LAGUNA HEAT: Laguna Beach City Manager Kenneth...

LAGUNA HEAT: Laguna Beach City Manager Kenneth C. Frank claimed at a recent council meeting that the city spends more per resident on fire and police than anyone in the county. As a matter of fact, he’s right. . . . Laguna Beach, where the population mushrooms in summer beach weather, is the only city here to spend more than $40 per resident on safety issues. . . . Says Police Chief Neil J. Purcell proudly: “I’d rather walk on any street--or any beach--in this city during the darkest of hours than I would in daylight in some Orange County cities.”

WHO RUNS THINGS? The UC Irvine fertility clinic scandal--where doctors are accused of deceiving women by improperly transplanting theirs eggs into other women--reached ABC-TV’s “Nightline” Tuesday. Anchor Cokie Roberts called it part of “the murky, multimillion-dollar business of making babies.” Harvard University professor Elizabeth Bartholet, an adoption expert, told Roberts: “We have an industry that is entirely unregulated. . . . Doctors are doing research without society setting any of the rules.”

THEIR LITTLE SECRET: Seattle’s Pacific Northwest Ballet’s new production of “Cinderella”--next Tuesday through Thursday at the Orange County Performing Arts Center in Costa Mesa (OC Live!)--gives greater focus to Cinderella’s search for love, says choreographer Kent Stowell. It’s a subject he’s had some success with. Stowell and his co-director, Francia Russell, have been happily married for 29 years. . . . Their secret? “Stubbornness,” he chuckles.

NO PARKING? An arrest scheduled in Irvine tonight will be a first for these parts. A camel named Willie--a real camel--will get booked for improper parking at the Radisson Plaza Hotel. . . . It’s a gag, of course, but Tom Shinar of the American Society of Travel Agents hopes it will set the tone for the night’s dinner: Officials from Egypt, Israel and Jordan will join to talk about travel packages to the three countries. Says Shinar: “It’s kind of our follow-up to the Middle East peace agreement.”

TONIGHT: Derek Bordeaux & Friends play R&B; at 8:30, the Atrium Marquis Hotel, 18700 MacArthur Blvd., Irvine.

WEATHER: Morning low clouds, then sunny and breezy. Highs near 70, with lows in mid-50s. (B8)

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Well Protected

Top five O.C. cities in fire/police costs per resident: 1. Laguna Beach: $42 2. Newport Beach: $39 3. Irvine: $35 4. Costa Mesa: $32 5. Santa Ana: $29 Source: Rose Institute of State and Local Government