Week in Review : MAJOR EVENTS, IMAGES AND PEOPLE IN ORANGE COUNTY NEWS. : CITIES : Anaheim Blocks New Shelter for Homeless

Last Sunday, millions of hands linked across the nation to raise money for the needy and homeless. Last Wednesday, 100 hands rose at an Anaheim Planning Commission meeting in opposition to a new shelter for the homeless.

Christian Temporary Housing Facilities Inc. had proposed the shelter for a 1,400-square-foot classroom that is part of the Anaheim Seventh-day Adventist Church.

But planning commissioners voted against the project after testimony from residents who worried about the safety of their children, transients loitering near their homes and an upsurge in crime.

The housing group does not plan to appeal the commission’s decision to the City Council. Michael Elias, the group’s executive director, said he will take “on faith” commission Chairwoman Charlene LaClaire’s commitment to have a shelter in the city.

Elias concluded, however, that if the group does find another site, it probably will encounter the same opposition. The residents “don’t want it in their neighborhoods,” he said.

The spirit of helping the homeless had flowed through palms only days earlier as a 20.2-mile section of Hands Across America wound its way through six Orange County cities.

Crowd estimates varied from 20,000 to 40,000 along the Orange County route, which stretched through Yorba Linda, Placentia, Anaheim, Garden Grove, Fullerton and La Habra.