SAN JUAN CAPISTRANO : Long Term on Council Nears End

To hear Lawrence F. Buchheim tell it, his final appearance Tuesday on the San Juan Capistrano City Council will just mean a change in his wardrobe.

“I can take my eight suits, put them in the back closet and never look at them again,” joked Buchheim, 64, characteristically understating the end of his 13 years on the council.

But his fellow council members know better.

“Larry is an exceptionally rare individual,” Gary L. Hausdorfer said. “He has the fabulous qualities of honesty, humor and sensitivity along with a sense of history. . . . It breaks my heart to see him go.”

Buchheim isn’t leaving town, however, just the council. Recent bypass surgery has slowed down the native Capistrano Valley rancher and farmer, and his priorities are changing now that his 9-year-old grandson is moving in for a while, he explained in an interview last week.

What hasn’t changed are the ties of the Buchheim family to the history of this mission city and its farming valley. Since Buchheim’s father arrived here from Santa Ana at the turn of the century and purchased 400 acres of land from the Oyharzabals, one of San Juan Capistrano’s early Basque families, the Buchheims have played an integral part in the valley’s politics.

In 1960, Buchheim’s brother, Carl, became San Juan Capistrano’s first mayor. Larry Buchheim was a trustee in the local school district and a member of the Planning Commission before he was appointed to the City Council in 1978.

During his tenure on the council, Buchheim was known for his homespun philosophy, maxims that he would share during sometimes lengthy council sessions.

On farming: “If there was any profit in it, I’d still be growing oranges. It’s a great life, you’re the master of your own destiny. . . . But more and more rules were applied to farmers until we couldn’t make a living anymore.”

On farmers: “A farmer is an independent animal, a different breed of cat. . . . But we stuck together and helped each other out. If you needed something, you just held out your hand and somebody would be there for you.”

On council disagreements: “We might not have agreed on things, but the unwritten rule was that we all walk out as friends. Good friends can agree to disagree, but we are all committed to this city.”

On San Juan Capistrano today: “This used to be a tightknit community where we solved our own problems. Now it’s more like I’ve got mine and to hell with you. That really disturbs me.”

Buchheim does not mind talking about the biggest challenge of his life: His battle with alcohol.

“For 20 years it wasn’t any secret around this town that I had a drinking problem,” Buchheim said. “I had to quit or someone was going to get hurt, and it probably would have been me.”

Fifteen years ago, Buchheim took his last drink. A night in Orange County Jail finally cured him. “Throwing me in jail was the best thing (Sheriff) Brad Gates ever did for me,” Buchheim said.

Buchheim joined Alcoholics Anonymous the night he got out of jail. He stopped drinking and by 1982 he was San Juan Capistrano’s mayor.

“AA literally saved my life, and it saved a lot of other lives around here too,” he said. “It’s a great program. It works, and it doesn’t cost the taxpayers a dime.”

Councilman Gil Jones, his close friend, said Buchheim’s inner strength won out.

“He beat it (alcohol) because of his character,” Jones said. “He quit cold turkey. He makes no secret about his problems. I admire somebody with that kind of courage.”