COSTA MESA : Residents Raise Stink Over Cattle Drive

By WILLSON CUMMER

Feb. 12, 1994 12 AM PT

People who live near the cornfield where 250 head of cattle will stay overnight before a July 15 drive met with Orange County Fairgrounds staff Wednesday to talk about their concerns that the animals will stink up the neighborhood.

Jill Lloyd, marketing supervisor for the fairgrounds, told members of the Mesa del Mar Homeowners Assn. that the fair staff will do everything possible to minimize the impact on the neighborhood. The cattle will be kept in a pen at Costa Mesa High School, more than 300 feet from the nearest house, Lloyd said.

The cattle drive, which may include Western movie stars and local officials riding horses, will kick off the summer fair. The drive will begin at about 10 a.m. and will proceed on Fairview Avenue to the Princeton Street gate of the fairgrounds.

The City Council approved the street closures in December and has required $5-million insurance for the event. But council members and residents have said they are a little nervous about the event.

Mayor Sandra L. Genis told fair employees that she wants someone whom residents can call during the night “if there’s a 4 a.m. cattle riot or whatever.” Lloyd promised there will be someone on call.

Cattle escaped into a grapefruit orchard before a 1985 drive in Hemet, but fair officials said they believe the expected 100 to 125 horseback riders will ably contain the animals this summer.

“I can’t say that I’m crazy about having 250 cattle stationed there,” said Roy Andreen, president of the homeowners association.

Jim Ure, whose house abuts the high school field, was angry.

“There’s a stench coming from the school now,” he said, referring to the sheep that are penned there for agriculture students. Ure said he talked with a UC Davis biologist and has calculated that the 250 cows will produce more than 3,750 pounds of manure during their stay at the school.

“There’s no chance they can get rid of it,” Ure said.

But Lloyd said the manure will be rototilled into the field and become a fertilizer with no smell.