cathedral in Garden Grove.

Orange County's influence at the convention will be hard to miss. Some of the notable players: Rev. Robert H. Schuller, Rep. Robert K. Dornan and Supervisor Gaddi H. Vasquez.

The Southern California division of the University of Phoenix conducted its sixth annual commencement on Sunday at the Irvine Marriott Hotel. Graduates received degrees in business administration and nursing and masters of business administration. Degrees: 240 were awarded. Speakers: Orange County Supervisor Gaddi Vasquez gave the commencement address. Student speakers were Daniel Eyob, representing the business graduates, and Dorothy Barnett, representing the nursing graduates.

President Bush said he is sending the Peace Corps into Afghanistan for the first time since 1979 as part of an effort to double its presence around the world. "Today the mission is needed more than ever," Bush said after the swearing-in of former Orange County (Calif.) Supervisor Gaddi Vasquez as the organization's new director.

The Mission Viejo Co. today will open a new one-third-mile extension of Marguerite Parkway to give vehicles access to El Toro Road. Currently, Marguerite Parkway ends between Alisos Boulevard and El Toro Road, north of Santa Margarita Parkway. The extension, financed and built by the Mission Viejo Co., will open during 9 a.m. ceremonies attended by Supervisor Gaddi Vasquez.

Saddleback Valley Unified School District teacher Gloria Carrillo received an "Apple of Gold" this week in recognition for being named the outstanding high school Hispanic teacher of the year. Carrillo, a Spanish teacher at Trabuco Hills High School, was honored during the first annual awards dinner of the Orange County Hispanic Education Endowment Fund. The fund was established in 1992 to promote education, community service and leadership development for Latino youth.