GARDEN GROVE : Mayor Reelected; Leyes, Dinsen Win

Voters returned Mayor W.E. (Walt) Donovan and Councilman Robert F. Dinsen to office Tuesday and elected candidate Mark Leyes.

Leyes, 32, was the top vote-getter in the election. Supported by the Garden Grove Firefighters Union, Leyes said in his campaign that he wants to cut down on bureaucracy in the Police Department and put more officers on the streets.

Donovan, 64, won the fierce mayoral battle he fought against J. Tilman Williams. Last month, the battle moved to the courtroom as Donovan sought to prevent Williams from calling himself “mayor” in campaign materials. This is Donovan’s second election to the mayoral post. He has also served three terms as a councilman.

Despite anti-incumbent sentiment elsewhere in the county, the 73-year-old Dinsen, who has already served 10 years on the council, also was reelected.

And voters approved the two ballot measures--one to prohibit oil drilling or pumping within 600 feet of churches, schools and homes, and the other advising the council to choose the first runner-up in the last council race to fill a vacancy caused when a member is elected to higher political office.