Video by Rancho Santiago Students Wins Third in National Competition.

Competing against 25 four-year colleges and universities at the annual convention in Atlanta of the National Special Interest Group in Graphics, 15 Rancho Santiago College computer graphics students won third place for their “Once Upon” animated video.

From concept to finish, students in advanced animation classes worked more than 1,000 hours for 11 weeks to complete the project, college officials said.

The Santa Ana college’s computer graphics program began in 1986 with a state grant, according to art instructor Sharon Ford, who guides the program. The advanced animation and computer graphics courses were added during the 1987-88 academic year. Plans are under way to develop a certificate program in computer graphics.

Irvine resident Matt J. Flynn, a one-time Buena Park police detective and a former Marine, was named a commissioner in the south county courthouse in Laguna Niguel. He has degrees from Fullerton College, Cal State Fullerton and received his law degree from Pepperdine University. He is married to Carol Flynn, a deputy city attorney in Anaheim, and has two sons.

Fullerton community activists Irene Gallio, owner of M.G. Disposal Systems Inc., and Merrill Gregory, chairman of Fullerton Savings & Loan, have been named “Humanitarians of the Year” by the North Orange County Family YMCA.

Lt. Ken Head, an 18-year veteran of the Fullerton Police Department, won three gold medals in three individual shooting competitions at the recent International Law Enforcement Olympics in Australia. He also won a gold medal with Lt. Bud Lathrop, Sgt. Neal Baldwin and Officer Larry Bourland in team pistol shooting. Sgt. Joel Klein, a 14-year veteran, won a gold medal in the discus event.

Myldred Jones, founder of Casa Youth Shelter in Los Alamitos, a small homelike refuge for runaway teen-agers, has been presented with the Presidential Recognition Award for community service. The framed proclamation, signed by President Reagan, was given to her by Robert De Monte of the Presidential Awards Committee at a luncheon. The proclamation noted that Jones “has made a significant difference and set a sterling example for all of us.”

The center was started 11 years ago as an adolescent hot line, the first in California, and evolved into a safe place for teen-agers who have left their homes.

The Easter Seal Society honored Primanti Montessori School in Orange for raising $1,219; Montessori Newport Children’s Center in Santa Ana Heights for raising $1,047, and Great American Learning Center in Huntington Beach for raising $606, as the top Orange County school fund-raisers in the society’s recent HOP-N-ING.

Each of the preschool and kindergarten-age students raised money through pledges for the number of hops they made. A total of 27 schools in Orange and Los Angeles counties participated and raised $25,000.

Orange County received the “Every Drop Counts Award” from the state Department of Water Resources for reusing more of its water supply than any other county in the state.

Orange County recycled an estimated 130,000 acre-feet of water, according to Supervisor Harriett M. Wieder, who accepted the award at a “Drought 88” symposium in Los Angeles.

She noted that 20% of Orange County’s water supply is reclaimed water that is used to irrigate golf courses and highway median strips and to recharge the county’s ground-water supply.

Based on her work earlier this year as an eighth-grader, Harbor Day School graduate Amy Brown of Balboa Island has been named a California winner of the “Promising Young Writer” award from the National Council Teachers of English. The award is designed to stimulate and recognize the writing talents of students, as well as to emphasize the importance of writing skills.

A surprised Earl Nellesen, founder, president and owner of The Earl’s Plumbing Inc. in Anaheim, was named “Plumbing Contractor of the Year” by the National Assn. of Plumbing, Heating and Cooling Contractors. The application for the award was submitted by his employees.

Nominees for the annual award are judged on professionalism, merchandising and management skills, innovative plumbing techniques, trade involvement and community service.