Orange County Courthouse

The Orange County Courthouse, that grande dame of county buildings, at the age of 87 will soon receive a new lease on a useful life, the one it was built to have. The way was cleared Thursday when the Legislature passed a bill that will enable the courthouse to once again hold Municipal and Superior courts. It had been sitting idle because of a state law that reserved it only for the state's 4th District Court of Appeal. But that court had no plans to ever use the old building.

The proceedings might have bored fans of TV's "Judge Judy," but the first-ever Orange County visit by the California Supreme Court drew hundreds of awe-struck court watchers Thursday. The justices drew herds of lawyers, judges, law students and clerks to the Old Orange County Courthouse, where spectators crammed in for a glimpse. Many law aficionados could barely contain their excitement.

If you're planning a trip to the main county courthouse in Santa Ana, you'd better get used to a new routine beginning April 16: electronic metal detectors at all entrances for the first time. Orange County Marshal John E. Fuller, who oversees court security, concedes some people won't like it. "For some, a two-minute wait is enough to complain [about]. But it will mean a safer courthouse for visitors and those who work there."

Manuel and Edilia Feliz entered the Old Orange County Courthouse on Sunday just as they did in 1941. Only this time, negotiating the steep courthouse steps during a heat wave took its toll on the elderly couple, married for 53 years. "I remember coming here to get our marriage license in, let's see, when was it?" Manuel Feliz said. "Oh, yeah! It was in May, 1941." "Yes," said his wife, Edilia, who wore her original, white brocade wedding dress.

No one really knows who murdered Walter and Beulah Overell. What is known is that on March 15, 1947, they met a sudden death when their 47-foot yacht--the Mary E--exploded around 11 in the morning. Thirteen sticks of unexploded dynamite were found on the cabin cruiser moored in Newport Harbor. The rest had gone off, leaving the Overalls dead.

In 1947, Judge Robert Gardner had to try his very first case in a jury room at the Old Orange County Courthouse because there was no place else to hold session. On Monday, nearly 45 years later, Gardner was back in the three-story red sandstone building for the same reason: Nothing else was available. "This time I get the courtroom," said the 80-year-old retired judge, who has been hired by the county temporarily to hear cases and help ease the caseload.

In Buena Park, thousands of people--including California Chief Justice Malcolm M. Lucas and former astronaut Edwin E. (Buzz) Aldrin Jr.--will sign copies of the Constitution in front of a replica of Philadelphia's Independence Hall.

A sharp and sudden earthquake centered at Newport Beach rattled central Orange County at 1:07 p.m. Friday, cracking buildings, closing schools, and frightening even seasoned Southern Californians with the severity of its shaking. Seismologists at Caltech said the quake registered a magnitude of 4.6--far less than the 5.9 Whittier quake in 1987 and the 5.0 quake last December at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena.

It takes a stretch of the imagination to see the front entrance of the Orange County Courthouse in Santa Ana as a work of art. But, in fact, it once was. A towering white-and-gray marble building, the courthouse is the subject of heated debate over artistic integrity and compromise. Civic leaders and city and county officials agree that the dried-up basin of cracked concrete tile out front is an eyesore in dire need of repair. They just can't agree on how best to restore it.

The General Services Administration has recommended building a new federal courthouse and office building for Orange County on a 92-acre tract in Laguna Niguel, but the congressman who represents the area said Wednesday that the site selection is far from certain. "This is the first step in building a courthouse for Orange County," said Rep.