Tuesday, April 11, 2006

Mr. Manian Tragic Death and a Tale of Two Coto de Caza's



Mr. Manian Tragic Death and a Tale of Two Coto’s

On Sunday 3-12-2006, at 1.30 pm, 75 year-old Mr. Manian was riding his bicycle and was struck by a 16 year old female at the intersection of Lexington Way and North Hampton Place. The teen was subsequently arrested and charged with vehicular manslaughter, felony hit and run and resisting and delaying or obstructing an officer.

We are in constant contact with the Orange County DA responsible for prosecuting the case, and have asked the DA if the teen will be tried as an adult. However, by law, the DA is unable to discuss the case, until such a time as it is determined she indeed will be tried as an adult. Meanwhile, we are also in touch with the CHP to see if they have anything new to report.

On March 21, 2006, the Sheriff registered a “ Suspicious Persons/Circumstances, 1:40 p.m. Coto de Caza. Suspicious, threatening mail on Lexington Way at Northampton Place” – we happen to think that the two incidents are related. We contacted the Sheriff’s detective who indicated having no knowledge of the fatality – we are now trying to coordinate the CHP and Sheriff to determine whether the two incidents are in fact connected or not.

We have been trying to contact Mr. Manian’s next of kin, as we want to make sure that his story is told, but we have yet to reach anyone. One of the drivers for our crusade is the perspective of a local lawyer supporting the current board as he thinks the board has done nothing wrong to merit criticism for the poor state of public safety within Coto. He writes “Another teen runs down an old man on a bike. The old man is violating the vehicle code, and the teen runs away after the accident. Is that right? What exactly did the Board do wrong there? Prove to me that any action by the existing Board would have prevented that old man from violating the traffic laws, or would have prevented him from getting hit in the first place. I don’t think you can. The Board appears to be trying to compromise between taking reasonable measures to assure a safe environment, and spending excessive amounts of money to get there”

Interesting that an attorney is already convicting Mr. Manian for violating the vehicle code, and absolving the board – all of this when we have more contextual information than even the CHP, the DA or the Sheriff’s office put together!

Related to this is the fact that after two fatalities and a shooting with a deadly weapon, Coto still does not have a safety committee! – In fact, the current “legal committees” are listed below. Talk About priorities – but what do you expect when the board supports the Desperate Freaks over Public Safety Awareness!

Anyone with information on how to contact Mr. Manian’s family, please send info to : cotobuzz@yahoo.com
P.O. Box 154
Trabuco Canyon, CA 92678


· Aerobatic/Aviation Committee –Board Liaison: Bob Varo, Committee Members: Jeff Dawson, Steve Plochocki

· Architectural Committee – Jeane O’Connor, Michelle Barnes, Janan Pisano, Maria Foulke. Management Support: Toni Mora at
· Community Events / Coto C.A.N. – Chair: Marla Carlson, Board Liaison: George Thagard

· Landscape & Trails – Co-Chairs: Ron Eger & Greg Metcalfe , Committee Members: John Bernards, Susan Bower, Tom Forbes. Management Support: Tracy Williams at

· Sports Complex – Chair: Larry Mount, Committee Members: Bob Grich, Bruce Warren e-mail:

No comments: