CLIPBOARD

The fact that several areas of county dwellers--Lake Forest, Mission Viejo, and Laguna Niguel, to name a few--have scrambled to become cities does not seem to faze the residents who live in this tiny pocket of unincorporated Anaheim.

“Anaheim tried to get us to annex twice,” said Pat Middleton, a 30-year resident of the enclave, “but we voted it down each time. The last time they tried was in the 1960s.”

“Our taxes would have tripled,” said her husband, Harry. “But Anaheim got back at us. They took our library privileges away and they bought out our water company and our rates doubled. But we don’t care. We love being in no-man’s-land.”

Would they like it better if Garden Grove or Stanton wanted to annex the neighborhood? “No way!” echoed the Middletons. But neighbor Caren Barnhouse, who lives across the street, has a different opinion.

“I’d vote for annexation if it came up on the ballot,” she said. “Some people say our taxes will go up--and that may be true--but we’d also get better police protection and better services.”

To illustrate, Barnhouse told the story of a child who was struck by a car while riding his bicycle. Neighbors called the ambulance, but it took nearly 20 minutes before a unit could respond. “County emergency services are just stretched too thin. That ambulance had to come all the way from Los Alamitos, near the race track.”

“There are some drawbacks to being in an unincorporated area,” Harry Middleton admitted.

Aside from police and other emergency response inconveniences, those drawbacks include not having simple things most take for granted--street lights and sidewalks, for example.

“For quite a few years we didn’t have street lights. And we only got sidewalks two years ago,” said Pat.

“There are still some parts of the neighborhood that don’t have either, like on Chanticleer (Road),” added Harry. “And the people on Thomas Drive voted not to have sidewalks because they wanted to preserve their trees.”

Drawbacks or no, the Middletons and Barnhouse are all big fans of their neighborhood. And for the most part things seem to center on the microcosm on Pacific Avenue. As the Middletons relax with granddaughter Kayla Kimmel, 2, under the shady Chinese elm tree in their front yard on a sunny summer afternoon, everyone from the neighbors to the mail carriers stops by to say hello. The Middletons are holding court, in a manner of speaking.

Barnhouse is there as well as another neighbor, Reggie Rymal. The neighbor on the left is busy taking care of the yard, but the others breezily chat about local politics, catch up on each other’s lives, casually reminisce about the days when there was nothing around them but orange groves, and lament those neighbors who don’t keep up their yards.

“I’m devastated,” said Harry as he pulled a long, crawling-type weed from his immaculate lawn. “I keep up my yard, but some of my neighbors don’t. And now I have these weeds--you can’t get rid of them.”

Unincorporated Anaheim is inconsistent, at best, in concern for the landscape. Down the street from the Middletons and Barnhouse is a yard with several manufacturing pallets stacked in the front yard; on the corner is a home with a an eclectic assortment of weeds, drooping giant sunflowers, onions, herbs, flowers, string beans and other vegetables in the front yard. And around the corner is a residence with an 18-wheeler parked on the front lawn.

Imperfect yards notwithstanding, the neighbors are philosophical.

“Well, the young people down the street just bought that house, and they work all the time. Whatever spare time they do get, they spend in the surf,” said Harry.

“This is a nice neighborhood, but every once in awhile we’ll get a bad element in here,” said Barnhouse.

The thing that comes through loud and clear, however, is that most of the residents have respect for each other and for their enclave.

“Lately we’ve gotten quite a mix of people,” said Rymal, one of those neighbors who dropped by the Middletons to chat. “It has been good. Everyone has molded together.”

“I don’t want to move,” said Harry, summing up the sentiments of the folks gathered in his yard. “I love it here.”

Population Total: (1990 est.) 5,399 1980-90 change: +11.1% Median Age: 30.5

Racial/ethnic mix: White (non-Latino): 63% Latino: 20% Black: 3% Other: 14%

By sex and age: MALES Median age: 29.8 years FEMALES Median age: 31.1 years

Income Per capita: $10,243 Median household: $35,473 Average household: $35,477

Income Distribution: Less than $25,000: 25% $25,000-49,999: 55% $50,000-74,999: 16% $75,000-$99,999: 3% $100,000 and more: 1%